“Oh, sh**!! .... So, we can't stay in Osaka or Kobe for the last two nights in Japan, right?"





In a state of panic, I cried out to the two young men after I had already booked my flight tickets and accommodation for a 12-day trip to Kansai (Japan) and Seoul (South Korea) yesterday. Today, while checking my travel arrangements to and from the airport, I discovered that the early morning train from Kobe (where I had already booked my hotel yesterday) or Osaka would not arrive at Kansai Airport in time for my early morning flight with Peach, a Japanese low-cost airline.





"What should I do?" her husband asked.





"Good, then I don't have to go. I don't want to go," the son said.



“I don't know yet. Let me check first," I replied to my husband. Then I turned to stick my tongue out and roll my eyes at my teenage son, who always loved to tease his mom.



After checking the information on the Peach website, I found that if I want to change my return flight from Kansai to Hong Kong, I will have to pay an additional two thousand dollars per person (Hong Kong). Even though the ticket price during the period I booked and purchased (Christmas-New Year) was already outrageous compared to normal times due to the peak season, I immediately decided that I would not change my flight under any circumstances. I will keep the airport hotel or a hotel near Kansai Airport as my last resort.



I then went to the JR website and found that the earliest train from a city or district in the Kansai region to Kansai Airport was the train from Wakayama. And when Google found that this small town called Wakayama, which I had never heard of before, had enough interesting things to keep me occupied for the last two days in Japan, I made an official announcement to the two young men ...



"Alright everyone, we're heading to Wakayama!"



"What's that?" her husband asked.



"Wa-Ka-Ya-Where? You want some too, son?"



“Wakayama, 50 minutes train journey from the airport" I replied, and then retreated into my own world, busy canceling the hotel reservation in Kobe that I had made the day before and booking the Hotel Granvia in Wakayama instead. The reason for this was that it was located right next to the train station, which would (presumably) make it convenient for us to catch the 5:56 AM train to Kansai Airport on our last day.



On our last day in Seoul, we left our hotel in the Mapo district at around 7:00 AM. As we waited for a taxi to Incheon Airport, snow began to fall slowly. The guests in the hotel lobby who were waiting to board the bus to the airport (I think) rushed out to the front and shouted, "Snow! Snow!" I smiled to myself. Even though I had to wake up early at 6:00 AM, the new day in a city I had never been to before and the Thai language that I rarely had the chance to hear made me smile.



The mischievous son fell asleep all the way to the airport. We went through the check-in process and immigration formalities, and then we had a little time left. We decided to find something to eat at the airport before boarding. I let the two guys go out and look for food, while I stayed behind to watch our belongings.





Two young men disappeared for a long time and came back empty-handed, saying that there was nothing their son could eat. I volunteered to go out and look for some myself, with the remaining tens of thousands of won in my pocket. I intended to spend it all on breakfast and Korean cosmetics (which I'm not a fan of, don't know, or have any particular brand preference for).



I came across a sandwich shop and quickly grabbed three boxes. I then joined a long queue to pay. When it was my turn, I ordered an extra coffee and had to wait again. I spent at least 20 minutes there. I ran back to the two guys, handed them the sandwiches, and then sprinted back to the shops. I only had 10 minutes left before boarding.



The night before going to bed, I didn't know or care much about Korean cosmetics (but I intended to try and use them on this trip to Korea), so I googled to see what brands to buy. In the end, I fell in love with Innisfree, which is an organic brand. I also saved in my phone what I was going to buy.



At this point, I grabbed the things I had saved in my memory from last night and passed them on to the BA to help me find them. I also told the BA, "I don't know if I have enough money. I just bought breakfast for several thousand won. Please use the calculator to calculate the price for me first." The BA said, "Okay, okay," but didn't follow my instructions?? She entered the codes of the products she had grabbed into the machine (What the hell!!). When she was done, she asked for my boarding pass without batting an eyelid.



I peered at the total cost and felt a pang of regret. Even after paying, I still had tens of thousands of baht left, enough to buy several more items. (Both my husband and I had just declared, "Once is more than enough for Seoul," so there was no need to save the remaining money. We were determined to spend it all at the airport.) However, there was no time to browse for more items. It was time for boarding, so I paid and ran to join the two young men in the boarding queue.


