Planes, Thrills and Meals: SQ to Kansai, Osaka , Kyoto and Universal Studios Japan

[yflyer]

Our A330 for today’s flight was 9V-SSB …



Similar equipment to our inbound flight 11 days ago – a very comfortable aircraft to fly in.



Hot towels prior to departure…



A long flight time to SIN today, 6 hours and 35 minutes.



We pushed back after a brief delay due to congestion.

Ground staff bowed and waved goodbye.

[yflyer]

We passed quite a few aircraft on the way to our take-off runway.

Tigerair Taiwan…



Aircalin Airbus A330, being readied for the 7 hr 45 minute flight to Noumea, New Caledonia…



Starflyer, a Japanese LCC based in Haneda…



Peach Airlines, an LCC based right here in Kansai, at Terminal 2.



MAS A330, enroute to KUL…

[yflyer]

A long queue of aircraft waiting to take off today…



My favourite of the day, a TG 744…this was HS-TGA, a 14 year old aircraft first delivered in 2001.



Still my favourite set of curves in the air…



She took off with a deep roar from her four GE engines...



…and then it was our turn…

[yflyer]

The best views of the man-made island that KIX is built on were to be seen after take-off...



Only from the air can one really appreciate the scale of the civil engineering effort required to make an island out of nothing...from the 3km bridge connecting the island to Rinku Town, to the actual man-made island, made from rocks and 48,000 tetrahedral concrete blocks.





The speck in the air in the picture above is an NCA (Nippon Cargo Airlines) 747, more clearly seen in the next picture, on initial climb after take-off, with the Star Gate Hotel visible in the background as well...

[yflyer]

Cabin service began shortly after seatbelt signs went off, with a full beverage service.



Bloody Mary and Singapore Sling…



Christmas-themed Menu design…





International selection…



Japanese selection…



The tray…



Starter…



Soba…





Main…

[yflyer]

International selection…



Prawn salad…



The "International" Main was oriental chicken in X O sauce. The chicken was moist, and the sauce fragrant and chilli hot. The fried rice, made with short grained rice, was tasty too. I found it interesting that both selections onboard were Asian meal choices, one Japanese and the other listed as international although it was a Chinese dish...



Haagen Daaz vanilla ice cream for dessert…

[yflyer]

We flew through clear blue skies, on a sunny afternoon, over the Philippines enroute to Singapore…





It was very sunny, and most window shades were down during the flight, but I couldn't resist opening them occasionally to take in the wonderful view of the Philippine islands passing below...



Some captivating coastline and island views as we flew...I only noticed the small airstrip by the coast in the picture above after reviewing my photos back in Singapore. I wonder who and what flies there.



Cabin ambience on the later part of the flight...



It got progressively more and more cloudy as we approached Malaysia and Singapore…

If my kids were younger, I would have had a great time making a game out of it, calling out animals, cartoon characters and scenes in the clouds...



No kids to entertain on this flight today, so I kept thoughts of imaginary animals to myself...

[yflyer]

Until that point we were looking at an on-time arrival, however as we approached Singapore, the pilot announced a delay due to airport congestion, and we began a series of circuits…









We began some semblance of a descent and approach, before doing several circuits again, over Johor…



…by that point, the sky was filled with dark clouds, and fairly turbulent…



It was really quite remarkable weather, considering that until a few minutes prior it was clear blue and very sunny. Probably very common to have thunderstorms in this part of the world, but it is one thing to see them on the ground, and another to experience one in the air.

It was like those cartoons, where the scene is all sunny, except for one dark cloud raining just on one particular spot. Today that spot was Singapore!

Just to emphasize that point, this was what the sky looked like on approach into Singapore, angry black clouds at very low altitude…

[yflyer]

It was really pouring when we landed…



Despite a very turbulent approach, the landing itself was fairly smooth, with full application of reverse thrust coming fairly early in the landing roll…



From the waterlogged grass, it looked as if it had been raining at WSSS for some time now…



We taxied slowly to the gate in the pouring rain…





…and parked next to an ANA Dreamliner…



…the rain was not done with us yet…more showers as we deplaned…it was raining so hard that droplets of water were seeping through the gap between the aerobridge and the A330 fuselage, with the SQ cabin crew once again going beyond the call of duty to try and mop up the water before it drizzled on deplaning pax...



What a ride!

[yflyer]

Stormtrooper welcome in T2, not for us, but for the ANA flight next to us…



Just a reminder that, unlike Changi Terminal 3, which had a rebel X-wing parked in the departure area, it was clear that Terminal 2, with it’s Tie Fighter and Stormtroopers, was still Imperial held territory!

Baggage claim was delayed for just under an hour for several flights in T2, including ours, on account of lightning risk for the ground handlers braving the rain outside, but the crowd waiting at the belts was patient, and at one point ground staff distributed bottles of water to the waiting passengers.

When luggage handling resumed, the bags came out swiftly, with priority tagged bags emerging first.

Final reflections on our trip? A very satisfying holiday. Japan has so much to offer as a holiday destination, and SQ was a great way to get there and back too.

Now that we are back in Singapore, next thing on our to-do list? Watch the new Star Wars movie!

Thanks for reading! And have a Merry Christmas!

[jhm]

I enjoyed reading the rest of the TR. Thank you, yflyer.

Hopefully we get to try the Shinkansen on a future trip, hopefully a longer route, for example Osaka to Tokyo, a 3 hour 41 minute journey. In March 2016, they will begin a new Shinkansen route: Tokyo to Hakodate, in Hokkaido, taking 4 hours 10 minutes. Now that would be some train journey!

For the cost of a Shinkansen return between Tokyo and Osaka, you can buy a 7-day JR rail pass (JPY 38,880) for unlimited travel. Then you can really go to town and take the Shinkansen from Hakodate to Tokyo or - even further - all the way down to Kagoshima (more black hair wagyu! ) for a total of around 11 hours on the train (broken up, if you wish, by stopovers in Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Himeji, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kumamoto etc)!

Or north from Tokyo to somewhat overlooked (by foreigners) Kanazawa on the new Shinkansen which opened earlier this year. Sights to see (for which the city is nicknamed Little Kyoto) - samurai district, geisha district, one of the top Japanese gardens in Japan etc - and many things to eat too - Kanazawa's own version of kaiseki and really excellent sushi!

[jhm]

jhm, do you remember the name of that lunch place? And yes, everyone should make the jaunt to Kobe.

I'm afraid I don't remember exactly the name of which temple in Kyoto it was - it was possibly this one:

http://www.tenryuji.com/en/shigetsu/
http://www.bigtentvegan.com/blog/201...in-kyoto-japan

[phaleesy]

Yflyer, 你的trip report太棒了！ 看你的照片，我就流口水。

Out of curiosity, how did you book the michaya in Kyoto. I know someone who part owns two properties and am just wondering if it's one of the houses. Same district. Though I suppose properties like these are common in the rental market these days?

聪明的丈夫听夫人的话， life is so much happier and peaceful! A woman is always right!

現在就是很希望有机会再去日本游玩。

[SQGamespeed]

Wow, what an epic TR yflyer!

That ice cube udon looks very intriguing. If I ever go back to the Kyoto area, I'll definitely try to check out that restaurant.

[HUGE AL]

Were you able to see the penguins at the aquarium? That's the best part!