Around the World with Jilly and Roger: And we're off...

Friday, 2 September 2016

And we're off...

Bit of a dodgy start though. The National Express coach was delayed for an hour and a half due to accident on M23/25 junction. So we caught the taxi - train - tube and just made it. Right now in transit at Colombo Airport, Shri Lanka. Blessed by Buddha as we arrived. Shri Lankan Airlines is very good. Stewardess' in trad-style uniform. Lovely peacock blue seats. Good service. Even the food was okay. And we left on the dot and arrived on time. It was a short day. 9.30 pm to Midday in just ten hours. Next stop Tokyo.

4 comments:

Wastedpapiers2 September 2016 at 02:18
Blimey - talk about cutting it fine. You tend to miss coaches and trains alot! Hopefully your other connections will be good! Bon voyage!
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Roger Stevens2 September 2016 at 04:14
Really hope so.
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Roger Stevens2 September 2016 at 04:15
Really hope so.
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Wastedpapiers2 September 2016 at 05:36
Very echoey room you are are in?
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Airports. The low down.

1 Kanzai Airport (Kix), Japan. Vastly vast, sparkling and modern. Very quick through security and immigration. Very friendly. Please note - should there be an earthquake of upper five velocity or above - then you will need to vacate the building. 8 stars

2 Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's a small airport and reviews suggested it was a bit boring, especially for a long stop-over of seven hours. But we liked it. We were welcomed by a huge statue of Buddha, it had free wifi and nice café with fresh cooked curry-style food. Nowhere to buy books or papers etc. But there was a stand selling Buddhist literature. 7 stars
3 Heathrow. You've probably been here. It's big, very crowded and lacking any sort of character. 6 stars

4 Narita, Tokyo. Big, dull, bit confusing. But we were "processed" very quickly. 6 stars
5 Guang Zhou, China. Had a stop-over here. The main airport is a bit gloomy, with few facilities and expensive food. Our gate was in the basement. Dark, dirty and noisy. An international airport with portaloos! 3 stars

Eating in Japan

1 I am enjoying Japanese cuisine. Jill is not. We did both enjoy a Japanese meal in the huge Sky Tree complex. First we made our own paste of poppy and sesame seeds with a thick brown liquid. We dipped our pork tempura in it. The starter was a huge plate of very fresh, finely shredded, white cabbage eaten with a white condiment. Long and large tempura prawns. And other stuff. It was delicious. We are still practising vegetarians. Just haven't mastered it yet.

2 After a week in Japan I can report that we do both enjoy udon noodles. And the pickles they serve everywhere. But Jill still not overly impressed.