japan day 1: departure + kyoto

what an early start. we had to wake up at 4 in the morning to catch a 7 o’clock plane from Singapore to Kansai Airport. had our quick breakfast at T2’s McDonald’s and ran back to T1 to board… we made it to the gate before closing by thismuch.

 

the flight went really smooth and aina behaved rather okay. she was a little scared during the take off that she had to hold on my hands. but that’s about it. the only other problem was that she had trouble sleeping. aina woke up too early, and couldn’t go back to sleep in the cab. and it seems that she can only fall asleep by sitting on my lap and she’s gotten pretty heavy. so, she drew, played with her ipod, and drew again… and finally she asked, “binggi, how come the airplane takes forever to get to Japan?”

oh, and i started to sneeze like there is no tomorrow and my nose started to get stuffed. i think i’m allergic to airplanes. or something in the circulating air inside the planes.

we had to stop by Taipei to (probably) refuel, so we had a chance to… umm, pee in that airport. the stop was only 20 minutes, by the time we’re done peeing, they had ushered us back to the plane.

during the second leg of the flight, i finally got to catch my sleep. aina played with ari the whole time and i snoozed away. i woke up when the plane’s wheels touched the ground. yay!

aina was pretty excited that she finally landed in Japan, even though i’m not sure she actually understands what that means. as for us, that means, we had to take care of some ticketing: buy tickets from Airport to Kyoto and another ticket from Kyoto to Tokyo for the 15th… but first: immigration. the line was long and slow. they take pictures and fingerprints of all the foreigners. and as soon as we started to queue, aina fell asleep. i guess, she’s more comfortable sleeping on her beloved stroller than in the airplane’s seat.

after passing through the immigration and customs, we went straight to the JR office to take care of the next leg of our trip. well, maybe not straight — ari had to take a ciggy break first 🙂

it was still bright outside as we landed exactly at 4pm.

we took the Haruka Limited Express from Kansai Airport to Kyoto, just like we did 5 years ago. aina didn’t have to buy a ticket, but she didn’t get a seat. but that’s okay, because she can either sit on my lap or we can lift the arm rest up and let her sit between ari and i.

by the time we got to Kyoto Station, the day has turned to night. it was dark and windy. with a map on one hand and the stroller on the other (ari pushed the suitcase), we walked, looking for Kazari-ya Guest House.

thank god that we’re light travelers — only one relatively small suitcase for the three of us — because if we did have more than one suitcases, we would be super pissed when we got lost looking for the guesthouse. yep, we got kinda lost… until a very nice japanese guy came over and helped us looking for the place. he called up the guest house to find the address… which turned out right across the street from where we were standing! (to our defense, Gojo-Dori is loooong and wide!)

the room at Kazari-ya was BEAUTIFUL! we arrived at night, so the pictures for today doesn’t do justice. but it’s very pretty… on one side it has a sliding door facing the garden. yes, our room has a porch facing the garden!

the staff on the front desk speak okay english and gave us great recommendations for places to eat. this room is probably the best room we’ve had for any guesthouses/bed ‘n breakfast in Japan. the minsyuku in Beppu came second. the bathroom, although shared, is very clean. there is a pretty big kitchen to use, too. and, on top of that, free wi-fi in all rooms! wahooo!

since we touched down at the guesthouse around 7, i was starving… we went out and boungt a drink from the vending machine before we searched for food. just because aina likes vending machines.

we were going to an izakaya recommended by the staff right next to Bukkoji Temple, but the place was full. so we went to another izakaya called Tenkadori on Karasumadori. yummy and child-friendly…

after a filling dinner, we went back to the guesthouse with some snacks from the nearby konbini.

then we ended the night by taking shower and rest. if things go according to plan, we have a long day tomorrow 🙂

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All of the photos of our Kyoto adventure are in Kyoto 2010 photo album.