And, we're back! Osaka, round 2. We booked the exact flights we took last time, two days annual leave, fly out Thursday evening, arrive back Monday night. The flights with Jetstar are just too cheap to pass up, half the price of the next cheapest carrier. However, the adage of "You get what you pay for" holds true, in fact it was exactly the same last time. I had just forgotten. Our flight was delayed again, this time for an hour. Thankfully the flight wasn't full, but the constant chatter of passengers and the lack of seat recline made it particularly difficult to sleep.
Each time tiredness overpowered my body inducing my body into a relaxed state my muscles would seize up and my head would jerk. There was also an unusual pattern for cabin lighting, dim, bright lights, shifting through different lighting ambiances throughout the flight. Ontop of that the airline decided it would be useful to announce every movement and update, in three languages. "We will soon be serving food", "we are now serving food", "we will soon be selling duty free", "we are now serving duty free". Suffice to say, little sleep was hard to come by. Funnily enough, despite all the complaints, I'd have no issues taking the same flight again.
Saturday. People from Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore have arrived, early morning train into Kyoto. Food tour "can you say, Sashime?" 10 courses of food, and a sake tasting experience (¥8000). Checked into the local Ryokan and had dinner in the Geisha region of Gion.
Each time tiredness overpowered my body inducing my body into a relaxed state my muscles would seize up and my head would jerk. There was also an unusual pattern for cabin lighting, dim, bright lights, shifting through different lighting ambiances throughout the flight. Ontop of that the airline decided it would be useful to announce every movement and update, in three languages. "We will soon be serving food", "we are now serving food", "we will soon be selling duty free", "we are now serving duty free". Suffice to say, little sleep was hard to come by. Funnily enough, despite all the complaints, I'd have no issues taking the same flight again.
So why are we back? Ko's Buck's party. Reliving the memories. Here's what we did, checked into Stargate hotel, Airport hotel, managed to get us a little more sleep. Friday, it's raining and wet, I don't have the right footwear, after 1 hour of walking my feet are complete soaked, we take the Rapi:T into town, ¥980 for 40 mins. Checked into the Cabana Capsule hotel. That feeling when you take off wet shoes and have a hot shower cannot be described. The day one agenda was: Eat. Eat. Eat. Buying Buck's costume. Eat. Spa. Sleep. The capsule hotel is practical, but noisy, you have to be pretty darn exhausted to sleep here as every movement strains the capsule and the evening is littered with the creaks and groans of the capsules.
Saturday. People from Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore have arrived, early morning train into Kyoto. Food tour "can you say, Sashime?" 10 courses of food, and a sake tasting experience (¥8000). Checked into the local Ryokan and had dinner in the Geisha region of Gion.
Sunday. Another early start, the 7/11s in Japan are amazing, I buy a pre-packed poached chicken breast, some nuts and a hard boiled egg for breakfast. Train back to Osaka for a lovely bike tour through Fukushima along the Yoda river (¥6000). Includes Okonomiyaki lunch, beer drinking up the hill and around the neighbour hood. Dinner at our favourite restaurant Matsuzakagyu Yakiniku. Waitress remembers us, well remembers one of us. This is a pretty half-assed attempt at a Blog post.
Ah Japan. You're a whirlwind of fun and warmth in our tummies.