I just got around to unpacking my bags and taking photos of the things I bought on this trip today. Even though I've been back since January 2nd, I haven't had any time. Ugh, I'm kind of annoyed with myself. Our group, which consisted of children, women, and elderly people, arrived at Terminal 2 of Kansai Airport looking a bit disheveled. After completing the immigration procedures, we took a shuttle bus to Terminal 1, where the JR West train station is located for travel to various cities.



After purchasing the tickets, we dragged our luggage to board the train. In just 10 minutes, we arrived at our first destination, Hineno. We had to get off here and transfer to another train to Wakayama. We only had 5 minutes to change trains. My husband volunteered to drag the two giant suitcases off the train, and then we stood there confused on the platform. The station only had one platform, but there were two tracks. Which side should we board from?



I rushed to the pier and said only "Wakayama" to the pier master. He pointed to the other side of the river, and we ran up the stairs to the bridge. My husband carried both bags (weighing about 50 kg in total) up and down the stairs and just made it onto the train to Wakayama. Before boarding the train, I noticed that this small station had an elevator for passengers to use. Oh, I'm so angry!



Upon arriving in Wakayama, we asked the station master (again) for directions to our hotel. He pointed and said, "Out that door." Just a short walk from the station, we found our hotel, marking the end of our arduous journey from morning to afternoon. After checking in and settling into our two rooms, we were famished. The small box of sandwiches we had for breakfast had long since disappeared during our run up and down the bridge at Hineno Station. Down in the lobby, we saw that the hotel's cafe was open. After looking at the menu, everyone agreed, and we decided to have dinner there.





After a somewhat disappointing lunch (we found the food here to be just okay), my husband and I took the elevator up to our son's room to let him rest and play video games (during our 12-day trip to Kyoto, Seoul, and Wakayama, our son only went out with us one day when we visited Nara; the rest of the time he stayed in the hotel room). We decided not to go out sightseeing that day because it was already late afternoon, so we just walked around the hotel, which is located next to an extraordinary shopping mall that even has a Louis Vuitton boutique.





We spent some time browsing through the shops in the mall before heading out to JR Wakayama Station. We stumbled upon the Wakayama City Tourist Information Counter (we hadn't planned our trip at all, both of us were busy with work) and decided to stop by. We greeted the staff and asked for recommendations on interesting places to visit in the city.



The day we arrived in Wakayama was December 31st. The young lady at the counter grabbed a map and circled interesting tourist spots for the two of us to see. Then, she uttered a remarkable sentence:



"Tomorrow is New Year's Day, a public holiday. Almost everything will be closed, including shopping malls, markets, and shopping districts in the city."





Oh my god, I want to scream! I'm so angry at myself for getting hurt and not learning my lesson. What happened, you ask?



Last year at this time, my family and I went to Fukuoka. We encountered a problem where most shops and department stores were closed or closed earlier than usual on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Various markets were closed, including the oldest fish market in Kyushu, which was a shame. Even the hotel restaurants were closed. It was a very unpleasant experience.



On New Year's Eve, we couldn't find a restaurant, so we had to eat dinner at Yoshinoya near the hotel, which was the only restaurant open that night. It was a pity for myself, because I've never been to Yoshinoya while in Hong Kong. At that time, I was angry at myself for not having planned my trip in advance. I made up my mind that I would never come to Japan during Christmas and New Year's again.



As the female officer uttered the aforementioned sentence, I was instantly reminded of the promise I had made to myself but had completely forgotten. My desire to explore vanished, and I was overcome with concern about food. (Haha) I wondered if the hotel's restaurant would be closed that evening. And were there any restaurants open in the mall? Would they be open? So, I half-dragged, half-led my husband, who had just finished eating, to go find a place to eat. (Oh, I'm embarrassed to admit it.) We discovered that the restaurants in the mall would close at six o'clock in the evening, while the hotel's Japanese restaurant would be open from five o'clock in the evening until nine o'clock at night. (The kitchen closes at eight o'clock.) Now that we had a place to eat, I couldn't help but smile. We'll decide about exploring later tonight. Which of the few places that aren't closed on New Year's Day should I visit?




The original text is in English, so no translation is needed.

I woke up to the sound of my own mobile phone alarm. As I was sleeping in a separate room from the two young men (the hotel didn't have a triple room), we had agreed the night before that I would call them at nine in the morning to go down for breakfast before 10 am, when they stopped serving (is this a travel post or a food post??).



