Kansai- Kyoto

I had made adjustment of our original plan as the railway museum was closed on Wednesday. We were forced to switch our plan and headed to Kiyomizu-dera and railway museum on D1. We had heated our breakfast and left the apartment early. We took a small hike and reached the temple by 10:30am. It was a tiresome hike and we had tried out some macha food and drink on the way down. It was a tiresome hike as the weather was hot during our climb. We headed back to Kyoto station and have our lunch at Toyoutei hoten. Outlet of one of the oldest western food joint in Kansai area which had opened since 1897; Toyoutei was famous for its curry and hamburger steak. Both are my favorite and we had a good meal before we headed to the railway museum.  

The railway museum was fascinating; there were so many engines being exhibited. There was this simulator room but we had to give it a pass as everything was in Japanese. It was not a usual tourist spot for foreigner, most of the visitor there was locals….

We headed back to the Kyoto station and had a tour around the shopping lot. We had a late dinner at one of the rotational sushi outlet around the station. The day ended after scouting around at the BIG CAMERA shop nearby. Xian was disappointed as we did find a load of Amiibo in the shop like we did last year.

As usual we picked up a load of foods from the local convenient store for breakfast tomorrow. We bought rice, sweat sour pork, fried noodle and much more…Canned coffee was one of my favorite and Xian was keen to try them out on this trip; I ended up buying quite a few on our way back.

We pushed out early as usual after our microwaved breakfast in the apartment. I had picked railway as our mean of transport and It was a wrong move; long walk from the train station to the entrance of the Nijo Castle. It was a must see for me as we had missed the Osaka castle during our last trip. It was like walking into a movie scene during our walk in the castle.
We had some snack at the canteen and later proceeded back to Kyoto station for some takeaway food at the supermarket before we headed to Kyoto museum.

Kyoto museum was a boring one but we were able see lots of common staff that was originated from china. Our dinner was pre-booked months before our trip. I had ever wanted to eat some good Japanese beef during our trip and I found this Yakiniku shop around Kyoto station. They had a website and I was able to pre-booked it online.

The Wagyu was off limit to Taiwan for a long time due to mad cow disease. Later its import permit was reinstated and 1/5 of Wagyu export was exported to Taiwan. An expansive dinner but the taste was beyond described.

We retreated back to our apartment early and prepared our trip back to Osaka for the USJ trip.

Typhoon Cimaron had speeded up since our arrival and I was pretty sure that it would pass Kansai the night before our USJ trip and I was confident that our return flight would not be cancelled. However the most worrying part was not the wind but the rain. Raining after typhoon was the most irritating part as it might be more destructive than the typhoon itself. We might still have the chance of being stranded in the hotel because of the rain.

The 2 days Kyoto tour was a smooth one, we had used train, bus and our legs to wander around. We had been to special place and broaden our view. The next part of our journey was filled with uncertainty initially and I thank the great one of letting us to travel so far.

Kansai....D1

I spent much time on the Google and finally drawn out a rough plan for our trip.

The departure was complicated. Ving and Yun and Xian had struggled to pack the luggage into cabin baggage standard so that we would have a smooth passage during the entry. Well, I thought it was unnecessary as we would be delayed during the immigration check. The packing had delayed our schedule; we leave our house 40min late than expected. We were still able to reach the airport in time and took a quick bite at the airport restaurant. I was worn off and fallen asleep before the flight took off as I had done night shift the night before the trip; it was a rough shift and I had slept less than 3 hours.

We touched down as scheduled and it took us 40mins to get pass the immigration. Yun and I had gone to buy train ticket to Kyoto while Xian and Ving had bought some Horai Bao and dumpling as snack. We reached the train platform 20mins prior to the departure and was lucky to board the train and gotten a seat for everyone. The train ticket was 1/3 of the local price and only available to foreigner, however it was on free seat basis, so on a pack day, passenger might need to stand all the way to Kyoto.

We arrived at Kyoto around 9pm and was unable to grab anything from the food court at the basement of the Kyoto station. We had gone for our backup plan by eating at a Ramen shop nearby the station. The food was nice and cheap. Ramen and fried chicken; simple foods that were good enough to keep a few hungry soul to move on.

It was a short walk of 1 km from the station. On the way, we grabbed some food and water from the nearby convenient shop; we had decided to have our breakfast in the apartment as we are not that keen of the Japanese type breakfast - soup and rice.

The apartment was great as commented by other travelers. I revised our plan before we gone to sleep as the train museum we would supposed to visit on D2 was closed. Everything was still under control but there was one factor that bothered me since 1 week before the journey – Typhoon Cimaron….

