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A belated Kyoto Station story

Note: Yeah, this happened when I was in Kyoto last November. It’s been a busy month!

After my long hike up and down 伏見稲荷大社 (Fushimi Inari Taisha), I stopped off at Kyoto Station (eki) to confirm my ticket to Tokyo the next day. On my way out, I wound up doing a double take when this girl who was having a smoke recognised me. Me? Who do I know in Kyoto?

Then it hit me. Moonwalker Bar! Last night! Red cardigan sweater! Why do I remember this trivial detail instead of “wow, whatta babe” or her name? Then it hit me again. I think I got into a slightly drunken debate with Yuki-chan about types of sweaters and she was wearing a red cardigan. Yuki-chan was wearing a black pullover. Yeah, that’s it. And that’s how she remembered me!

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Kyoto Station Bus Terminal where Yuki-chan spotted me

We wound up borrowing each other for a couple of hours, getting to know the other (and for me to practice non-existent language skills).

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I told her, あなた 和 美人 です
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and then she promptly started to giggle! (universal language) A lot!

And that was pretty much how our conversation went (in broken Japanese & English and a lot of laughing), until her long distance bus arrived to take her back to her college. And the reason why we guys don’t shoot from the hip when it comes to the opposite sex.

Now what was this (besides two months late)? Was it fate, coincidence, beauty or weirdness that makes a good travel story?  Who knows. I know that she’s studying painting and wants to one day open up an art gallery/cafe somewhere in Tokyo. Somehow I can imagine being in Daikanyama and talking about sweaters while having a doppio expresso crema when I see her again (purely by chance). Think I’ll get comped?  Only if I’m wearing a cardigan that day.

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Changi Airport Terminal 3

Singapore Changi’s Terminal 3 will be going online during the first week of January. Most of SQ’s long haul flights as well as the 380 will fly out of here.

Yes, it’s really that tall. Note the people for scale….
One complaint I have about Changi is addressed in T3. Unlike T1 and T2, T3 has high ceilings and a very airy feel. To address the greenhouse effect that high ceilings have, it will have computerized shutters that will close off the windows from the sun during peak hours.

Immigration for arrivals

Immigration for departures
This pic is what you will see as you clear immigration departing Singapore. The fountain looks like an onsen!

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Missing?




What’s missing in these pictures? Hint: the missing thing is gone because of the crap that blows downwind from Guangzhou Province…

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Survivor of HK Disneyland…

So tonight I went with some frens to HK Disneyland to watch the Xmas parade and the fireworks.

“Sir, the mouse has been playing in the radioactive waste and is rampaging through the park”
The Xmas theme was all over the park. Here in Hong Kong, they say “Merry Christmas” which is the correct greeting/salutation during the Christmas season.

Beeeg treeeee
The actors were all in Xmas getups too

Now which one of use resembles an elf?
It’s not a Disney visit unless you take in the fireworks show. Here in HK, there’s a big “waaaaaaaah!” at the climax of the show.

…waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!
Unlike the other mickey mouse land in Anaheim, things here are not a complete rip-off. And the food is pretty good. Check out this spread. It was really good and it was only HK$130 per person for a party of four!

mmmmm taste the value!
According to one of my frens, unlike the other Disney parks, the characters don’t wander the park to camwhore randomly. Instead you go to a special area, queue and take pix that way. So much for random pix. There’s a really big fountain in front of the park that has the Moby Dick whale as its theme. Naturally, that’s Donald going down with the ship…

waaaak waaaakity waaaaaaaaaaaak waaaaaaak waaaaaaak!
And naturally, what HK experience is complete without the omnipresence of the MTR?

請小心月台空隙

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Karmic Debt

I wound up transiting through SIN overnight to get to HKG today. Normally it works like this:
Fly SQ1 from SFO-HKG-SIN, stopping over in HKG and continuing on to SIN a few days later.
However, SQ1 was sold out so I wound up on SQ15 which leaves SFO at 1245 and arrives at SIN two days later at 0100! Technically it’s “two” days later since we arrived after midnight…
Anyway, my original plan was to stay overnight at Changi Airport’s Transit Hotel then head into town via MRT in the morning. I really had a craving for kaya toast and sock coffee. Still do.
Sounds easy and stress free, right? This is me, remember?? Don’t count on it.
First off, the Transit Hotel was sold out. Period. Second, there’s not a lot of moderate (>US$100) lodging in Singapore. Basically, Singapore lodging works like this: There’s a lot of hostels then boutique hotels and then the big ass fancy awesome get laid hotels that costs as much as your air ticket.
For that bracket inbetween the hostels and boutique hotels are a couple of local no-frills hotel chains: Fragrance and Hotel 81. They’re spread all about the island but their critical mass is in Geylang where you can check in at 0200 and get a single room to crash in.
Besides the odd traveler, these Geylang hotels also attract working girls and their johns for *ahem* business. Not necessarily the *business traveler* type! If you tell your Singapore frens that you stayed in Geylang, be prepared for lots of jokes about “cleaning up”. AHEM…
Anyway when I took the taxi last night to get to the hotel, I inadvertently left my handphone in the cab. I realized this after I checked into the hotel and promptly went into panic mode.
I panic VERY WELL. I asked the hotel clerk to ring my phone for an hour straight.
Anyway, there’s a happy ending to the story when my phone was recovered by the cab driver and turned in to his office. Apparently, when my phone started to ring on the back seat, the cab driver heard it and kept it with him. If he picked up another passenger and the phone was just sitting there the chances that my phone would have walked off were high. Really high. How high? Well, answer this question: Do I like EQMs? Yes? Well that’s how certain my phone would have walked away but for the driver rescuing my phone. I collected it on my way out to Changi Airport for my flight to HKG.
So I just emptied my karma pot for this trip. Best try to refill it on this trip…

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Why do it?

So I get the question: “why do you do it”?
I can look out the window and see thing like this, that’s why.

Or like this

Somewhere over Alaska on SQ15 en route to Seoul Inchon
Because most of my flight, this is what I saw.

Of course, this is how flying SHOULD be. But not if you fly a US carrier!
Also nothing beats SQ service! That’s another reason…

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SF Xmas Tree all twinkley

The tree went up on Union Square the other night.

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That means the Season of Sales has begun!

It’s all pretty and all lit up but check THIS out. Using a cherry picker to place ornaments? Isn’t that…erm…cheating??

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Back in MY day, we used a ladder! Or a chair…

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Party Train…?

I was at Omiya Station waiting to catch the Asama Shinkansen to Nagano a couple of Sundays back when I saw this sign.

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OK, my train will be here shortly

Nothing unusual, right? Just a couple of signs telling you when and what the next train will be at the platform. But look closer at the sign on the right side.

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I should take THIS train instead, right?

What is a “party” train?  Can someone explain, please? =P