Trip the first
Ugh, at some point I need to move the photos from my camera to my computer too...@_@
So many things to do, so little time. *sigh* I did some cleaning today, as well as tossing out of junk, and then later, shopping for groceries. Tomorrow if I end up on that side of town, I'll go into work to make use of the gym, but I'll be going there on Monday, anyway...
So, anyway. Some stuff about the trip so I won't forget.^_^
The flight there: I bought Victory of Eagles for Thea-san, and since my luggage was rather packed with other stuff, I decided to take it with me via carry-on (my backpack). Lacking anything else to do as I waited for the plane, I started reading it. I think I finished maybe an hour or two into the flight, and it was a very good read. I have the first book of the series from the library now, ready for consumption^^
I also watched a movie - it was a Japanese movie about this guy who prayed at the wrong temple and ended up being visited by the gods of Poverty, Pestilence and Death. It was pretty fun but I didn't have the headphones, so it was essentially a silent movie.
We got to Taoyuan airport and I actually met up with my bro and his girlfriend right outside of immigration. My bro apparently hadn't cut his hair in ages and he looked like he had a bowl-cut cuz his hair was so long. We passed immigration without much mishap, got our luggage, and went out to look for my mom. At that point I had $19 NTD on me, so when we couldn't find her, I used a payphone to call, and it turned out she got off at the wrong terminal. That was easily fixed and soon we met up to head for the hotel.
We stayed at the Grand Hotel again, because I had told her I really liked it and because my bro's girlfriend had never been there before. All the locals seem to think it's not that great, but I still thought it was the awesomest thing ever, and my bro's girlfriend agreed. We cleaned up and walked around a bit before heading to the National Palace Museum. It was....still not a great place to fight jet lag, because it is air-conditioned and dark, but it was a good thing we went THAT day because it was 10/10, and that's Taiwan's Independence Day. There were no entrance fees that day! :D
After a few hours in the museum, we headed back and crashed for a bit before heading out to meet my 3rd aunt. My mom went off to do her own thing while the three of us went to dinner with my dad, my 1st and 3rd aunts and their families. I couldn't believe how much food they ordered, even if there were a lot of us. In the end they had to take almost a full table's worth of food to go, yegads.
One more awesome thing for that day - right around sunset, it started drizzling. By then we had gotten our own room (my mom had her own room before, and it was one of the inner rooms without a view) which had a full balcony. There was an almost perfectly circular rainbow right outside, and it seemed almost close enough to be touched.
The following day, we got up at the ass-crack of dawn to catch our flight to Japan. Eventually, we got ushered to the waiting room right before boarding, and I was about to put on my headphones and listen to music when my bro said, "....is that Hello Kitty?"
It was the Hello Kitty plane. (or one of them, at least) I think I about died laughing. We also had Hello Kitty headrests, Hello Kitty in-flight entertainment (at least, the vid playing on the screens were all of Hello Kitty), and Hello Kitty food (the fishcakes on the stir-fried noodles were Hello Kitty faces. I KID YOU NOT). Needless to say, I was endlessly entertained (amused), but mostly I zonked out and fell asleep.
We landed in Kansai airport without mishap, and had a minor blooper when we were going through immigration. They needed to know where we were staying and I brilliantly did not keep Thea-san's information with me (being entirely too used to having a desktop and internet at my disposal). After much hand-waving, we agreed to put down Holiday Inn (I don't even know if there's a Holiday Inn in Kyoto) and we made it out.
Amusingly enough, when we exited customs, for the first time in my life, my luggage was inspected. After dumping all my loot in Taiwan, needless to say all they found was a lot of clothes, chocolates and oddly enough, dryer sheets (those were some strong smelling dryer sheets). So my bro and his girlfriend got out way before I did, and when I pull out, what do I find?
My bro and his girlfriend standing around, waiting for me. And Thea-san, also waiting for me.
I had a moment of "That's her! ...I think that's her. I'm pretty sure that's her. I hope that's her."
Thankfully, it was her, so all's well that ends well.
