Summer trip - 1st, 2nd leg

By Kok Hong on September 10, 2008 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm home, after a 28 day trip abroad. I left on the 13th of August, on board a ferry bound for Osaka.

Its funny how that thing is called a ferry ... I was expecting something like the Penang ferry because I guess that is a typical image of a ferry in Malaysian people's minds. Open up a pre-schoolers' textbook and I can assure you that the yellow box on water will be in there, and labelled as ferry.

That yellow thing in the picture is the ferry I've imagined earlier... its not a sponge

Spot me heading towards the ship ferry

Its my last time meeting them. Their course has ended and they're going back to Korea during my trip.

Miyazaki Port.

It was a 12hr journey. 2nd class bunk beds look like this... no wireless... only a power outlet and a lamp.

So off to bed after a bath and I shall wake up seeing Osaka.

Reached Osaka Port. Got off and took a bus, then a ghost-driven train, then a subway, finally met my classmate back in Japanese School.... then continued our journey to Osaka stn on the train. A somewhat mini reunion at a restaurant. Rode the ferris wheel and had lots of fun.

The real thing is a lot messier than how it is portrayed here.

And less green too... hehe...

Those are trains... not caterpillar

View of Osaka from the ferris wheel. Then lunch was ramen and Takoyaki.

So off I went to Tokyo, using my Seishun Ticket (valid for 5 days on all JR local and rapids, not express and Shinkansen)

That is not a Squidward.

There were many queues formed at the platform and you have to know which line you should stand at. This is what an old man taught me when he asked me where I'm going. He told me I was standing at the wrong line.

Look on the left, it says yellow upward arrow, white circle, white triangle and white circle. For my train, I have to queue up at "Yellow Arrow" . The door of my train will stop right on that spot.

This is the JR West's system.

JR West !! ... I'm not in Kyushu anymore !!

I started off at Osaka all the way to Nagoya, riding only Rapid and local JRs. I have to reach Tokyo by 10.30pm, so if I were to continue my journey in the same pace, I will reach Tokyo only the next morning. Its okay for me but someone is already waiting in Tokyo for me...

So I forked out 9000yen (RM270) just to ride the Shinkansen from Nagoya to Tokyo... Half a month's salary gone just for a 2hr ride.