Today proved fairly uneventful. It’s funny how a one hour 20 minute flight can become your whole day.

I had been trying to decide where to go after Seoul, debating a quick trip to Taipai, or back to Japan since I need to fly home from Tokyo. (And if Japan, what part, since there are still a lot of places I’d like to see).

I had also been keeping in touch with Yukiko, and late last night we worked out plans to meet up again. She has a couple days off coming up, so we are going to head up to Shirakawa, which is a traditional farmhouse village in the remote mountains that span from Gifu to Toyama Prefectures. It is an UNESCO world heritage site, and when Yukiko suggested it I was up for it, since it has been on my list since before even my last trip to Japan.

Because she lives in Kobe, but I didn’t want to make yet a third visit to Kobe, I decided to fly to Osaka and then take a train to Kyoto, where we will meet to head out to Shirakawa Saturday morning.

Because these plans were extremely last minute (I was finalizing our plan on my phone while out drinking with Matt and Andreas), I ended up booking the flight to Osaka late last night. My flight was at 2:10PM, but Seoul airport is over an hour away , and when you add in extra time to be safe etc, I was up early to make sure to be there in time. Luckily Seoul airport is really nice actually, so I had some time to relax and unwind before my flight.

Unfortunately the flight was delayed, I’m guessing because of all the snow. By the time I got in, it was after 5, and then I had to wait for and take a 75 minute train to Kyoto.

I checked into my hostel, which is an interesting place. It’s huge (which I guess should have been expected by the over 1000 positive reviews it had). I have mixed feelings on it, I think it is mainly because Kyoto seems to attract the “See Tokyo and Kyoto then move on” type of tourists/backpackers. I had a group of four whom met that profile come into the small Sukiyaki-ya I was at, which was otherwise pretty peaceful until they entered. I felt sorry for the local patrons. That being said, Kyoto is a beautiful place and I’m glad to be back here. I’m looking forward to having one full day tomorrow to explore at a leisurely pace, not really feeling like I “have to see” anything, having been here before. I might even let myself sleep in for a change lol ;-)