We awoke to the sound of sea gulls squawking outside. I realized that during this trip we were never far from the ocean and the sound of sea gulls had been following us around. We checked out of our last hotel and made a somewhat morose trip to the train station for the last time. We were both thinking of heading back to the sweltering heat of Japanese summer. Our phones showed us the high temperatures there, a typhoon had come through (we were happy to find out later that it didn’t cause any damage to our neighborhood), and leaving all this free air conditioning behind seemed like a bad idea. Our summer trips are something we look forward to all year long, and it is always a little sad to wrap them up.
At Amsterdam Schiphol airport we got checked in right away, and even found some individually wrapped stroopwaffels to take back for students. We bought a few goodies for the plane ride, and then caught a late morning flight to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. I took full advantage of the video system and watched five or six movies and the 13 hours just flew by.
In Singapore we went ahead and waited an hour to get through immigration, entered the country officially, and then went to the Jewel area. Although we were there very early we could see they spent a lot of money on the space. There was a two part dramatic waterfall in the center, surrounded by shops, restaurants, and a small jungle of real plants growing in a greenhouse-like environment.
We eased the shock of going back to Asia by having a small dim sum breakfast at a Chinese restaurant. We ate spicy noodles (dry – no soup), boiled nuts and even a couple of charcoal black salted egg buns. Back inside security we ate some laska and a lotus bun, and then started to get really sleepy waiting for our final flight. We were like zombies in the lounge drifting in and out of sleep, and then it was time to go home to Osaka.
Once we arrive at Kansai Airport they open the plane door, and when you walk out of the plane you get that first blast of summer humidity in the boarding gate tunnel – then you know it is for real. We came back to our home late but the house was fine, the garden was a little scorched but basically alive, and we prepared to go back to work on Monday.
Before our trip we wondered if there was going to be any problems – any trouble that we’d have to overcome during the journey. I’m happy to report that other than an imaginary hotel room invasion and some slightly wet jeans it went just fine. We traveled through countries that are easy to deal with.
Now we’re starting to consider next year’s destinations, and looking forward to a trip to Malaysia and perhaps Sri Lanka in December. We love going on trips, but doing the planning and imagining the places you could go is a lot of fun too.
Thanks for following along on this adventure!