The typhoon was formed 1 week before our journey and I had been tracking its course since it was formed. One of the most worrying part was the day it would hit Kansai. The initially speed was slow and it would be a narrow escape for us if it continue with the same speed. I was haunted by the prediction but did not reveal it the rest of the family. On the day we arrived in Kansai, I was pretty sure that that Cimaron will miss Kansai airport on the day of our return, but we might be facing the typhoon during our visit to USJ; bad situation but better than finding for another return flight as PEACH airway is a low cost carrier and does not offer any service to find seat should the flight is cancelled. However the USJ ticket was non-refundable and I had spent a good load buying a fast pass-7 for everyone, all I could do was prayed....

Kansai revisited, pretrip

It was a planned trip, I defined it as a celebration trip for Xian graduation. During Xian childhood, it was a dream seeing him going to school as a normal child. However we did it, Xian had graduated from junior high. It was an amazing journey seeing him growing up. Well, he made it.

The last trip to Osaka was a short and a surprised one and we did not visit the Universal Studio Japan. Xian had been a fan of Resident Evil and he had tried most of the version/generation during the last few years. He was actually attracted by the live show of Resident Evil organized by USJ for the past few years. We were looking forward to its rerun this year during summer holiday unfortunately it didn’t. However, we had still proceeded with our plan. I had decided to visit Kyoto and later ending the trip in the USJ during the trip. It was a 6d5n trip (vs the 4d3n few years back)…The planning was a complicated one.

The choice of lodging had disturbed me for a few weeks as I need to find a spot near traffic facility during our stay in Kyoto. Our last stay in an apartment around nipponbashi was an excellent experience. I had sought out to seek similar apartment style lodging but most of it was at a distance from the Kyoto bus station. After week of seeking, I finally got a apartment which was 1.2km from the Kyoto station. A short walk with would passed by 2 convenient shop along the way; it was a must so that we could collect some food/supplement along the way back. The great thing about apartment was the facility to cook and prepare breakfast/supper. Unlike Malaysian and Taiwanese, the Japanese seldom have the breakfast in a food shop; you can only found western type breakfast shop. The Japanese would have simple breakfast such as rice ball or rice with soup.

The choice of staying in Osaka for the USJ trip was more challenging. There was no apartment located around the USJ. The only choice was hotel and all of them cost a hand and a leg for any room for 4. I had chosen the cheapest one to facilitate the visit. However   the most stunning part about the visit was the ticket [plus the fast pass of course]. Nothing to shout as it was full peak season during the summer holiday.

It was a walk till you drop trip as we planned to use bus and train as our choice of transport. Detail of dinning in which food shop was one of the challenging part. So many detail to work on and I could only relay on google……

Everything was seemed to be set 2+ months before the journey, however another challenge was waiting for me after the trip and I took the bite….

foreigner with no relative....

It was a boring Sunday shift…everything was slow until I got a call from a hospital down south. It was a referral; the local ED down south wanted to refer a case of intracranial hemorrhage. A usual referral with an unusual patient…The patient was a foreigner. That means there would be a pain in the axx should he required any invasive procedure that require consent…. I did not hesitate to accept the referral as we are the nearest hospital with neurosurgeon oncall. I did however asked them to faxed over his passport page so that I could called up the relevant department for help.

5 minutes later I got the fax and noted that he was Canadian. His birth place was however Ipoh…

The patient arrived 1 hr later; he was intubated and the imaging revealed subarachnoid hemorrhage which suggest aneurysm rupture. Appropriate management was rendered and nothing more that I could do except to ask for a neurosurgical consult.

I called up the Canadian representative office up north and the call was redirected to foreign ministry office in Canada. I provided the officer on call with the relevant information and asked them to help me to contact his family so that further management plan could be discussed.

The owner of the R&B lodge had accompanied him to our ED. He was also a Caucasian who run the lodge with his girl friend(Taiwanese of coz). The patient was a lone traveler who had visited mainland for over two weeks before he landed and joined a PADI diver course down south. He had ridden an electric bike roving around the town after breakfast and later found lying along the roadside unconscious….

We had glanced through his belongings and found an I-phone. A good news and most probably we could get contact number from it. However we had failed to assess the phone as he did not set up finger print lock….So that was why I sought help from the Canadian representative office.

While waiting for consult I had decided to call the immigration office as the patient would need to filled up an entry card during his entry and it might contain useful contact no. I called up the head office and the on call officer had referred me to the Taipei Airport immigration. I got a returned call later and the officer had told me that they would refer the matter to their colleague in Vancouver for further help.

The next 3 hours was a busy one and I had successfully got a referral  to a medical center in K city. 
Prior to the referral, I got a call from the on duty officer of immigration agency. The officer told me that their agent in Vancouver had successfully contacted the local police and found the relative. The relative had gotten my contact number and would call me soon. 
I got the call minutes later and informed the family about grave condition. They told me that there would be a closed friend staying in K city that would managed the whole event for them. I called up the given number and told the friend about the condition and suggest him to act accordingly.
The patient was transferred out later...
I had however run a check over the net and found that Malaysia did not provide any similiar service for its national during such emergency-> you are on your own, the embassy will not be there for you....

after D day...

