It was about a month before the big trip and it being near the cherry blossom season, it was a frenzy time trying to look up for accomodation. Thanks to some friends who had been to Japan, they definitely helped me in many ways during my planning and eased a lot of my worries. Work was madness when it was finishing. So the real planning kicked in right after work ended.
It has become a habit for me to come up with a personalised scrapbook for any big trip of the year and so here's the one for Japan. I think I went a little overboard with planning and decided to "hack it", I listed those places I would like to see and play by the ear when time comes.
Destinations: Kyoto, Nara, Osaka (Japan)
Dates: 13 - 24 April 2013
The night finally arrived, I would have an overnight flight via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airline. Mum and the sister came to send me off, which was not the usual! I guess they were excited about my solo trip to a completely new country! I was really nervous the night before, I guess it had been a while since the last solo trip but I was sure everything was going to be fine. Japan is really safe and the people are so polite, nothing can really go wrong (and yea it's true!). At the Changi airport, I picked up a Japanese phrasebook to be my travelling companion :)
It was rainy that night and my flight to KL got delayed, as it was a pretty tight connection (maybe an hour), I was in a panic I wouldn't be in time for my connecting flight as we were over 30 minutes late. Thankfully, the connecting flight was also delayed or probably waited for me! On the way to Osaka, I sat in the middle row at the aisle, I guess I'm over the "I have to have the window seat" phase. It was only 2 of us among the 4 seats, a quiet pleasant Japanese sat in the same middle row. He didn't make any noise, was reading his book and I couldn't help admiring their tidy, organized and eating behaviour.
The flight was okay, I managed to get some sleep during the 6 hours flight. The food was alright, the nasi lemak I had came with spicy shrimps (ermmm...). I took Malaysia Airline before, many years back to London, and the service was really attentive. But this time, a clumsy young steward actually spilled water on me. I guess it was just my luck because on my flight back, it was really good.
We arrived very early in the morning and my bag had to go through a strict custom check just because I was travelling alone. Argh, they broke one of my zipper handles, not sure if its the airline or the custom (arrgghh!). Despite being tired and slightly irritated, I was all excited... anything easily caught my interest. Japanese vending machine. Thoughtful trolley bags on sale at the airport. Japanese people.
Thanks to my research, I knew where to go when I landed... I headed straight to the ticket office and bought myself a pass to Kyoto with the next fastest train. In the train, I started a conversation with this Malaysian Chinese couple whom were heading to Kyoto as well. They were really surprised I was on my own. I was quite happy at how sociable I became once I got out of Singapore!
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