Another Trip to Japan (重訪東瀛)

It's been a while I haven't set foot outside of HK. As it's maple leaves time in Kyoto, I thought I might want to take a second look there. I went to Japan last year and found the leaves there incredibly beautiful. Would it be the same this time? Whilst trees do have a certain time table every year for pushing out buds, fleshing them out into full-bodied leaves and for shedding them, there might be micro-changes in the temperature, humidity, sunlight and aging etc. 

Before seeing maple leaves, I already got a very realistic view of some pine needles  behind some Christmas decoration at the airport.

and had to wait for my plane

This time, I had to go to a terminal I've never been to.

part of my "new" terminal
 

My departure gate. 

 

As it's pretty boring to simply sit there waiting, I got up and caught some reflections

It's interesting to see what effects of off-glass reflections can do to normal vision: one can get windows on landing port stair.



aeroplane, landing port extension and windows got all jumbled together



one can even get some windows in the sky!

Finally, the plane is taxi-ing out on the runway

My last look of the foggy airport

and finally up the sky: waves from three boats describing an arc

Although I've been flying many times off this airport, I seldom did so in daylight. So it's a welcome change this time.

I got to look at the city from a very different perspective

moving further and further along the flight path.

away from the built up areas

The hills are receding

until they begin to look a bit like those "maps" on my primary school geography books before aerial photos become popular

 Soon, there was nothing but a boat below

and clouds above

From time to time, there'd be some breaks in the clouds

but it seems that even up in the sky, there's still hierarchy

 

there are clouds above other clouds

some more turbulent than others.

But the hierarchy was broken by my snack

and I could finally rise above the stormy clouds

But wait a minute, there's turbulence again as we descended

. 

I could see the clouds swirling around me

But beneath the turbulence, I got a glimpse of the Osaka International Airport

It was raining. 

I could see another plane taxi-ing in

The watch tower at the airport

We're moving in now closer to the landing gate

finally stopping beside another Hong Kong airline

.

I was greeted by another Christmas decoration outside my hotel

The hotel lobby

The inside of the huge lamp shade



Flower display at semi-circular sitting area of the reception hall

Flowers beside the reception counter

various prizes for the Christmas lucky draw

various Moet & Chandon wines

Part of the hotel dining area

my floor

After checking in, we had to get some tourist pamphlets and train tickets at the Kyoto Railway Station for our destination the following day.

A model Japanese palace outside the railway station

On one side of the station, there was a lit huge ribbon

on the other side, a huge Christmas tree

with changing lights

even the stairs to the 11-storey building was lit.

 

A pavilion at the roof floor

from which one could get a panoramic view of the city at night

Looking down from the roof

There's a famous "Ramen" (a kind of Japanese noodle) street on the 10th floor

 

This is a very famous restaurant from Hokkaido

a picture of the original restaurant in Hokkaido

But one had first to buy the meal ticket from a vending machine outside the restaurant

where lots of choices are displayed on the screen

On the table are four eggs which are included in the price

All the condiments

Two of the young waitresses there

This is my choice

An advertisement stand outside the restaurant

The adjacent restaurant

The Christmas tree in the middle became three: an additional one on each side of the stairs as reflections

getting down after the meal to get back to our hotel

Another look at the famous tower right opposite the train station before returning to the hotel.