Blogs from Osaka, Osaka, Japan, Asia - page 24

This really starts on 17th May with a 6am pickup from home by our friends Dorothea & Yvonne who kindly drove us to Manchester airport to start our holiday. We checked in with Air France and got our tickets to Paris and from Paris to Osaka, but the seat allocation we had been given differed from those we had originally booked. We were told by the Air France desk that agents are not allowed to reserve seats, but we had been given seats across the aisle from each other. She was able to change this so that we got front row seats with loads of leg room, but we were in the middle aisle and Al really wanted a window seat, (I wasn't to bothered by that). Still we are off on holiday and feeling ... read more

Heading Osaka Heading Going to Japan is one of my biggest dreams ever. I went to Japan from Osaka -Tokyo-Chiba-Tokyo again-Osaka again-Kobe-Kyoto-Himeji-Hiroshima-Osaka again. I took the night flight from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) at 11.45PM from Kuala Lumpur and reached Kansai Airport at 5.30AM. When I reached the immigration, there was a little bit of drama as the officer questioned me about my money and whom shall I meet and such. I guess, this was due to the fact that I was wearing a scarf on my head. Did I look like a terrorist? Darn that 911 event!! Due to that the whole Muslim community is being scanned like a dead morsel. Arghhh!! But I managed to escape that horrifying moment though. As you know that the officer's English was barely understood. So, practically I ... read more

As we sat Buddha style on the floor of the temple for Morning Prayer service, we couldn’t help but wonder how much practice was required before the diaphragm was strong enough to allow a monk to chant for minutes on end without taking a breath. As the monks chanted in sync for nearly an hour straight, we watched as other Buddhist followers inched their way over to the burning embers, sprinkled incense and bowed in praise to Buddha. Not sure whether it was disrespectful for a Catholic to pay tribute to Buddha, Gene and I sat out our turn in line. Gene, however, after being nudged by the Japanese man seated next to him, scrambled over to pay his respects. Feeling as though I was back in the first grade, I struggled to hold in a ... read more

I'm in Osaka!! And it is sooooo crazy and busy and noisy, I can imagine that Tokyo will be just as bad, if not worse! But it's good to see the big cities as well as the small ones. Last night I went back to the YH and was reading in the common room and another foreigner came in and we got to talking. He is from France and his English is not all that good so we were conversing in Japanese. It is really cool to think that two people from opposite sides of the world who have so many things not in common, except the fact that we speak Japanese can talk to each other. It's a little hard to explain how weird it felt, but good at the same time. Later on two ... read more