The next day was also an off day for me….I woke up early and started to read whatever that had left out. It was a relief when I learnt that there was no curfew nor any bleeding event had taken place.

I saw the clip of Dr M in his residence preparing to head for the palace. It had been a harsh night for him, staying up late and managing the taking over. I prayed for him hoping that nothing would happen to him during the process. Everything had gone smoothly, I had witnessed the swearing in later over the net.

During my breakfast with Xian, I had updated what had happened and I could tell from his look that he was actually confused about why I was so excited about…

I lived in a hybrid community; my neighbors were Indian and Malay. The politicians had created an issue regarding difference of races. We were being taught that 3 major races should live in harmony however there was something regarding rights, economy inferiority that was being stressed from time to time. I belong to the group which has economical advantage; but in fact, my family was not doing well then; thence I was not eligible to any government aid….

I hate those racist remarks made by those political opportunists. As the opposition grew stronger since the last two GE, racist remarks were more harsh than ever and I feared that one of those days, we might be marginalized and eventually lost everything. After years of living abroad, I had never forgotten the land where my blood spilled and never have a single thought of giving up my nationality.

Will there be any changes, I doubt it, however deeply in my heart , I knew if the PH had lost, we would be in deep sxxt but fortunately…. 

2 days later, when I met my fellow Malaysian colleague at work, we did not have any deep chat regarding the changes but yet an exchange of smile was something good enough to celebrate the victory.....

D day.....

Finall, the day had come… it was off day for me and I woke up early as usual. I tuned into Astroawani website and started to view the morning live show.

It was an exciting day for me, after weeks of googling and gathering information. I concluded that there was still a slim chance. The survey from Merdaka center was an interesting one which shown a further down sloping of BN vote to 37.3% in the Peninsular but still won the election.

I sent both the kid to school settled back to the screen after breakfast with Ving. Everything was calm but the voting rate was alarming. In the past, the opposition won more if the voting rate was high. However the voting rate was still low at 2pm. I called up my dad and my bro-in law. They have told me the same story, the voting process was very slow. They had waited a long time to cast their vote. The process of staining finger was time consuming and they had waited a long time to finish the casting.

I took a nap and by 6pm after our dinner. I was sitting in front of the monitor;  anxiously switching from webpage to webpage, podcast to podcast trying to get the latest update of the final result.

The BN had the lead but the seat came mostly from the east side. By 9+pm, the opposition had retained Selangor and Penang. However the Parliament result was still sluggish, the possibility of change was higher as the clock tick. Everything went stagnant by 11pm. No new update was noted for the Parliament; BN had taken a lead which was mostly contributed from the east. Perak, NS, Malacca had fallen to the opposition I was pretty sure that a change would be happening but yet I was very worried about a curfew or other tactics being use to prevent the transition.

At 1am, no update was noted and opposition had accused that the SPR was responsible withholding the result. Even the palace had issued a statement requesting the SPR to speed up the announcement. At that time BN had only retained Pahang. Kedah and Sabah were at stalemate. The Hope Alliance had won the election apparently. BN had cancelled its press conference and indirectly admitting their defeat. I took my last sip of red wine from my glass and gone to sleep at 1:30am, praying that no hanky panky staff will interfere with the transition……

D-day...D-1....

Day by day passed and I was hoping get my ballot paper on time. As the day draw closer, my anxiety rises; my option had changed from EMS to courier services that offer same day or next day services. I had read through the net and found that there is fellow Malaysian who was willing to deliver the ballot paper to relevant office…. My options had run out as the countdown tick; mailing option had faded out and my final option was to fly back and delivered it personally. If I could receive my ballot paper on 5/7, I would take a flight back on 5/8 and delivered it to the office on 5/9 as the flight from TPE or KHH arrived in KUL late in the afternoon. So receiving the paper after 5/7 was hopeless…..

Well, at the 5/7 evening, I had given up hope and thought that the ballot papers should have been swallowed by someone. At the noon of 5/8, a courier van came and I got 2 DHL envelopes…. The date of posting was 5/5….4 days before the ballot day, apparently the SPR does not want us to vote. I grinned and told Ving about the news. I was not worried as my voting area was stronghold of PH…but yet, I despised the act of SPR of playing dirty.

Nomination day = 4/28, local postal voting date = 5/4, to be fair, we should have received my ballot paper before 5/4. However the ballot papers were sent out on 5/5, 1 days after the local postal voting. There was only a 4 days window for the ballot paper to reach the respective voter. Unless the courier service could be done on a next day arrival basis it was a mission impossible, furthermore, 5/4 was Friday, the delay over Weekend would be obviously another obstacle….

Well, nothing could be done…

Over those few days, the ruling party had stressed over the media that there would not be any tsunami. However the Merdeka Survey Center had published a very queer survey stating that the BN vote would be down to 30+% but would still retained control over the parliament. Weird indeed, but I felt that the result was actually being manipulate before it was published.