When I arrived at the breakfast restaurant, it was packed. There were no empty tables, and more guests were arriving. I had to resort to my Hong Kong instincts. I let the two foreigners stand awkwardly at the reception counter, waiting for the staff to find them a table.



In Hong Kong, it's perfectly normal for people to stand and stare at diners in restaurants while waiting for a table, without any sense of guilt. Meanwhile, the diners themselves don't feel embarrassed or intimidated in the slightest. They continue their conversations, sip their drinks, or even pick their teeth with nonchalant expressions.



After a while, the Japanese guests at the hotel (the table I was standing at was a bit far away so as not to be rude) got up from their table (probably out of shyness or embarrassment, lol). I bowed and said thank you (hey, which Hong Kong person does what I do?). With a good view table by the window, the three of us immediately started walking to grab food. (This auntie is posting food pictures again, when will we get to travel??)




After a satisfying breakfast on New Year's Day, we returned to our room to take care of some personal needs. By almost noon, my husband and I were ready to explore the city. The night before, I had used Google to plan our sightseeing itinerary. We walked from our hotel to the adjacent JR Wakayama Station to catch a train to JR Kainan Station.



As I sat on the train, I noticed an elderly woman (about the age of my own aunt) sitting and reading a book with her backpack placed on the floor beside her. Suddenly, she placed the book down on the seat, took off her reading glasses and placed them on top of the book, and then disappeared for about 10 minutes.





“In England, the percentage of lost items is the same as the percentage of items that are still there. It depends on the person and the situation," the young Englishman explained.





The aunt then walked back, feeling light as a feather (I know where she went!!). She sat down to continue reading her book, with nothing missing at all. As for me, I arrived at my intended destination just fine.





After leaving JR Kainan Station, we walked to find a bus stop to Wakayama Marina City. It is a resort with hotels, onsen, small tourist attractions full of European-style architecture, and most importantly, the fish market I intended to visit. After the tourism girl said yesterday that the fish market in the city was closed, I searched for information and found that the Kuroshio fish market in Marina City was open. As a fish market enthusiast, I couldn't miss seeing it with my own eyes (I think I went to the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo before it became popular).



Stepping out of the station, I immediately came across a bus stop sign for Marina City, where a young man and three women (also of the uncle-aunt generation) were already waiting for the bus. I overheard their conversation (in their language) and smiled to my husband, because all four of them were from Hong Kong. I couldn't believe that people from Hong Kong were also visiting Wakayama. I've been working as a hotel content translator for Booking.com for over 4 years, and I only heard the name Wakayama because of this unforeseen event. I'm guessing they bought tickets from Peach and experienced the same problem as me (I still can't believe it, who would know about Wakayama?).



I underestimated the weather in Wakayama a bit. Last week, I was staying in Kyoto, and the temperature was about the same as it is here today. But wow, it's bone-chillingly cold today! The humidity plays a big role. For example, in Hong Kong, where the temperature can drop to around 10 degrees, it feels colder than Kyoto or Osaka, where the temperature is between 1 and 3 degrees. It's the same here.



We waited for the bus for about 10 minutes, and our teeth were chattering from the cold. We decided not to wait any longer and called a taxi instead. We didn't ask the four uncles and aunts who were also standing in the cold to join us because there wasn't enough space and we were worried about breaking the law. The taxi ride to Marina City only took about 10-15 minutes. If we had known it would be so quick, we wouldn't have wasted time standing in the cold.



The resort is located right next to the sea. The wind is very strong and the air is freezing.



Inside, there is a section that houses European-style architecture like this.



Let me post a picture of myself. I'm really dressed for the wrong weather. Even with the zipper on my leather jacket, I can't keep the cold out. We're already in the fish market. Instead of walking around, we went to the information counter first. It was so cold outside that we were afraid we would freeze to death if we had to stand and wait for the bus on the way back. And we didn't know where the buses stopped or where the taxi stand was. The staff tried to explain in sign language and broken English where the bus stop for JR Kainan was, which line to take, and when the bus would leave. Once we had all the information, we felt relieved and started walking around.



The market just announced the time for the next round of tuna auction, which we have to wait for almost another hour. But the two of us are not the type to spend time anywhere for a long time (except for eating), and we don't care to watch it. So we just walked around to see the goods in the market. It's the kind of goods that cheat tourists' money. The food is not cheaper than outside (but it looks delicious, haha). We walked around the market like little lords until we were tired, then we walked with trembling legs to the bus stop. We took a picture of the breakwater dam in the comment above. After a while, the bus came just in time. Lucky us.



