Trip to Honshu: Kyoto Part I

Ok so I finally gotten around to writing about our trip to Honshu (main island of Japan). I'm going to do this in installments because it would take forever to do the whole thing. Also there won't be any photos at the moment because I've decided to sign up for Adobe photoshop's new online FREE photo editing service to make my pictures purty and until I'm done with 'em you can't see 'em. But if you want to check out Photoship Express for yourself you can do that here: http://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html?promoid=CBTVJ

Ok so our journey! I booked our flights at the beginning of January on ANA. Mostly because ANA has an english part of their website but also because I'd flown on them before & liked the service. We were flying into Kansai Airport (Osaka) and flying back home from Haneda (Tokyo) so I could only book one way flights. The flight to Kansai cost 10,000 yen each ($100) and the flights from Haneda were 13,600 yen each ($136). If your buying a flight in Japan you can only really book them about 30/40 days in advance. Very strange but there it is. Also the sooner you book the cheaper it's going to be. So if you know your flight date basically a month before it (exactly) you can book your flight & get a cheap rate. You can also fly on Skymark, AirDo, or JAL. Skymark has an english website, AirDo does not but if you can get the help of somebody who can read kanji you'll be alright. JAL as far as I have been able to tell DOES have an english site... you just can't buy tickets on it. At all. You have to use the Japanese part of the site or see a travel agent. Most Japanese seem to use a travel agent when they go on vacation, they help them book train tickets, plane tickets, bus tickets, hotel stays, etc.

If you REALLY wanted to you can also take the train down from Sapporo. However be warned this is a LOOOOOONG commute. About 16 hours because once you hit Niigata you can't use the Shinkansen anymore & have to transfer to a regular train. They're working on building a shinkansen to Hokkaido but it's gonna take about 5 more years to be finished. Plus if you book a flight early enough it's cheaper to fly than it is to take the train.

Because we were only flying domestic & not transfering to an international flight we didn't have to get up at 5:00 am to get to the airport. Instead Arzu & I got up about 8:00 and we were on our way to the airport about 9:00 am. We didn't bring much in the way of luggage (I left the monster suitcase at home!) so we took the bus instead of calling for a taxi. The train was a bit crowded but what can you do? It was Friday morning and this was the first rapid train to Chitose :P. Our flight left at 12:00 pm and we were, in my opinion anyway cutting it a bit close. I had to stop in their gift section (huge btw) and purchase a couple of omiage for my friends in Kyoto & Tokyo.

We found the flight counter & got in line, Arzu was driving me crazy by insisting that we needed to turn our baggage in first & then pick up the tickets but I knew better. So we stood in the annoyingly long line and then I went & picked up our tickets and was told the CORRECT baggage line to stand in so our luggage would end up on the right plane. Now unencumbered by luggage we raced back downstairs to grab a quick burger at Moss Burger (they're disgusting btw) and then race back upstairs to get through security. I love buying my flights online in Japan because you can pick the seat you want to sit in. Best thing EVER. Now I can make sure I get an aisle seat all the time and not have to fuss with people to go to the bathroom. So Arzu & I got an aisle & middle seat in a row of 3. The airplane sucked, whatever model it was didn't have individual air vents and the plane was sweltering. Even the stewardesses were sweating! The creepiest thing about this airplane though was that it had the projector screen... and the screen was directly linked to a f***ing camera on the underside of the plane. I totally could've done without a front seat view of the plane taking off. We slept the entire way to Kansai.

When first arriving at Kansai we grabbed our stuff & headed out into the terminal and straight over to the starbucks that was directly next to the exit doors. I guess starbucks knows people want coffee after a zombie ride in an airplane. Then we left and headed to the train station. Trains in Japan are very strange. A piece of advice: if the train name has the words 'express' or 'limited' in the name it's gonna cost more than local or rapid . This is where we fucked up. We ended up getting reserved seating tickets for the Express but only bought the Rapid seat tickets. So when we got on board we had to pay about $7 extra for the Haruka Express to Kyoto. As I've stated before (and will probably do again) reserved seating is the best thing ever invented. You get a guaranteed seat with extra foot room & they have a nice safe place to stow your luggage so it isn't under your feet, blocking the aisle, or taking up another seat, also random people don't stand in the aisle and bump into you when the train moves like in normal cars.

It took about 40 minutes to get to Kyoto station and Arzu slept through it. I however took the opportunity to enjoy the passing scenery since I'd not seen any of Honshu before besides the airport & the interstate. The houses look much different from the ones here in Hokkaido & the grass was greener there, they had trees with leaves, some were flowering, and there were even a few palm trees!

Kyoto Station is HUGE. If you've never been there before I recommend it. It's got 12 floors at LEAST and is interesting all on it's own from an architectural standpoint. Most of it is open air with a tunnel effect going through it so that they get a cooling breeze in the summer through the whole station. But what's REALLY cool about it is the escalators. You know that saying 'stairway to heaven'? Yeah. They were talking about Kyoto Station. The stairs & escalators just keep going up and up and up. I got vertigo on about the 9th story from looking down at how far we'd come up. Craziest thing ever. There's also all these restaurants, shops, little mini gardens and other stuff like benches, sculptures, etc. And if you go to the very top they have the 'Skywalk' which basically a long glass enclosed hallway that goes from one end of the station to the other and gives you a great view of Kyoto. Best of all? It's free.

Our hostel was about 3 blocks from Kyoto station which makes it really convenient for transportation purposes. The place we ended up was called 'Budget Inn' and it was really a nice place. If you want to check it & it's sister hostel Tour club you can access it here: www.budgetinnjp.com

The place was clean, nice & quiet on a Japanese side street. We were meant to be booked in an all female 6 bedroom dorm but there were 2 guys in there when we arrived. One was Irish (and hott!!!) and the other was American. The American guy snored like a BEAR. Even worse than my dad used to when we would all go camping together. He woke me, the Irish guy, and a French girl up at about 3:00 am that first night. After that I bought earplugs and it was all good. The 6 of us shared a bathroom & shower, there was also an extra sink and a hairdryer we could use. Staff was quite friendly to us & helpful. There were sample iteneraries you could look at, copies of Lonely Planet, $5 a day bike rental, and they gave you a map of local resturants & convenience stores. They also had a great 'lounge' room that had a TV, sink, and fridge. But the best part was that it was set up Japanese style so they had a huge low table, zaibuton cushions to sit on, tatami mats, and the door was a real shoji screen which was cool. We were bushed the first day so after we checked in to the hotel we went back out and got some food at a local chain restuarant and then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

First 'real' day in Kyoto is coming up in "Trip to Honshu: Kyoto Part II".

(I know I know it sounds so cheesy doesn't it?!)