I seem to have in my brain that JR Pass holders are not entitled to ride on the Nozomi. I just looked at our regional pass but this not stated. I was a little surprised at the JR Office this morning when we went to exchange the voucher for the pass and asked for tickets to Nagasaki. All seats were taken on the times we selected for the Shinkansen part of the route (we were at the office about 9 am asking for the 10:08 or 9:18 am Shinkansen). The guy understood where we wanted to go, clicked around on the screen and offered us 9:48 am Shinkansen. I was a little surprised since that time did not appear on my search on the Hyperdia website (because I unchecked the "Nozomi" option). Then I saw the printed ticket and noted Nozomi printed on it. Hhhm, I think the guy gave us an upgrade. There are actually many empty seats in our car No. 13. My wife remembers taking the Nozomi. I think that was our first ride way back when we didn't buy the JR Pass because we didn't do that many stops.
{Now taking break from writing and drinking Suntory Highball (9% alcohol; concoction of whisky and soda) from a tall can on the Shinkansen. My wife seems to have liking for Highball. Eating is definitely allowed. Alcohol not a problem.}
Jillian and Chun Way parted ways with us in Osaka. We received notification last night that their AirAsia flight at 11 am had been delayed to 1:50 pm and they had to go to the airport to checkin 4 hours before the flight. Unless they want a refund or switch flight.
It's been a hectic 2 weeks, filled with walking. The last I checked Fitbit records on my smartphone, we had walked about 160 km averaging 20,000 steps each day. After just checking my fitbit again, we have walked more than 240,000 steps which is close to 200 km. After the climax at Universal Studio Japan (in Osaka) on Friday, we can feel the energy sapping. So, we will take it easy for the final leg of our 3 week holiday. Enjoy more of the onsen. Enjoy local cuisine. Take in some sights.
{It is 11:12 am, we are making a brief stop at Hiroshima. Some of these stops are for only 1 min 20 seconds. So you have to be alert and be at the exit before the train stops.}
The last time I wrote it was on Kanazawa. Since then we have been to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka.
Visiting Kyoto for the third time, I am still impressed with the wooden structures of the shrines and temples. This time we made it a priority to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine. There is no entrance fee but the street food hawkers make a roaring trade. The tourism body has made a big splash of this with banners all along the walkway from the train station proclaiming that Tripadvisor users have voted the Inari Shrine as the No. 1 tourist attraction in Japan!
The attraction is definitely the torii or wooden gates that are erected on a mountain trek (leading up to the peak) offered as prayers or for blessings by worshippers. They are all made of wood and they rot so we saw workers chain-sawing down some of the rotten gates. It makes for lovely pictures but the place sees huge throngs of tourists so it is difficult to get good pictures without being photobombed.
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| These gates are made for walking |
We did not go all the way to the top (it would have taken about one and half hours to and fro).
Inari is all about the torii. You see it one time, and you are set for life. To get there, use the JR Nara Line local train and stop at Inari Station. Don't get on the rapid service trains because they don't stop here.
Next we visited Kiyomizu Temple in the Higashiyama district closer to Kyoto city centre. The problem with Japan is that they are too industrious about maintaining their heritage and cultural assets. Yes, Kiyomizu was shrounded with protective nettings and a roof for regular checkups and restoration works. You can still enter the temple, you just can't get a shot of that fabulous view you see so much in tourism blurbs. It happened to us at the Sensoji and Nikko on earlier trips. Don't despair, there will be another time.
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| Jillian and Chun Way entering the Kiyomizu |
The streets around Kiyomizu is still bustling and ever more crowded. We saw Starbucks and made a courtesy call and found the interior truly Japanese with sitting on the floors but too crowded.
I recalled seeing geishas at one of the corners and while distracted my wife suddenly alerted me to two geishas and so the geisha-stalking followed. My wife commented that one of the geisha is really ugly. I think maybe it is deliberate. I am still not sure whether the tourism folks planted these geishas for photo-opportunities because the girls seem to go out of their way to oblige requests by tourists to take photos with them. I think maybe they are not real geishas - one of them could not even walk properly with her wooden clogs. But I think we spotted a couple of real geishas in the Gion district on our first night in Kyoto as they hurried off into the cold dark night.
Kyoto is all about the shrines and the temples. We didn't make it to the Arashimaya Bamboo Grove but walked all the way to the Philosopher's Path and Gingakuji Temple to just miss the opening hours. It was super-freezing cold at just after 5 pm so we headed for the first restaurant we saw open and had really good pizza.
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| The temples in Kyoto never fails to imrpress me |
As far as apartments go, the one in Kyoto was the best. Big enough and facilities quite complete.
{11:41 am, looking out the window to enjoy the view. Wife taking a nap.}
On the way to Osaka, we made a stop in Nara to see the deers. And the shrines and temples of course. We left our bags in the lockers and bought a 1 Day Pass which lets you use the local bus for the major attractions. Our first stop was the Todaiji to see the deer. We decided not to pay the 800 yen for an up close view of the temple, happy to just peek through the wooden barricade.
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| Todaiji through the screen |
Then we took the bus, stop at another World Heritage temple on the way to a soba shop but found that googlemap wasn't accurate enough (or someone is fooling around with tourist putting up erroneous locations of so-called famous eateries). We headed back to the main shopping area for lunch and ended up in shop which sells only curry dishes. After lunch, we found that immediately down the lane were countless other options.
