Hotel Heian no Mori

We stayed a pretty basic hotel on the East side of Kyoto called Heian No Mori Hotel. A 70's affair and friendly staff, it was more than adequate. The only problem was it was 10 minutes away from the nearest Subway station. Therefore, we had to rely on either taxi or minibus to get us around.

My room was simple but neat. Fairly big after hearing stories from my colleagues who had been to Japan before, mainly about how small the hotel rooms were. I had a couple of beds, with ample room to move around. The bathroom was also more than big enough with a strong, hot shower. But no English TV channels though. Definitely no football. It didn't appear that football was big in this place despite hosting the World Cup only 10 years ago.

The main lobbyThe room came with breakfast each morning, served at the diner by the lobby. Although the items were al Japanese, I do not mind as they were seafood and vegetables selection aplenty. In fact, the miso soup was among the most delicious I had ever tasted.

For a place to stay short term while attending a conference, I certainly have no complaints. Although honestly, I would've preferred a central, more connected place. But with the company I was with, I was pretty happy. One of my colleague said that there were plenty to see and photographs if I was willing to walk around the hotels. There were a couple of shrines and if we walked a couple of blocks down, you would reach the the famed "Philosopher's Route". 15 minutes on the other direction would have taken us to the edge of Gion district, where the Geishas stayed. But I didn't have much time to explore the area unfortunately.

More on the Kyoto trip here.

Them Toys

The toys I bought for the boys from Kyoto proved to be a hit for the boys. Both of them, among others got a remote controlled car each. And oh boy, they literally slept with the cars last night. Irfan especially enjoyed it.

This evening, the room was transformed into a race circuit, complete with ramps and guard rails. Surprisingly the batteries were still not depleted. It went on and on. It won't be long until the cars would be broken I think. But, for the time being, hopefully the cars would keep them occupied for the next week or so .....

More on my Kyoto trip here.

Back to Work

It was never easy to get back into the groove after you've been away. But at least, I did not have to come back straight to be on call. I would have the whole week to my usual activities, although I have a fair amount of work to keep me going.

I came to the hospital early, partly due to the fact that Japan is an hour in front - meaning the usual time I woke up there was 6.30am, translating to 5.30am here in Kuala Lumpur. I also had to do a bit of sorting out with my lab coats and my bags etc, not to mention some stuff to bring to the hospital for my nurses and all. I still had plenty of time to kill when I got in at Subang Jaya.

After seeing some referrals and catching up with the old cases, it was time to head over to Desa ParkCity for my clinic there. I have just done them, and was about to leave. Starving. I could do with an early lunch later. Maybe some proper Malaysian lunch. I was done with Japanese food for now …. at least for the next few days ……

Entries from the Kyoto trip can be read here.

Good to be Home

Am back now after a longer than expected flight home due to strong headwinds. Considering that, the flight was pretty smooth. I touched down t KLIA just after 5pm. Got my bags pretty quickly after and decided against taking a can back.

I'm now waiting for the KLIA Express at the newly refurbished terminal downstairs. Not all the system were online yet, including the problem of buying the train tickets. I ended up having to purchase ten on arrival at KL Sentral. Bizzare!

It had been a good trip. My first experience of Japan. It had been a positive one and hopefully I could return with the family for a holiday trip. At the moment, I was looking forward to share the titbits with Puan Anita and the boys when I reach home. I will some time to reflect on the trip later and of course blog about it more. For the money, it was time to chill ...... and back to work tomorrow ....

More on my Kyoto trip here.

Taking Off

Kansai Airport was located in the middle of a bay on a reclaimed piece of land. As a result, it had a short runway and was exposed to all the elements. And on that particular morning, it was raining with strong winds. Hence, the take-off was rather rough.

And it was rough for the next 30 minutes until we reached the cruising altitude. The flight was also longer than expected due to a 200km/h headwind. We were scheduled to be 45 minutes late.

To kill time, I watched a couple of movies. I never liked traveling during day light as I won't be able to sleep ....

More entries from my Kyoto trip here.