We took the bus back to JR Kainan again. From there, we will take the train back to Wakayama city and get off at JR Kimii-dera station to visit the temple with the same name as the station. After a while, we arrived at the station. We couldn't find any signs for the temple, so we saw 3-4 young men and women getting off the train at the same station. We followed them, guessing that they were going to the same place as us.





It turns out I was wrong. I followed him until I was sure he wasn't going to the temple (lol). I saw a path on the side of the temple (not as busy as the path on the front side which we found on the way back), so I immediately walked up the hill along that path.



We happened to visit Kimii-dera Temple on New Year's Day. It's a popular day for Japanese people to pray for good fortune, so the temple was packed. The lively atmosphere was quite enjoyable.





Climbing the high stairs to the top of the temple, we were greeted with a near-panoramic view of the small seaside town. However, the view was partially obscured by trees and dry branches, a nuisance in the winter season.





As we descended the mountain and reached the back, we found the entrance to the temple in front. There were various shops on both sides of the road, including restaurants and souvenir shops. We could only look around and smell the air. Our bags were already full, and we didn't intend to buy anything special this time.



After that, we walked out of the temple and headed straight into the city, intending to find a taxi or bus to Wakayama Castle, our final destination for the day.



As we walked out onto the main road, we saw a young man standing in the middle of the intersection, waving his hand to stop traffic. Judging by his attire, he didn't seem to be a police officer. As he saw us both walking by, the young man shouted to us, "Happy New Year." Well, that was right up my alley. I immediately took my husband by the hand and walked briskly over to ask the young man for directions.



“How can we get to Wakayama Castle from here?”



The young man laughed out loud and quickly replied in rapid Japanese, "No, no, I don't understand a word you're saying." My husband pulled out the map he had gotten from the tourist girl yesterday and pointed to our destination. I also said the word "bus," and the young man immediately understood. He pointed out that the bus stop was on the other side of the street. Oh, how cute he was!





We walked away from the young man and were about to cross the street to the other side when we saw a taxi passing by. We immediately hailed it and said, "Wakayama Castle" (pronounced "Wakayama" like a Japanese person). The driver didn't understand. We laughed and pulled out the same map to show him. The driver then said, "Ah, Wakayama-jo." Jo is jo!!


Before I came, I Googled that Wakayama Castle is closed today. I don't really like going into temples, castles, or museums. I prefer to look at people, buildings, and take pictures outside. I didn't mind, I planned to walk up the hill to take pictures of the castle and the cityscape below, and I was satisfied.





Half-walking, half-crawling, I braved the cold wind up the mountain to the bottom of the castle. I saw a ticket booth in front of the entrance. The staff were sitting there selling tickets to people to go inside. Oh no, I didn't expect it to be open! Don't open it, I don't want to go in!



I didn't actually buy a ticket to go up and see it, but I took several pictures from the outside. When I was satisfied, I walked down the mountain, intending to go back to the hotel to play with my son. We walked around the city for a bit and it felt like we were in a deserted city. I even went out to take pictures in the middle of the road, and there were almost no cars or people at all. When I saw a taxi passing by, I hailed it and told them my destination. In no time at all, I arrived in front of JR Wakayama. The city is really small.



Before checking into the hotel, we decided to stop for coffee. I planned to buy some sandwiches for breakfast the next morning and keep them in the fridge, as we had to leave at around 5:30 am to catch our 8:00 am flight. I was worried we wouldn't have time to find or buy anything to eat at the airport.



We stopped for coffee and snacks at Mister Donut (the only shop open that day) and bought sandwiches at Family Mart. In the evening, we left our room with the intention of having New Year's Eve dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant as usual. When we arrived, we told the staff, "Table for 3, please." The staff smiled sweetly and replied, "All tables are reserved." Oops!!! Why is fate so cruel??



We took the elevator down to the hotel's downstairs cafe. It's 5 minutes to 6 pm. The receptionist said the kitchen will close in 5 minutes, and the cafe will close at 7 pm. Are we okay with that? If not, we'll have to be.



On our last day in Japan, on this special day, we ate the same food that we had eaten to satisfy our hunger the day before. Our trip to Japan ended in a rather confusing way.



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