On the groud in Osaka

I made it.

Backing up, I flew into Hong Kong.  Their airport is massive.  After making my way through security, I went up to the boarding area to look where my flight was coming in.  Try though I did, I could not locate some sort of sign indicating where I should go, nor did my boarding pass specify a gate.  After wandering around near gate 69 for a while, I tried finding out online, and the HKG website said CX506 was going to boarding at Gate 25, so I made my way over there.  It took about 15 minutes to walk there, with people movers (that’s how big that place is).

After getting there I was puzzled by the sight of a different flight number on the sign above the gate.  Having hours of free time, I sat down, people watched, and waited to see if it would change (maybe another flight was coming in first).  It did not.  Getting antsy, I got up and headed further down the terminal to explore.  Soon I was rewarded by a sign showing all the arrivals, their ETAs, and their gates.  The sign informed me that CX506 was coming at Gate 2.  Another long walk (even longer than before, because there were these massive mall complexes in-between), during which time, caught up with people watching, I nearly walked headfirst into two soldiers, both wearing blue camo, black berets, brandishing MP5s.  I made a sheepish expression, leapt rather comically out of the way, and smiled at one.  He looked at me, but did not smile back.

I found Gate 2, naturally, at the extreme far end of Terminal 1.  I let my heavy pack fall to the floor and sank into my chair.  I’d been awake about 33 hours at this point.  I had just closed my eyes when an announcement came over saying that CX506 had been diverted to Gate 44.  A guy came up and started waving us back.  Brudgrudgingly, I obliged.  It took another 15 minutes of walking to get back to Gate 44, which was swamped.  No chairs anywhere.  I went to the nearby Starbucks (I had no yuan, so I couldn’t have bought something even if I wanted to), turned a chair around so it faced the tarmac, and watched through the massive window all the cars, trucks, machines, and people run around, like some perfectly choreographed industrial pageant.

The flight was a little under three hours.  Totally uneventful.  For some reason I had reserved 38K again, and it was the same model of aircraft (a Cathay Pacific Boeing 747), so it was being right back on the same flight as before, except both my seatmates passed out immediately for the length of the flight.  I wish I could have, but it was a lost cause.  I can’t sleep on planes.  As a matter of fact, I think I really hate flying.  It dries me out, my sinuses go to hell (eyes, ears, nose, and throat), and it’s the most stressful activity I’ve engaged in where I’m just sitting down.

Once arriving in Kansai International, I made my way to a train which took me through to the disembarkation/customs area.  I then had to maneuver through a series of dreary DMV-like rooms, answering a few questions.  I never had to lie or even present that damn ticket (that thing turned out to useless, and I will be canceling it as soon as I can get to phone).  Once I made my way though the bureaucratic hurdles, I emerged into the airport proper.  Where the other rooms where sterile and governmental, the front of the terminal was grand and spacious.  After exchanging money (I had only $30 on me), I made my way out of the airport.

Just to go back a bit, when I caught that train I had to run as the minute bells were going off.  I jumped in just as the doors were closing.  Everyone was looking at me.  I was also the only Westerner on the train.  I did a overemphasized wiping of my brow with back of my arm, exhaling ‘WHEW!’ at the same time.  I got a fair bit of laughter, even from the old man in the wheelchair.

Fortunately, $30 was enough to buy me ticket on the Nankai railway towards Shin-Imamiya Station (actually, the ticket was only 890 yen).  A few people were nice enough to help me figure out the machine.  The train was quiet and fast.  It left Kansai, crossed the bridge over the bay, and tore into the city, flying through quaint neighborhoods.  The houses near the train looked very traditional and had slanted roofs.  They were packed in so close to one another, too.  What’s more, they weren’t laid out on a grid.  They were all tucked into each other at strange angles, giving a more organic effect.  There were small plots of farmland (for rice, I’m guessing) all over the place, tucked in between groups of houses, and baseball and soccer fields where kids were playing.  Lots of folks were on bikes.  I instantly felt it was pretty peaceful place.

I got of my station in slightly less quaint part of town.  It’s a little dingy, but it’s not so bad.  I’ve heard Osaka likened to Chicago, and from where I’m at, I can see why.  There’s lots of industry where I’m staying, it appears to be geared towards the automotive.  I left the station, having only vague directions in poorly written English to go by.  Naturally, I went the wrong way.  After a while, I realized I was going nowhere fast.  I used a pay phone and called the hostel, asked if they spoke English (in my piss poor Japanese).  A man came on the phone who did.  I think he realized how lost I was, and offered to meet me back at the train station.  I hustled back, met the man (very nice guy, speaks pretty good English), and threw my pack into his car.  He drove me the opposite way I had been walking.

Just for the record, allow me to reproduce the directions I was given… verbatim:

From the station:

5 min walk

1)     Come out from

2)     Go to right and cross by the crossroad the name of

3)     Turn right at in front of bass stop

4)     Then turn left next small crossroad

5)     You can find our hotel on the left side

This might have worked if they specified what exit out of the station was the starting point.  I never got to find out what ‘bass stop’ meant.  I figured bus stop, but who knows?

The man drove me to the Hotel Mikado, where I’ve made reservations until Tuesday (Osaka time).  I checked in, then went upstairs to my room.  I’ve got a single, which is quite nice.  This place is more of a business hotel (a cheap, but clean, hotel for business men looking to save money) than a hostel, though there are some younger people here also.  My room consists of a simple bed, a small table, a smaller chair, a TV (which I haven’t turned on), and a small fridge.  They also provided me with a few towels and robe, the later of which I’m currently wearing.

After settling in, I went for a little walk to a) get the lay of the land and b) get something to eat.  I wandered down a long covered-road full of shops and small eateries, all were closing down or had the last few customers of the day in them (except for the casino, which was roaring!).  I did not have the strength to deal with anything complicated (language or food wise) so I eventually went to Fetts, a 100 store, and bought some instant noodles and a small bag of rice candy that tastes a lot like kettle corn.

At this point I hadn’t slept in about 44 hours, but was in pretty good shape nevertheless.  Jetlag isn’t so bad if you’re really excite to be somewhere.

I got back to the hotel and started making the noodles.  A young Finn named Franz helped me figure out some of kitchen aparti.  We sat down and started talking.  His English is very good, grammatically too.  Occasionally he’ll pronounce a word funny, but it does not matter.  In fact, I really feel foolish for not knowing a second language, especially *ahem* Japanese, which he speaks a bit of (more than me, at least).  I believe he also speaks Italian, in addition to Finnish of course.

We chewed the fat for a few hours, covering everything from the Onsen, the Alamo, Picketts Charge, Finnish beer, and the recent Japanese quake/tsunami.  In a few hours from now (I’m writing this following morning), he’s going to meet is girlfriend (who’s Japanese) and has offered to show me the way to Namba station on the way, where there’s supposed to be a jazz festival going on this afternoon.  The hotel has free bicycles.

After a few hours, I headed to bed.   By the time I went to sleep, I’d been awake for 48 hours straight,\ and traversed over 15,000 miles.  I’m surprised I only slept eight hours.

That brings me up to date.  I’m about to try and find something to eat before meeting up with Franz at noon and setting out into the city.  Hopefully, I can find either a post office or a 7-11, as they seem to be the best ways for me get money.  I only have 1032 yen on me, which is about $12.87.

Soupy twist,

Edward