The Search

Got up early to take the first express train to kansai airport. We had the whole carriage to ourselves and seemingly the airport when we arrived. Very efficient checkin with JAL, after which we endured a laborious bureaucratic process to change our remainf yen to korean won. The plane left on time and provided us with a picturesque final views of the land of the rising sun. Hopefully that will be the last 767-200 flight of my life, as unfortunately our plane was changed from a -300 at the last minute. This plane was older than us and had appalling leg room for us giants, (the only non-asians on board). JAL treats this as a domestic flight service wise (only 90mins) so no entertainment but a respectable breakfast was served. About halfway through the flight clouds filled the horizon and we began to experience minor turbulence which readied us for the large difference in weather we were about to experience.

Once we were on the bus (only public transport, due to train not being ready for 'a few more years') we saw the havoc the heavy rain was the local drivers with at least 3 major crashes slowing things down on the airport tollway, including a particularly photogenic one involving a few cars rolled over and upsidedown. We were thrust off the bus into a torrential downpour at the closest metro stop to our hotel. The footpaths became rivers meaning our shoes, jeans and luggage were getting drenched as we were quite underdressed. After running aimlessly we miracuously found our accommodation from a dodgy map only to be informed that our room wasnt ready. We were handed two umbrellas and were on our way to find lunch and orientate ourselves in the new big city. We came back after some filling lunch and found a seemingly korean style accomodation (no shoes allowed, low beds) but with an extensive selection of cable channels (MTV and english movies). But the best thing was the free wireless internet, which is faster than my adsl at home. Spent the rest of the afternoon reconnecting with the world as we could now use the macbook because they use the europrean style plugs here instead of the american style ones as in japan.