We then took the bus to a really far off place to visit another World Heritage temple (Toshodaiji). Lovely place, just a bit out of the way. If you love temples, by all means, otherwise Todaiji is all you ever need.
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| It was freezing walking from the bus stop to the temple |
And finally we are in Osaka. We booked an apartment just around the corner from the Matsuyamachi subway station. This morning we met a Malay family from Kuala Lumpur heading for day trip to Kyoto. They were staying in an upstairs apartment. This turned out to be the worst apartment in the trip. We selected it probably because it is cheaper that the rest. But it is old and the washing machine is out in the open balcony which makes it difficult to do the laundry when it is freezing cold. Also, the sink has no hot water and there's no place to hang your clothes when you take a shower (it was the same in Kyoto). Well, at least it was big but the walls are super thin.
The highlight of this Osaka leg must of course be the Universal Studio (they label it as Universal City). Even though we have been to the one in LA, we were not disappointed. It took more than one and half hours to queue for the Harry Potter 4K 3D animation ride. It was quite fun and the visual really good except for the jolts. When I got off the ride, the conveyor belt disoriented me a little and a girl staff quickly came over to ask me to stand aside to rest and regain my balance. We assured her I was alright but she looked displeased for not obeying her instructions.
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| Hogwarts, seeing double. Who cast a spell? |
After that, no more rides for me except those suitable for kids like the dinosaur ride. Haha. The other three did enjoy the Hollywood Dream and the one at the Hogsmeade. I just sat in the cold and enjoyed the Christmas songs which kept looping endlessly. If you stay late, there's not many in the queue. There's even a weird line which says "Singles" which is much shorter. Chun Way walked straight into the Hollywood Dream without having to wait at about 8:30 pm (park closes at 9 pm).
Talking about CW. When he went in to the Dream ride, we said, "we will wait here", meaning the entrance. Then we went opposite the to sit under the pink umbrellas. The two girls then decided to go for the ride too. I sat there keeping my eye on the exit. After about half an hour, the two girls came out. I was surprised. Where's CW? What? He didn't come out? We tried to call his phone. It went to voice mail. We searched in the immediate vicinity. I looked into the Minion shop. No luck. It was almost 9 pm, closing time. Jillian decided he would be heading for the exit. We found him there of course. It seems he had come out almost half an hour ago (he walked right into the ride) and not finding us at the entrance started searching. He went back and forth for half an hour. He tried to use his phone but couldn't get a reception. Couldn't connect to the wifi for whatsapp either. So he stood in the middle of the compound leading to the exits scanning for us.
The lesson from the misadventure? Be more specific in your instructions. "Wait here, within 50 feet. Don't go beyond 50 feet". It seems he got lost a few times when he was a kid on outings with his family so he didn't panic!
Fair warning. Everything is in Japanese. But they do drop a sprinkling of English in the dramas and shows. And many feature non-Japanese actors. We enjoyed the Lost World show because we thought it was so "Japanese", different from the one we saw in LA. For the Christmas Light Show "Voice of an Angel", the laser spectacle itself was amazing and you can really enjoy Christmas songs in whatever language. I love the angels floating up on top of the buildings. And finally, the giant Christmas Tree was spectacular. We were so distracted that we had to run all the way back to Hogsmeade for the final light show featuring Hogwarts and the live characters from Harry Potter.
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| Magical Hogwarts from Moong Nah's iPhone |
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| The wand in search of it's owner ... |
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| ... yes, this wand is for you! Look at all the kids spellbound by the magic of Hollywood. |
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| Sitting on the cold road pavement ... |
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| ... to watch a spectacular lights and sound Christmas show. I just loved the angels. |
If not for Universal Studios, Osaka would be like any other Japanese town. The Osaka Castle is worth a photo or two from afar. We visited Korea Town and had a lovely lunch of barbeque beef, bimbibab and soup. Then it was to Namba Walk for some shopping underground. Dinner was at a ramen shop in Dotonburi (you buy tickets at a machine) which was quite good. We saw a guy take a block of frozen soup and left it in a huge pot to thaw. These are the franchises. The small shops belonging to independent owners would have a huge pot of soup - may be 3 or 4 feet high and 2 feet in diameter - boiling throughout the day.
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| The customary photo at the Osaka Castle |
{1:05 pm, we switched to the Ltd Express Kamone 23 at Hakata Station headed for Nagasaki. Unlike the Shinkansen, this one is not designed for big luggage so it's a bit of a squeeze having your big bag in the leg space in front of your chair. If you are tall person, it will definitely be a tight fit. I can't see any space or compartment for luggage when coming in to the coach. Maybe it's at the other end of the car.}
It's a two hour ride to Nagasaki. After a light lunch of macha, pau and yakitori bought at the Family Mart just stairs leading up to platform 4, I'm going to take a short nap. We expect the weather to be warmer but still cold. We bought a heattech pants from Uniglo at the Namba Walk yesterday so I am quite comfortable. I had brought my running tights also from Uniglo and thought it would perform the same function. In fact, with the cold wind blowing through my pants, the tights acted like an air-conditioner giving me more chill than warmth. Lesson learned.
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[1:23 pm on Kamone 23, somewhere near Saga]
posted at the Hotel Monterey Nagasaki
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