528. Day 14 | Hong Kong to Osaka

Currently in Japan!! We landed in Osaka this evening and drove about an hour to Kyoto. Actually I have no idea where we are really..on the drive over it was completely dark out so I am not sure what the surroundings are like. We are with a tour group here, and when I go on vacations with tours I don't check the hotels and itinerary beforehand (which is sometimes nice so everything is a surprise for me as we go). The total opposite from when I plan my own trips as I plan out every detail. The main place I wanted to visit here in Kyoto is Arashiyama..I have no idea where else we are visiting. I heard the tour guide mention we would also attend a sushi making class one night.

I'm pretty sure we are just on the outskirts of Kyoto right now. We are staying at a hotel with a hot springs (but we didn't go). I think our hotels for a few nights have hot springs so I will try it one night if I have time.

I have visited Japan once before when I was 19 years old, to Tokyo. I don't really remember anything. I think I will enjoy it a lot more this time around and I also want to visit Tokyo again.


Flying over the coast of Japan


On the drive over to the hotel, we stopped at a service station for a washroom break and to get some snacks. This is the ladies' washroom..you can see which ones are occupied/vacant and choose which toilet type you want. It was sooo big and nice inside! Definitely the nicest service station washroom I've ever been to. All the sitting toilets were the high tech Japanese ones as well.

Afterwards, I went to the convenience shop there to get some snacks. The Japanese people are extremely polite, as you may know already. Especially the cashiers. The cashier I got was a tall old man. He was so cheerful and kept saying things in Japanese to me. I had no idea what he said but he was incredibly polite and happy. I paid 1000 yen for a 110 yen item so I had a lot of change. He handed me over a handful of coins and I dropped one on the floor by accident. I was preoccupied with putting the rest of the change in my wallet so I didn't bother picking it up right away. But immediately he started walking over. The cashiers counter was very long..there were a few of them lined up and he was on the end of the counter..so he had to walk all the way around, past the other cashiers, to the other side to reach me just to pick up a coin for me. It was so nice. Made me feel a bit awkward and bad that he had to do that though lol.



We had dinner at our hotel in the ballroom. It was a really nice dinner, served in the "kaiseki" style which is popular in Kyoto. This type of cuisine consists of many small dishes and everyone gets a full set. I should have opened everything up before taking a photo but inside the bowls/covered bowl is rice, an egg thing and sashimi. We also got a miso soup and a bowl of udon noodles afterwards so the whole dinner was very filling and a fun experience. According to our tour guide, we will have a lot of kaiseki meals which I'm really looking forward to already!



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