One last day in Japan and what a long day of travel it was going to be, with the time changes and such going back home.  I woke up with a mission to see one last Shrine in Kyoto.  The Golden Pavilion.  It would have been an easy day to stay in bed, because it was back to raining hard.  This rain was actually outer bands of the Typhoon that hit China a few days earlier, but I wasn't going to let it stop me.

 

 

Needless to say, I didn't get or want to stand around long at this one, but I was very happy that I made the trek out to see it.  I can only imagine what it would be like glistening in the sun.  It was still very moving and a fitting end to my sightseeing tour.

 

I really enjoy all the balance in Japan.  Inside/outside, technology/nature, congestion/hidden parks, I could keep going for a long time on this polar opposites that keep Japan in balance.  Maybe it is the extreme of these opposites that forces a spiritual side on you, but it is easy to sit and relax here.

 

A few last shots of what it takes to travel around the city.  This is a bus stop.  Strangely, I understood all of this, or what I needed to.

 

That was that.  After a quick morning I was on my last train ride to the Kansai airport.  When I got there, I noticed the impact of the Typhoon.  There was a moment where I went, wow, I may not be leaving, but I just had to go with the flow.  Most of the canceled flights were to China or SW Asia, so I felt decent.

 

One last sushi meal.  Even the airport sushi was incredible.

 

I wasn't allowed to check-in until 90 mins to the flight and it was already pushed back 30 mins.  I had some time to walk around.  Kansai is the airport that was built on a man made island in the bay in the early 90s.  I remember all the Nat Geo specials about its construction and it was goo seeing it first hand.

 

I have seen these signs before.  Who are these people on the far right?

 

One last Kit Kat flavor, Melon and Mascapone Cheese.  Actually, it was really good, but I was probably bored also.

 

Oh, figurines of the 4 kings....

 

When I got to the gate area, it was bad outside.  This picture doesn't even capture the half of it.  They shut the train service down to the mainland and our flight was delayed another hour because of that.  I still felt like we could have left on time.... Eternal Optimist I am.

 

Closer to departure, you could start to see the mainland.  I dozed on the train ride over and had no clue how close we were to shore.

 

Still a little gloomy on takeoff, but...

 

... up in the air, the sunset was a welcome surprise to the gloomy day.  Funny that I would see it rise again from the air in a few short hours.

 

More treats that I haven't seen here.

 

My first layover was in Vancouver.  It was a stunning way to land on, well, the same day I left.  All together my Tuesday was 35 hours that day, I think.

 

I jumped flights in Vancouver which added some excitement, but I was glad I thought of it.  It allowed me to get home about 12 hours earlier via Minneapolis.  Funny that I sat next to some people from Lee's Summit on my flight from Vancouver.  No troubles getting home, or even getting up the next morning for work.  That surprised me really.  All in all, an amazing trip that seems almost surreal now that I am talking about a month later.  I will do a re-cap post, but that is it for the pictures.