Winter Japan Part 1: Cold in Kobe
My flight was 9pm and I was supposed to reach at 7pm but Dad worried about the after work peak hour traffic jam so we left home at 6pm.
It has been a while since I last went to the airport for a flight journey. I mean yeah, I do 送机，接机. But it has been almost 4 years since I last took an airplane.
Dearie accompanied me to queue up to get my boarding pass while dad went to park. When all was done, Papa brought us to the 24 hour food court and we had the most expensive sandwich ever. Really is tai lang (hokkien for slash ppl)! Why are airport stuffs so expensive!
I had to board at 8pm. Couldn't bear to leave dad & Dearie behind. One last hug & kiss goodbye and I went inside alone and looked at both of them leaving the airport.
It was quite scary to be walking inside the airport alone for the first time. I called Shan up and asked her a lot of questions. Because this isn't a direct flight, I'd have to transit at Bangkok International airport, I just hope I won't screw things up.
I found my way to the Gate and my bag has to go through the security check and I forgot I left the bottle of water mom gave me untouched. I drank a few mouthful and hand in over to the officer as no liquid is allowed to be brough on plane. I wonder why. Not like water is flammable?
I was glad Adelyn remembered my flight and she wished me a bon voyage.
While waiting, I exchanged sms with Dearie a lot cos I was really feeling quite nervous about it.
My worried look while waiting at the boarding room.
Anyway... I boaded the plane at 830 and the plane took off at exactly 9pm.
Beside me was an old ah pek and behind me were some si ginnah who kept whining throughout the plane. Had a meal in the plane and most ppl were resting. I felt paiseh for having to pass through the ah pek whenever I needed to go to the toilet.
Reached Bangkok International airport at 1120pm and tried to find my place to the transit place but apparently I think I got the wrong way and had to approach one of the staffs there for directions. I was directed to this D gate. But there were D1, D2, D2 all the way to D7. My gate was D1 but funny how D7 was the first one after I passed through the security check and had to walk another long way D1.
At 12am, I waited to board the plane from Bangkok to Osaka. I knew my dad & Dearie would be asleep as they've got work the next day but I just sent both of them sms to let them know I had reach Bangkok and would reach Osaka the next morning.
一路上就这样一个人看看，逛逛。
没什么事情可以做，就坐下来发呆。
没有拍照，因为没有那个心情。
I thought we could board the plane directly after the boarding gate was open. But no... we were supposed to board a bus which will take us to where the plane was 'parked'. We had to climb a flight of steps before we actually came by where the flight attendants were and thereafter directing us to our seats. Lol, I used 'we' as if I was travelling with ppl when I was just travelling alone.
The plane took off at 1am. We were served food about an hour later. I was still quite full from the previous meal but hey, I paid for it. Full also must eat! It was a Japanese uncle who sat beside me this time. I knew cos he was reading Japanese newspapers. Lights were off after the meal for ppl to get sleep as it will be an overnight flight...
很想睡，可是却睡不着。
脑子里有好多东西，却不知道要怎么 organise.
飞机上的位子好小，哎呀！是我人太大只，脚又不可以翘起来。
就这样闭目一点，小睡一下，又醒着，又累了，又休息。。。
一直不敢相信我真的到冬天的日本去了。。。
Day 1, 28 Dec 2008, Kobe 神户
Friday, I landed at Osaka Kansai Airport, alone, at 730AM. Or at least it was still 630AM according to my watch as Japan is one hour ahead of Singapore.
It was too early to wake my dad & Dearie up so I'll wait till I met up with Shan then call them. But I had to let Shan know that I had landed and I was supposed to take a coach to go Kobe Sannomiya to meet up with her. We arranged to meet up at 9am+ over there.
So took my luggage and found my way out to the Super Limo Bus vending machine to get a ticket which will take me to Kobe Sannomiya. The bus came and I walk towards the coach and a few Jap uncles were sprouting a series of Japanese at me which I don't understand at all so I said, "I am not Japanese." Then what happened next was a series of 鸡同鸭讲.
One of the uncle drew what seems like rectangle, though knowing I'm not Japanese but they still speak the language. Then another uncle repeated, "Tikit tikit!" Then oh! Ok, I showed them the ticket and they seemed to motion that yes I got the right coach cos I heard "kore kore" which means 'this one' in Japanese?
So I went up and was prepared to find a seat when I got stopped by the driver quite rudely. Well, prior to this, Shan had mentioned there will be a conductor to check the ticket and it didn't occur to me that the person checking the tic would be the driver. So when the driver stopped me rudely, the ppl on the bus were looking at me. Things were ok after I showed my ticket but still... getting stared & stopped rudely wasn't a nice feel.
