Finally, I’m done with my final exam (there’s only one left next Saturday) and now I’ve some time to post the Japan entries and sort all the pictures.
So here is the first one ^^..

Our trip to Japan began early in the morning on December 3rd, I woke up at 4.20 am (Moritz was up even earlier). Because our flight was sheduled for 7.30 am we had to go to the airport by taxi. So the day before Moritz called Dennis’ Taxi Service and asked for a cab to come at 5.15 am to UST to pick us up. But due to communication problems (the assigned driver thought that we wanted to be picked up at 6 am, but we wanted to be at the airport around this time) the cab arrived 20 minutes late. Even though we arrived in time.

We flew with Air India (for the first time). Before we booked our flights we searched for some information about this airline. We found various opinions. The funniest comment was from our Indian fellow student: “You flew with Cathay, compared to that flying with Air India would be like taking a bus.”
I must admit, that Air India isn’t the airline I would choose for a long distant flight. The stewardesses are around 40, the safety video was shot with a hand camera. Weird was, that the machine was nearly empty and that we were checked twice before we could get on board although we passed the immigration and checkups. Funny was, that the stewardesses gave us a Health Questionaire to enter the Republic of Korea. But after some confused passengers asked them, what the destination of the flight was, they took them back :D
All in all Air India was okay. Although the machine was very old and the service not really good we arrived safely in Osaka.

After arriving in Osaka — Kansai International airport — I met my cousin, then we got our Japan Rail Pass, with which we could use all Japan Rail lines. And I met my first Japanese ^^ (kyah!!!) — Japanese service persons are soo friendly and the Japanese language is so funny, yet cute. I instantly wanted to start learning Japanese, but I know — I’ve to concentrate on learning Mandarin first (but after that it’ll definitely be Japanese). xD

A big problem we encountered in Japan — and we’ve never, NEVER thought it would happen — was that we couldn’t withdraw money with our Visa cards at the ATMs. We weren’t prepared at all, because it has never happened before (not in Hong Kong and also not in China). So we came to Japan without a Yen, without a phone and even without knowing the address of my cousin…Luckily, everything worked out fine for us: My cousin volunteered to be our ATM until we could get some cash ^^~~

After a short nap in our room at Senri Inernational House, we got over our first shock and could enjoy delicious, original Japanese sushi and Osaka at night. The outcome of our meal (in plates):

Moritz: 12, Thu: 8, Trung (cousin): 12

Anh Thu