We left for the airport in the afternoon to catch a flight to Osaka via Hong Kong with a 4 hour transit. I felt really excited to be taking Cathay Pacific for a change rather than my regular Malaysia Airlines. Dinner was served on board this short flight to Hong Kong. We were offered a choice of either chicken or fish and I opted for the latter, thinking that chicken would be rather dry and chewy like overcooked chicken breast. It was fish cooked in a mild, spicy sauce served with coconut rice. For desserts, we had a sweet potato pudding and fresh cut fruit.
Some time after dinner, the pilot announced that our flight could not land in Hong Kong due to one runway being closed, and that we would need to divert to Ho Chi Minh City to refuel and to sit on the tarmac to wait out the backlog of flights arriving into Hong Kong which could take at least an hour to clear. Now, this was interesting as it was the first time that a flight which I had boarded had to be diverted due to some unknown incident. Later, we got the news that an Emirates aircraft had burst a tyre and was unable to leave the runway, causing massive congestion at one of the world's busiest airports.
We finally arrived in Hong Kong at approximately 11.55pm - more than two hours later than our scheduled time of arrival. This only gave us roughly an hour to clear security and to freshen up before boarding our connecting flight to Kansai International Airport at 1.25am. The flight to Kansai was fortunately a smooth and uneventful one. A meal was served about an hour after take-off but I hadn't much appetite to eat at that hour but still munched a little anyway. Again, we had two choices and I opted for the pasta with some creamy sauce over the fish with rice. One rather interesting point I noted is that for Japanese routes, cold soba is served on board.
We touched down at approximately 6.00am Japan time. During our taxi to the apron, I saw the red, blazing sun rising from the horizon and finally understood why Japan is known as the Land of the Rising Sun. It was a magnificent sunrise indeed! Upon arrival, we found a McDonalds upstairs and bought breakfast. It felt a bit strange buying something in a foreign land and not being able to understand the local language. I felt extremely handicapped as I usually do when I visit countries where English is not the first language.
From Kansai, we headed to Kyoto for our first stop at Kyoto Studio Park which is a small ancient Japanese themed setting with buildings and costumed actors from the Edo period. In the past, it used to be a movie set for filming ancient themed dramas which used to be popular a couple of decades ago, but which have now been replaced with anime. Greeting us at the entrance was a row of food stalls selling some local Japanese fare. It looked and smelled delicious but I already had my breakfast. We also saw our very first sakura tree up close and personal.
After watching an action-packed ninja performance at the theatre, we left the theme park for more sight-seeing at the Byodo-In temple. It is a very beautiful place with a very typical Japanese garden surrounding the ancient structures of the temple. Curved roofs, stone lanterns, a red arched bridge over a smooth glassy green lake are what you will see. Pretty pink sakura trees lined the pebble path around the lake.
We left the Byodo-In temple for the Uji region famous for it's matcha (fine powdered green tea). Lunch was served at a restaurant above a busy souvenir shop. This was our very first Japanese meal in Japan and the food was terrific! What I enjoyed the most was the fresh wasabi as it wasn't overpoweringly pungent like the green paste served regularly with sashimi or sushi.
We had an appointment with a sensei at 3.00pm to learn how to make proper matcha. On our way to our lesson, we saw two beautiful ladies wearing kimono crossing the bridge over the Uji river. They were adorned with so many pretty trinkets and looked just like a life-size walking Japanese porcelain doll. They must have arrived to join in the hanami (flower viewing) across the river. It was brimming with activity across the river with people strolling the pathways, families and friends seated on blue tarpaulins under the pretty pink sakura and lots of stalls set up along the side selling all sorts of snacks and souvenirs.
After a very enlightening lesson on green tea-making, we were treated to a delightful matcha ice-cream dessert served in hand-made pottery. No two pieces are the same as each is individually crafted. I was instructed that one should adore the fine piece of art while slowly scooping dainty mouthfuls of refreshing, smooth green tea ice-cream from the glazed ceramic bowl. It had a very strong green tea flavour, being fragrant but still subtle, making it a very delicate sensation on the palate.
We left Uji for Dōtonbori in Osaka - a buzzing, brightly lit strip with all kinds of famous Osaka food such as takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza). Dōtonbori is indeed a very peculiar street with all sorts of amusing, eye-popping shop signs above the shop front from gigantic mechanised snow crabs to octopus, pufferfish, dragons and even flying cows! Dōtonbori intersects with Shinsaibashi, which is the city's main shopping area.
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