More ppl boarded the bus and off the bus go. Along the way, I see lots of water. I know Japan is made up of tiny islands but I didn't know a city itself has so many tiny little land connected by bridges. So basically I was travelling from land to land via bridge. It's like travelling on the causeway bridge from Jurong to Johor but the journey & distance is soooooooooo much longer, way way way longer and lots of times within a 1.5hr journey. The Causeway bridge is probably 10-15min drive so imagine....
Along the way, I see a lot of 'chimneys'. It's like a very very large version of Jurong Island. Smoke were coming out from tall big pipes. I supposed it was the chemical companies industry there. They were so many of them. Some were white smoke, some were black smoke... I wonder what were they burning inside.
As it was the morning peak hours, there were several jams and the bus was unable to move as fast as intended. So time was ticking away and I wasn't sure when will I alight. I couldn't read Japanese words and even if there were Romanji I also won't know if I was at the right place. Cos a few occasions the bus stopped and there were passengers alighting. I had to looked around frantically. I couldn't ask anyone since I don't know the language. So I just sit until I get chased away, I guess.
Which was what happened. There were only a few passengers, including myself left on the bus when the driver yelled. I'd no idea what he was yelling of course but seeing everyone leaving the bus, I followed suit to get my luggage.
It was raining and the bus didn't stop at a sheltered place. It just stopped in the middle of nowhere, just by the street. I don't see any signs indicating where the place was except a big Sannomiya mall which I'd seen in Shan's blog. I got my luggage and was figuring out how to get to a sheltered place carrying a heavy luggage cos I don't see any sheltered place when I alighted, not even bus stop or buildings which I could probably enter to keep myself away from the rain.
Before I could head anywhere while pulling my luggage, I heard a loud "EN AH!!!"
It turned out to be Shan!!! Boy was I glad to see her. I almost couldn't recognise her in that outfit & hairstyle. She directed that we have to go to a train station but there's no 'heavy baggage access' and both of us had to carry my heavy luggage down flights of stairs.
I see many students & working ppl walking through like an underpass place. Their dressing are really cool in my eyes. I was just so awed. I followed Shan and we came by a mama shop where she enquired about some train ticket while I made phone calls to my dad telling him that I'd met up with Huishan already and would be making way down to her apartment. Next was calling up Dearie who was at work to 报平安.
Made way to Shan's apartment and the air at Kobe was quite "face-stinging". It was a cold morning and my fingers were freezing and her apartment was up on a slope and 我费了九牛二虎之力 to pull/push my luggage up.... old liao old liao.
So, I finally stepped into her apartment and I was about to get in around the house in my socks after taking off my shoes but it's sort of required to wear "house-slippers" inside? It felt kinda awkward to be wearing around something inside a house but ok...
I settled down in her room and dug out the stuffs meant for her from her mom and then I looked around her place, her room... still a bit unbelievable that I am actually there! Shan surfed net for a while and said she'd have to get another friend over and said I could use the net but there's just one problem, the 'C' key on her laptop's keyboard couldn't be use so for all the Cs she had to type, she used copy & paste. That's also a problem for me then cos my password consist of a C so I basically couldn't sign or log in in any of my accounts.... could only do random surfing... While she was away, I just laid down and rest, occasionally flipping through pamphlets and booklets on Japan, Kobe she has..
30 minutes later, Shan brought her friend DT who'd put up at her apartment for a night and so.. Shan would bring me & DT around Kobe for a day.
We went around the neighbourhood where Shan lives and had our first meal for the day at this ramen place.
Tada!
I think the special thing about it is that it has free flow of kimchi. Kimchi originated from Korea? Yes? No?
After the sumptuous meal, we decided to go back to the Sannomiya mall. Had to take the trains again. I couldn't differentiate what's subway, what's densho... there are also the JR railway...I am seriously very confuse so I'd just follow the leader will do.
Took some bo liao pics along the way inside...
And we came by Sannomiya! I thought the name of the road was kinda amusing so we took it with the road sign!
Inside the mall is kinda like a big version of Bugis with sheltered walk way with 'shophouse-stalls' kinda concept. But it's a really really long stretch down. Very beautiful, surrounded by lots of beautiful ppl.
We looked around, trying to look for cheap deals to get. I'm looking at getting a new comfortable puffy coat/jacket cos the olive green one you see in the picture above, belongs to Shan. Most of the designs I saw at the shops are really nice but they're too short for a long torso gal like me so I had to give a lot a miss.
Oh by the way, we came back hiao hiao shop inside and saw lots of really cool winter accessories.
It was drizzling so we were caught up in the rain on a few occasions.
There was Chinatown over there so we went and take a look. But as it was raining, there weren't a lot of patrons. And those ppl at Chinatown are actually PR*s shouting "iraiiseimasen" (how do you spell it?)
There wasn't much to explore at the Chinatown so we went back to the mall. Got hungry and decided to settle for a little snack at this Danish Cheesecake place to rest for a while from all the walking.
