A brief side trip
The best laid plans don't survive conact with the airlines. Our flights
called for a two and a half hour connection at Narita, from our
American flight
to the JAL flight on to Seoul.. When we boarded at JFK we we're looking
good. We boarded on time, and we pushed back about 5 minutes late,
hardly a problem. Well, that was until about 10
minutes after we pushed back from the gate at JFK; I noticed we were
backtracking towards the American
terminal. Sure enough, the pilot
comes up on the PA. They goofed, and didn't get a missing passanger's
bag pulled off the plane, so back to the gate.
When we got to the gate, rather than pull his bag, they put the
missing passanger on the flight. Having found him, it was much faster
to put him on the plane rather than have someone dig around trying to
find and pull his bags from the cargo holds. Oh, and while they were at
it, they put back on the bags they pulled by
mistake. I think we can say that the baggage guys at JFK were having a
bad day.
Back out to the JFK trek to the end of the runway. Well, we're
down a little over an hour now. Off we go. Pilot comes on, and tells us
that there are unusually
strong headwinds. That doesn't sound helpful. Hmm. Our original time on
the ground was supposed to be 3:30, with a 6:00 connection.
Halfway there, we showed a 5:05 landing time. Very tight but not yet
hopeless.
Then, since we were no longer on time, we got tossed into a holding
pattern for 10 minutes, waiting for a slot to land.. 5:15. We're down.
And taxiing. Slowly. Very Slowly. 5:30,
we're still exploring the taxways, and just getting over to the main
complex of
terminals. 5:45... Gee, I think we can kiss that connection goodbye.
5:50. On the gate. We're the first people off the plane. There are
about four customer service reps at the gate holding up signs for
people with tight connections. None for us. (Go that way, they say,
pointing to the internatinal connecting flights sign) Off we
trek. Puff Puff. There's the connecting flight's counter. There's a
nice sign for our flight, and a very polite, and somewhat contrite
representative.
"We're sorry, but your connection is now impossible. We've booked you
on the first available flight tommorow. Here's your new e-etickets,
here's a hotel voucher, do you want your bags pulled?" Very
effiicient, very well organized. We're off to immigration and customs
in about 2 minutes, with tickets on the 2:15 pm flight to Seoul the
next day. Samantha
chortles with glee as she collects a new passport stamp. (She was
most annoyed that she had to trade in her old passport, with a fair
number of stamps for a new one two years ago, she's keen to add new
stamps to the current
one)
American put us into a perfectly pleasant mid-range hotel, just off the
airport. Shuttle bus to take us there, impeccable Japanese style
service so we didn't have to touch a bag, and enough staff at check in
to keep things rolling along when a bunch of people showed up on the
shuttle bus. The hotel
voucher covered dinner and breakfast. The hotel offered up three
choices, Western style, Chinese and Japanese. Well, that was easy. We
rode up to the top floor, and found our voucher got us each a very nice
set piece Japanese Bento tray, complete with eight little dishes,
ranging from very nice shashimi to gently simmered chicken in a
vegatable stock. Serious yumm, followed by serious collapse into heaps.
The next morning, we pried ourselved out of bed early. We popped
through breakfast, and asked the hotel desk to see if we could get a
cab over to a nearby Shinto Shrine. Of course. Instructions, a neatly
printed card with the name of the Shrine in Japanse was produced,
and we were handed a card for the hotel, so a taxi could take us
back, and a taxi was summoned to take us on our way.. So,
off we went.
As in much of Japan, any shrine is a major tourist destination, for
both locals and foriengers, so lots of interesting shops line the road
to the entrance, eager to sell tourists goodies.
This is a fairly serious shrine,
dating back to 940, although most of the construction is much more
recent, mid 1800s, and some as recent as 1984. This is the main gate,
leading up form an entrance plaza.
A pair of these fellows flank the gate
At the top of the hill where the shrine sits, is the pagoda of world
peace, which is recent, dating to 1984.
We have a rare picture of me, with Elanor taking the picture.
In Japanese tradition, one washes one's hands in the smoke from the
offering...
One very thoughtful Japanese tradition is writing "ema" tablets with
prayers or wishes. We wrote one for
Brian, each of us adding our thoughts.
These are then hung, and the monks pray over them, and convey the
wishes to the spirits of the shrine. Here's Samantha in front of a board
of Ema offerings:
And here are our wishes: (Actually, if you look closely over Samantha's
head, you can see our Ema plaque hanging in the picture above)
After a little more time exploring, it was time to get our bags, and
head out to the airport, and actually get to Korea. But, first, one
more diversion. Japan is really a different place, and you keep getting
reminders. Our basic mid-range hotel had a lovely little water garden,
complete with classic Japanse Koi, and of course, they have to be fed.
This being Japan, the guy who feeds the Koi does it in a suit and tie,
from a fancy metal tray of koi food. And of course, is delighted
to share with a very excited seven year old.