And that's how we got to Japan. More later, I am all written out now.@_@
Majo
So many things to do, so little time. *sigh* I did some cleaning today, as well as tossing out of junk, and then later, shopping for groceries. Tomorrow if I end up on that side of town, I'll go into work to make use of the gym, but I'll be going there on Monday, anyway...
So, anyway. Some stuff about the trip so I won't forget.^_^
The flight there: I bought Victory of Eagles for Thea-san, and since my luggage was rather packed with other stuff, I decided to take it with me via carry-on (my backpack). Lacking anything else to do as I waited for the plane, I started reading it. I think I finished maybe an hour or two into the flight, and it was a very good read. I have the first book of the series from the library now, ready for consumption^^
I also watched a movie - it was a Japanese movie about this guy who prayed at the wrong temple and ended up being visited by the gods of Poverty, Pestilence and Death. It was pretty fun but I didn't have the headphones, so it was essentially a silent movie.
We got to Taoyuan airport and I actually met up with my bro and his girlfriend right outside of immigration. My bro apparently hadn't cut his hair in ages and he looked like he had a bowl-cut cuz his hair was so long. We passed immigration without much mishap, got our luggage, and went out to look for my mom. At that point I had $19 NTD on me, so when we couldn't find her, I used a payphone to call, and it turned out she got off at the wrong terminal. That was easily fixed and soon we met up to head for the hotel.
We stayed at the Grand Hotel again, because I had told her I really liked it and because my bro's girlfriend had never been there before. All the locals seem to think it's not that great, but I still thought it was the awesomest thing ever, and my bro's girlfriend agreed. We cleaned up and walked around a bit before heading to the National Palace Museum. It was....still not a great place to fight jet lag, because it is air-conditioned and dark, but it was a good thing we went THAT day because it was 10/10, and that's Taiwan's Independence Day. There were no entrance fees that day! :D
After a few hours in the museum, we headed back and crashed for a bit before heading out to meet my 3rd aunt. My mom went off to do her own thing while the three of us went to dinner with my dad, my 1st and 3rd aunts and their families. I couldn't believe how much food they ordered, even if there were a lot of us. In the end they had to take almost a full table's worth of food to go, yegads.
One more awesome thing for that day - right around sunset, it started drizzling. By then we had gotten our own room (my mom had her own room before, and it was one of the inner rooms without a view) which had a full balcony. There was an almost perfectly circular rainbow right outside, and it seemed almost close enough to be touched.
The following day, we got up at the ass-crack of dawn to catch our flight to Japan. Eventually, we got ushered to the waiting room right before boarding, and I was about to put on my headphones and listen to music when my bro said, "....is that Hello Kitty?"
It was the Hello Kitty plane. (or one of them, at least) I think I about died laughing. We also had Hello Kitty headrests, Hello Kitty in-flight entertainment (at least, the vid playing on the screens were all of Hello Kitty), and Hello Kitty food (the fishcakes on the stir-fried noodles were Hello Kitty faces. I KID YOU NOT). Needless to say, I was endlessly entertained (amused), but mostly I zonked out and fell asleep.
We landed in Kansai airport without mishap, and had a minor blooper when we were going through immigration. They needed to know where we were staying and I brilliantly did not keep Thea-san's information with me (being entirely too used to having a desktop and internet at my disposal). After much hand-waving, we agreed to put down Holiday Inn (I don't even know if there's a Holiday Inn in Kyoto) and we made it out.
Amusingly enough, when we exited customs, for the first time in my life, my luggage was inspected. After dumping all my loot in Taiwan, needless to say all they found was a lot of clothes, chocolates and oddly enough, dryer sheets (those were some strong smelling dryer sheets). So my bro and his girlfriend got out way before I did, and when I pull out, what do I find?
My bro and his girlfriend standing around, waiting for me. And Thea-san, also waiting for me.
I had a moment of "That's her! ...I think that's her. I'm pretty sure that's her. I hope that's her."
Thankfully, it was her, so all's well that ends well.
And that's how we got to Japan. More later, I am all written out now.@_@
Majo