Japan Trip Sep-Nov 2010 (Osaka, Kyoto, Wakayama, Shikoku, Kurashiki)

Touched down recently from my trip to Japan. In actual fact i did not really sort of factor in to travel to Japan this year. Coz its a little costly to travel there. But becoz Jetstar had such a good offer and my sister, my fren and I juz could not miss... so we juz bought the tics and head there. (Coz jetstar's offer was due it its maiden voyage to osaka!!!) and u'll never believe how much we pay for our tics. its S$138 for 1 way. so adding everything up, we pay S$450 for the air tics (2 way + taxes). its a very very good bargain. Anyway u gotta b prepared that the food & brevage they serve is a 1st come 1st serve basis and u gotta pay for them. but other than this its prett ok.

So finally 26th Sept came. as usual i was so busy with the numerous things happening in my life that i only started packing my bags the night before. hee hee... always last min huh....
anyway my sis and i packed until around 12am then we head to bed. and we gotta waked up @ 4.30am to do our wash up and prayers before we head to T1. coz we arranged to reach the airport @ 5.30am to meet my friend Hilda there. (our flight was scheduled to take off @ 7am)
after checking in, we went to take our breakfast at the airport before heading for the customs. as Hilda tried to clear the customs... she wasn't able to be cleared. coz apparently... her PR status had expired!!! (oh no!!!) she was unaware of it. Hence, we were like standing there (my sister and i on 1 side of the customs while hilda on the other side) so after much decision and talking to the police over there.... hilda decided to continue with the Japan trip. Coz when she comes back... the following day she has to make a trip down to the ICA to re-new her PR status....she had to do this fast coz once she comes back from japan, 2 days later she will leaving for South Africa.

Anyway once we managed to sort of settle that, we boarded the plane. the plane will be transiting @ Taipei (Taoyuan International airport) before continuing the journey to Kansai International airport. it was a 8.5hrs flight including the transiting time.

                                               Sihui & Hilda @ Taoyuan International Airport

                                                                That's me & Hilda

finally we reached Kansai international airport @ 4pm (Osaka time). after picking our luggage, we pick up maps and Hilda bought somesort of pre-paid virtual card to make international calls. she wanted to call ICA to check with what she has to do to get back her PR status and how long tat will take. and the person was rather vague with the answers. in fact to make international calls was a hassle. coz when we dial the code no. there was like an automated operator talking on the phone and it was all in japanese... and i had to roughly guess the meaning to dial in the numerous numbers to get through to singapore. u can say it was an experience. while waiting for hilda, my sister and i ate onigiri (おにぎり). after the phone call.... we carried our bags and headed to the JR station. Hilda was activating her JR pass today whilst my sister and I will activate our pass tomorrow. Coz we've got 9 days in Japan. so our 1st & last day we gotta pay for the transportation. (its cheaper than to buy the day pass for the JR rail west for these 2 days)
it took about 50min to Osaka (大阪) station. Tennoji (天王寺) where we need to change trains to Shin-imamiya (新今宮), where we've made booking to stay in a business hotel, Hotel Raizan South. It cost us 2100円 per person per night. and if we were to come back and stay, we'll get 10% discount and it will be 1900円 per person per night. so Hilda and me will share a room whilst my sister will sleep by her self.
After putting our bags, we took the Midosuji Line (御堂筋線) subway to the most happening part of Osaka, Umeda (梅田). like the past, we had to figure our the train schedules and which are the lines that the trains are heading to the place we wanted to go. it calls for some revising of Japanese and chinese reading. hahaha.... and i must tell u this entire trip i had to spend quite a bit of time reading the Japanese characters trying to figure out what its trying to say. most times i had to guess the meaning.

Streets of Umeda, Dontonbori

so we reached Umeda station. it cost about 200円 1 train ride from Shin-imamiya to Umeda. When we were in Umeda, we walked around the underground region and the streets above. 1 thing amazing about the Japanese major subway stations is.... the underground region is almost similar to a bustling city. and there are so many shops and alleys there are 1 can really get lost in the maze. hahaha... so u gotta figure ur way around and read the maps that they've 'littered' in the underground. and when u're 'above', that is on the streets, its another whole new world. bightly lit shops and shops bursting with loud music all over.


and people walking around doing there shopping. and there are streets for buying clothes and cosmestics and another street juz for eating. when u're in the food street, Dontonbori (道頓堀)... ur mouth will really water....literally water i mean. coz there are so many appealing food that are being displayed in the shop windows. and all these look really real when they are plastic. hahaha...

The famous Crab figurine in Dontonbori



and we decided to try the speciality of Osaka. that is Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) and Takoyaki (たこ焼き)!

well something different about Osaka Okonomikayi is Osaka-ians tend to put a lot (and i really mean a loooottt) of the Okonomiyaki sauce on the pan-cake. and also a lot of bonito flakes. for those who have a 'salty' tooth... u'll really enjoy it. otherwise u'll be drinking lots of water with every mouthful of okonomiyaki.
anyway after dinner and a little shopping (i bought my shampoo & body foam in umeda coz i did not packed them... urgh)

My sister & the famous Gilico runner in Osaka

we headed back to the hotel and call it a night. coz tomorrow we've got a super long day. Tomorrow we're heading to Wakayama Prefecture (和歌山市)