Taking the Bus in Japan!! =)

Woohoo haha... to all those that have been waiting for me to FINALLY do some blogging, here it is =) haha... sorry for the long wait. it was mainly due to the fact that i do not have INTERNET in my room and all the time that i am actually online is spent chatting with friends! haha... (ACTUALLY ALSO coz i'm having too much fun here lah!!! wahahahaha) =)

ok, this is my first blog using "Windows Live Writer" (recommended by YiXia). i hope that it will turn out good coz its so much easier to use then having to upload photos individually to blogger. =)

Yeap now to my experience with the Buses in Japan, as i mentioned, i said that i would do a post on the buses and how they work so this short post will serve that purpose and of course be a test for the new medium i'm using haha... =)

Me waiting for the bus to arrive! =) slacking away!!! haha...

The bus stop right outside my Hostel (Kaikan).

Pics of the board at the bus stop!, its actually quite interesting as they have the timings that each bus is expected to arrive everyday. thus they have this long list that is segregated into (1)normal weekdays, (2)Saturday and (3)Sundays & public holidays =)

This is how it looks inside he bus. There are not that many seats and all of those in the front are single seaters. Only the seats at the back of the bus are double seaters.

In comparison to Singapore, you board the bus from the back door! =)... and instead of paying once you get on, you first take a ticket from this red machine you see above. (Ticket is the blue piece of paper). I only realised after wanting to take this picture that you can only take a ticket when the driver opens the door! =) thus the difference between the two pictures above (one has the ticket sticking out!)

From there you next have to monitor this big board of numbers at the front of the bus!. if you can see, my blue ticket has the number 12 on it and i will need to use this number and compare with the fare changes on this board. As the bus moves further off, the red digital numbers will increase gradually and the number that is shown when you finally reach your destination will be the amount of YEN that you need to pay! =) quite an interesting system. But the more interesting thing for me is coming up next! haha...

This blue machine you see here is right at the front of the bus! haha... and it is a COIN CHANGER!!!! =) in EVERY BUS HERE!!! so damn interesting!, i was shocked at first when someone used it, this really makes it convenient for you when you do not have any coins to pay for the trip. How is works is that you either slot in a 1000yen note or a 500yen coin and the machine then dispenses the same amount of $$$ in coins for you... from there you then use the coins to pay... haha... although it is an interesting system, BUT sometimes when many people have to change the coins, alighting the bus will tend to take longer... and standing and waiting can be rather lachey...  =)

And finally! i reach my University (KYUDAI)... =)... this is the bus stop directly outside my Uni!.

This is actually one of the few times that i will be taking a bus to anywhere in the vicinity. Once i get my bicycle! i'm totally cycling everyday! Each trip to my uni by bus costs about S$4 (FOUR SINGAPORE DOLLARS FOR A 15 MINUTE BUS RIDE!!!!) CRAZYYYYYYY it's so ridiculously expensive!!! I'm definitely going for the buy a bike at about a $100 and ride for the next 6 months!!! haha.. okie then i'll end my post here! =) Ja mata!