So we made orders & stuffs and I thought Shan looked kinda seh in this pic trying to get attention of the waitress...
Our orders came in the most yummy-licious form. It was my first time seeing such droolable cheesecake. The cheesecakes I ever saw comes in form of slice but this one...woahh... steaming hot.
Night falls even though it was barely 7pm and it was pouring like mad out there. Strong wind blowing off my very lousy umbrella. At some point, I thought my umbrella would just snap right there.
We came by this mall. It's like any other mall in Singapore with multi stories and selling lots of clothes, accessories etc. It also has entertainment like cinema booths, some gaming place. And then we came by a shoe shop... as we were attracted by some boots displayed at the outside of the shop...
To my horror, when I stepped inside, I was overwhelmed by the number of pairs of boots inside...
That is just one part of it. The other part of the shop is...
Goodness!!!! How often does one see a sight like that in tropical Singapore? I was dumbfounded when I saw the number of pairs of boots! They probably have even more inside their storeroom or something!!! I was like... WAH KAO EH!! lol...
Something I don't understand about Japanese ladies shoes. They only come in 3 sizes, S, M, L... like how the hell is that measured by US 5, 6, 7, 8 or UK 37, 38, 39, 40? The pair of shoes Shan was wearing are already L, so what does that make me? They don't even have XL! LOL! Then how am I going to survive in Japan if I have to live there? LOL~~~~
While I was waiting for them as they look at those cutesy shoes, I was outside exploring the architecture & interior and their escalator are really interesting... it's a 'waved escalator'.
We actually took those up earlier and it feels very fun & amusing. It's not bumpy, it fact it was an 'enjoyable ride'. To most ppl, escalator is just a form of 'transportation' to bring ppl from one place to another, usually used in getting a level/storey higher or lower. But that particular escalator made the 'journey' like a 'ride' more than just 'moving from point A to point B'.
Next we came by a Totoro shop. Actually it's a shop selling merchandise from the makers of Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle etc. I bought 2 facial towels! And here's taking blurry pics (without flash) with the most famous "dragon cat" LOL~
There was another lighted stand-up board of Totoro. Tried to take pics of it...
We tried to get pics of the pretty scenery but it was raining, the weather was really cold. Hands & fingers were freezing. Not to mention my shoes/socks were all wet considering we had walked the whole day. Night sceneries without tripod really hard to take. So aiya... we'll go have dinner first and maybe the rain will stop later.
We went to this German restaurant? And German's speciality is sausages & beer?
With the omelette & beer
Okie dokie, time to dip in!
Once again, from time to time, there will be stuffs I didn't get it. Not saying I'm comparing things in Singapore & Japan but see the picture above again? Notice the side tables? Ppl are facing towards the scenery, sitting side by side instead of sitting face to face when they dine.
Ok, I know it's common for Japanese patrons to face the counter or the master preparing the dish all sitting side by side and sipping wine/beer/alcohol. But aren't we in an ang moh restaurant? Ok... ang moh restaurant IN JAPAN so must follow the way. I don't know about others but I certainly do feel awkward dining while having to see my own reflection from the glass panel and seeing ppl's reflection of ppl walking pass or to & fro behind me.
After the meal, we had gotten more pics of the Mosiac place but apparently, it was still blur or either that I look fugly so hahaha...don't want to put up here. Think only my zi pai can make it ba?
We managed to came by a funfair. I was pretty excited when I saw the pretty ferris wheel, game stalls, 旋转木马 etc but as they were closing soon and there weren't many ppl around due to the rain, we didn't take any rides except took a pic of the pretty ferris wheel.
That marked the end of our day. On our way back to the train stations, we came by this pretty sight. Sorry for my shaky hand, really very hard to take night sceneries mei mei-ly.
Over here, there must be some kind of occasion to see pretty lightings on the streets but over there it seemed pretty normal to have such pretty lights all around. Ok, maybe because it's a tourist spot so that's why? But I don't see any tourist spot in Singapore with these pretty pretty "light on trees" decor because Orchard Rd during Xmas season?
We got home and settled some payment/bill issues with Shan for upcoming trips & travel plans. Took turns to bath, daily report to Dad & Xiang and slept... I didn't catch a wink on the plane the previous night and gosh... I was really dead tired.
原来日本的 futon 就是这样的。
即使是两层，也还蛮薄的，那也是因为我很重。
明天会到日本另外一个地区吧？
是可以看雪山，会下雪的地方。
我们会在那里呆 2D1N, 再直接从那里程搭巴士到东京。
我们也将会逗留在东京 3D2N 再从那里直接到回到神户.
所以我们得准备接下来5天的衣服及用品。
珊，谢谢你安排的行程。
因为不熟悉日本的语文和地理，所以也没能帮得上忙。
还好这段日子有你在当翻译和指标。谢谢。
To be Continued...
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