20 Hr Adventure

this is a simple map of Japan, not drawn to scale, locations not exactly where they are but just a rough sketch…

here’s a close up of Kyushu island and a portion of southern Honshu.

This is my train ticket. 11500yen (RM360).

I have no idea why is it called 18 cos it has nothing to do with it.

The basic way to use it is… board ANY JR commuters or JR rapid train.

Not valid on bullet trains nor express trains…

Valid throughout the country, as long as it is JR and not other train companies.

This explains why my journey is more than 20hrs, with 6 train transfers whereas it can be done in 7 hrs with 1 bullet train plus 1 express train. Its ok… I’m a budget traveller, that 7 hr journey would cost me rm600+ one way.

And so the story goes…

I boarded the train at Miyazaki at 2.30pm …. reached Shimonoseki at 11pm plus…. and i was supposed to catch the 12.20am train to Shin Yamaguchi and overnight there nicely… but…

I reached Shimonoseki, got off the train, i ran to the platform where i am supposed to board the train to Shin Yamaguchi. I then saw the train schedule at the platform, and it says that the last train is 11.40pm and no more trains at 12am. … hmmm??

the train came in seconds… and i began to panic… the doors opened, everyone went in… I asked the lady who was standing by the door, “Does this train stop at Shin Yamaguchi?” …. she went ” uhhh…..”

I panicked even more…. and so i said…. “aiya…just board la..”

Halfway thru the journey, that woman took a piece of paper out and said… “hmm.. seems like it doesnt stop at Shin Yamaguchi… this train is only up till Asa”… that paper by the way was written… “Extended trains on 13th August 2007”

Kok Hong went “@#$%!!”… immediately, i got off the train at Hatabu.

At Hatabu, with hopes that there will be another train to Shin Yamaguchi, i went to look for a station staff to enquire…………… no station staff…. the train i just alighted from was the last train that stops by at Hatabu…….

no choice, i had to return to Shimonoseki by 12.20am and stick back to original plan.

Hatabu…. no trains, no bicycle, no friend living in Hatabu… and i don’t even know where Hatabu is until i saw the map…

Heart-broken, i took a taxi… 10min ride costs 1600yen (RM48)… he was speeding and went past a red light… and my heart was broken

I paid the taxi driver, with my heart broken…. and left the taxi with my bags….with my heart broken…

I looked for my train ticket, this time with my brain blown up…

oh… the whole file with my train schedules..trip schedules…newly bought rm360 train ticket….. is …… inside that taxi…. where i left my broken heart as well…

I ran inside the train station, told the station attendant my ticket was left inside the taxi….she asked me if i could remember the taxi company and colour….

i couldnt… i knew it was a white taxi…..her reply….. Shimonoseki has a lot of taxi companies with their taxis painted white….

i went….. “@#$%!!” in mind…

she ran outside with me, asking help from all taxis parked outside the station to radio call every taxi in their company if there is a file in the taxi…. there were 3 companies outside….no reply…

and i asked her… when is the train to Shin Yamaguchi? she said 12.20am. today is special cos there was a festival and there are extra trains running tonight….

I went …. “@#$%!!” in mind…..

She went back inside with me, photocopied the telephone directory with Shimonoseki’s taxi companies’ numbers…..heck… it was 3 pieces of A4 papers thick!! … ALL taxi companies’ numbers!!!

i called every toll free number…. and 12.20am passed…..

waited for reply……and one called…. telling me the driver is coming to Shimonoseki station to pass me the file now….

I went….. “YAY!!”

i got the file….but i missed the train….. the earliest train to Hiroshima is at 6.30am, this time not via Shin Yamaguchi but elsewhere…

I spent a night at the station….

and my butt hurt so much i went to a bench underneath a bridge nearby and slept there….

woke up at 5….. took the train and left….

some of you may find it difficult to understand what i have just written. Frequent train commuters in Japan will probably understand cos…. trains in Japan are quite complicated for first timers…

my advice: dont travel in Japan alone when you don’t know how to read in Jap, or even chinese letters…. get someone who knows Japanese to travel with you.

This happened cos I am not a frequent train user in Japan, … i ride a bike to uni from my apartment everyday…. but seriously, i have understood A LOT bout how the trains go about in Japan.

BUT

dont ask me to bring you to Tokyo… I myself need physical and mental preparation…

The size of Shimonoseki station (8 boarding platforms) is very very small compared to Shinjuku or Shibuya station in Tokyo…. and the crowd is only another fraction of the crowd in Shibuya or Shinjuku…

By the way, Shimonoseki station is the last station you see before you enter Kyushu…. in other words… it is the first station i see after i enter Honshu from Kyushu.

*some may think… Hatabu is on the same line as Shin Yamaguchi… why not just board from there?….

I wanted to…but there were no station attendants on duty to hear from… i didnt wanna take the risk cos the train might not even stop at Hatabu if it were a rapid train