Transportational Misadventures of a Ch*ng (A Ch*ng geddit geddit!? hur hur)
Hello balls gobusatashite gomennasai (sorry for not writing for such a long time). I am well and have not been kidnapped by the yakuza.
I hope you're feeling better Kennard and on the way out of the hospital or out already.
So last night, after eating yakiniku and drinking by the river, I went to the train station to catch the last train home. Now there's a lot of public transportation in Kyoto, too much of it. There are 3 Kyoto-specific train lines in addition to the national JR one and 3 different bus companies. Unlike Singapore, you can't transfer from one line to the other. You have to cough up at least 220 Yen (SGD3.5) everytime. So I went into the station and there were two different entrances. I took the subway entrance which was the correct one and happily got onto the next train home. So the train I was on passes Keage, Misasagi, Yamashina, all stations I know. But the train is no longer underground and then it goes to Shinomiya. Oh... that's not where I should be going... But then... apparently there are two different trains that run on the same line and that go in different directions after a few stops. So I get off and cross to the other platform hoping that I can take the train back in the opposite direction. I see that the station is completely empty though and I ask the station manager whether there's a train coming from the opposite direction. "Arimasen." Doh. So I ask him for directions and end up on a one hour route march home with my laptop-carrying backpack. Leb right, leb right, leb. In my defence, I usually take the bus home but the last train is an hour later than the last bus.
If you ever come to Kyoto, beware the public transport to the city outskirts (I live in the hills, the characters for my ward are 山科. I just checked the meaning of the characters in Japanese and it means something along the lines of flirting with mountains, very poetic, very tiring). The bus stop from where I take the bus home changes according to the time of day. Needless to say, I've gone in the wrong direction a couple of times. I've also taken another train in the wrong direction. I'd like to defend my blurness but really, I can't. Yes, it was my 3rd day in Kyoto and the first time I was taking public transportation but out of 25 or so students taking the placement test, I was the only one late.
So now I'm back in sch, using the internet. Take care balls.
I hope you're feeling better Kennard and on the way out of the hospital or out already.
So last night, after eating yakiniku and drinking by the river, I went to the train station to catch the last train home. Now there's a lot of public transportation in Kyoto, too much of it. There are 3 Kyoto-specific train lines in addition to the national JR one and 3 different bus companies. Unlike Singapore, you can't transfer from one line to the other. You have to cough up at least 220 Yen (SGD3.5) everytime. So I went into the station and there were two different entrances. I took the subway entrance which was the correct one and happily got onto the next train home. So the train I was on passes Keage, Misasagi, Yamashina, all stations I know. But the train is no longer underground and then it goes to Shinomiya. Oh... that's not where I should be going... But then... apparently there are two different trains that run on the same line and that go in different directions after a few stops. So I get off and cross to the other platform hoping that I can take the train back in the opposite direction. I see that the station is completely empty though and I ask the station manager whether there's a train coming from the opposite direction. "Arimasen." Doh. So I ask him for directions and end up on a one hour route march home with my laptop-carrying backpack. Leb right, leb right, leb. In my defence, I usually take the bus home but the last train is an hour later than the last bus.
If you ever come to Kyoto, beware the public transport to the city outskirts (I live in the hills, the characters for my ward are 山科. I just checked the meaning of the characters in Japanese and it means something along the lines of flirting with mountains, very poetic, very tiring). The bus stop from where I take the bus home changes according to the time of day. Needless to say, I've gone in the wrong direction a couple of times. I've also taken another train in the wrong direction. I'd like to defend my blurness but really, I can't. Yes, it was my 3rd day in Kyoto and the first time I was taking public transportation but out of 25 or so students taking the placement test, I was the only one late.
So now I'm back in sch, using the internet. Take care balls.
posted by OOP @ 10:34 AM
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