Travelling has always been my dream. I always secretly envy my friends who were able to travel to different countries and I like their photos in facebook and instagram wishing one day to be the one posting photos instead. Life happened and I found myself head over heels over Japan. It all started with the movie Rurouni Kenshin. If you want to know how one thing led to another, you may read this.
It's been more than a year since my Japan trip (April 5-11, 2015) so this is obviously long overdue. But, as the saying goes, 'better late than never', right? Lame, I know.
Our flight from Manila was at 3:05 PM (Manila time) and we arrived at Kansai International Airport around 7:45 PM (Japan time) - approximately 4 hours in total.
We were in line at the immigration for more than 2 gruelling hours! The last train going to Kyoto already departed and we weren't able to get our reserved Haruka+ICOCA cards because the JR office was already closed. Good thing we were still able to catch the last trip of the bus going to Kyoto. Got to experience purchasing a ticket for the first time without any problems. Hooray!
The trip was about an hour and a half. My mom was asleep the whole trip. I was so excited so I kept looking outside the window to get a glimpse of the Sakura but the light inside the bus was on and I can't see a thing outside. We got off in front of Kyoto Station and hailed a taxi going to Higurashi-sou guesthouse. The taxi ride was such a delight. He heard me ask my mom something in Tagalog and he asked where we came from. I told him we're from the Philippines and he started to speak in Tagalog. He said he worked in Pasay for 10 years (forgot which company though) and we chatted in both Tagalog and (my sorry excuse of) Nihongo. Still, I was so glad to be able to practice what little I know of the language on our first night in Japan. He wasn't sure if it was the correct guesthouse at first, so he turned off the meter, drove around and when we were sure that it was the correct one, he drove back and helped us with our luggage. Japan doesn't practice tipping but since I was such a happy passenger, I didn't hesitate to let him keep the change which he humbly accepted.
We entered Higurashi-sou guesthouse. As agreed on our email exchange, they left a message for me outside the door with the lock code and let ourselves in. The smell of green tea greeted us as soon as we entered our room. Aaaaahhh! Heaven! Stepped on to the tatami, inhaled more of the green tea aroma and it finally sinked in; "I really AM in Japan!" In a tatami room nonetheless. Thinking that I will be sleeping in a bit in a futon..on a tatami..IN JAPAN!..made me all giddy and excited that it made it hard for me to sleep.
But, before we slept, we set the table and seat pillows aside, I checked the pocket wi-fi that I rented, figured out how to operate the air conditioner, both my mom and I prepared the futon (which was fun and an awesome experience in itself), changed to our sleeping wear and bid おやすみ as Sandman sprinkled dream dust over our tired eyes. <3
It's been more than a year since my Japan trip (April 5-11, 2015) so this is obviously long overdue. But, as the saying goes, 'better late than never', right? Lame, I know.
Our flight from Manila was at 3:05 PM (Manila time) and we arrived at Kansai International Airport around 7:45 PM (Japan time) - approximately 4 hours in total.
We were in line at the immigration for more than 2 gruelling hours! The last train going to Kyoto already departed and we weren't able to get our reserved Haruka+ICOCA cards because the JR office was already closed. Good thing we were still able to catch the last trip of the bus going to Kyoto. Got to experience purchasing a ticket for the first time without any problems. Hooray!
The trip was about an hour and a half. My mom was asleep the whole trip. I was so excited so I kept looking outside the window to get a glimpse of the Sakura but the light inside the bus was on and I can't see a thing outside. We got off in front of Kyoto Station and hailed a taxi going to Higurashi-sou guesthouse. The taxi ride was such a delight. He heard me ask my mom something in Tagalog and he asked where we came from. I told him we're from the Philippines and he started to speak in Tagalog. He said he worked in Pasay for 10 years (forgot which company though) and we chatted in both Tagalog and (my sorry excuse of) Nihongo. Still, I was so glad to be able to practice what little I know of the language on our first night in Japan. He wasn't sure if it was the correct guesthouse at first, so he turned off the meter, drove around and when we were sure that it was the correct one, he drove back and helped us with our luggage. Japan doesn't practice tipping but since I was such a happy passenger, I didn't hesitate to let him keep the change which he humbly accepted.
We entered Higurashi-sou guesthouse. As agreed on our email exchange, they left a message for me outside the door with the lock code and let ourselves in. The smell of green tea greeted us as soon as we entered our room. Aaaaahhh! Heaven! Stepped on to the tatami, inhaled more of the green tea aroma and it finally sinked in; "I really AM in Japan!" In a tatami room nonetheless. Thinking that I will be sleeping in a bit in a futon..on a tatami..IN JAPAN!..made me all giddy and excited that it made it hard for me to sleep.
But, before we slept, we set the table and seat pillows aside, I checked the pocket wi-fi that I rented, figured out how to operate the air conditioner, both my mom and I prepared the futon (which was fun and an awesome experience in itself), changed to our sleeping wear and bid おやすみ as Sandman sprinkled dream dust over our tired eyes. <3
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