Final Leg: Osaka (2 - 4 Jan 2008)
It took only 15 mins by Shinkansen from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka. The map of the Shin-Osaka Youth Hostel (10F KOKO Plaza Building, 1-13-13, Higashinakajima, Higashiyodogawaku-ku, Osaka city) from the train station looked simple enough, but we got terribly lost and confused when we walked to the end of the street and no appropriate building appeared. Turned out that the Youth Hostel is actually housed in a building of a different name, KOKO Plaza, and it only occupies 2 storeys of that building. Due to insufficient private twin rooms, we had to put up in a dorm room on our 1st night there. A war of sorts flared up between us and another occupant of the dorm that night but that's another story altogether.Sis got ready for her detto with Haru, then we proceeded to the train station to meet him. He was fashionably dressed in a long black coat over a black long-sleeved shirt (an improvement over the green scarf?), and carried a tote that looked as if it came from his sister's collection. We commented privately that he must be really metro. He brought us to the shopping districts of Osaka: Dōtonbori (道頓堀), and Shinsaibashi (心斎橋). As we passed through stations, Sis and I noted excitedly that some stations had names of characters in the dorama "Hana-Kimi (Japan)". We stopped for dinner at a ramen store along the street; Sis, having learnt how a Japanese woman should behave from watching Maki with Tomoyuki, smilingly refilled Haru's empty tea mug when he reached for the flask.
Shopping was a rushed affair. Sis couldn't locate her 100 yen shops, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember where I had seen the numerous 100 yen shops I had visited back in 2004. The only shops we went into were Uniqlo and this 7-storey building along the river that sold assorted cheap goods. Sis saw a small locked glass display of Ghibli goods, and it turned out that Haru loved Ghibli anime. He even sang a ditty from Kiki's Delivery Services when we commented on a figurine of Kiki.
For the special part of the evening, Haru brought us to the Umeda Sky Building's Floating Garden Observatory for the night view of the city. We had a discount from the usual 700 yen entry fee as he presented some coupon he printed online. By then, i had expected the biting cold wind, but still was not used to it especially when standing on the rooftop taking photos. I was beginning to feel like a fifth wheel and a human popsicle, so Sis and I headed home with Haru as the clingy chaperone.
The next day we had to ourselves, so we visited Osaka Castle (700 yen entry fee). There seemed to be some boyband concert happening nearby, and Sis hoped that it might be SMAP, but it turned out to be made up of boys about half our ages, called... Boyz.
(-_-)"
We then rushed to Universal Studio by train, and got a shock at how cold the wind was (I wonder why, after 10 days of cold winds). In slapstick Stephen Chow style, Sis and I darted from pillar to pillar to escape the wind. The hood I pulled over my head got blown off the second we ran out from the station. After our hasty Mos Burger lunch, we qualified for the Twilight Pass (3 - 7 pm) at only 3700 yen per person. Unfortunately, it was obviously not enough to go on all the rides we wanted. This is one of the biggest regrets of this trip. We spent 3 freaking hours in the Spiderman queue, and had a wow wow wet time at the Jurassic Park slide. And then it was shopping time! Dashed about the shops before they closed, grabbing last minute presents. By then, I was swiping my card willingly. And I did it again, when Sis spotted a gift shop before we left Universal City. I spent S$200 in there on, what else, Ghibli stuff.
On the platform to transfer to a train that would bring us back to Shin-Osaka, I got a call from Bro, who asked me where I was. Mum thought that we were supposed to be back 1 day earlier. What? And miss out on 1 more day of shopping? It was 10 pm and the right train did not seem to be coming by, or maybe we did not know it was the right train, what with all the "local", "rapid", "semi-rapid" classes of trains. Our pacing up and down the platform was apparently noticed by the security cameras. After the 3rd train had gone off without us on it, a station officer came up to survey the platform, but actually to keep an eye on us. When the next train came along, he waved us onto the train as if to get rid of us. Ha.
Our journey back to Singapore was an adventure; I wasn't sure if we could even get on our flight! Sis got questioned over the snow globe she bought at Asakusa that she didn't check in and couldn't hand-carry onto the plane apparently, and she was getting rather panicky and flustered, especially with the communication barrier. Our flight was to leave at 1 pm from Kansai. In the space of 10 mins, the officer brought us back out to the check-in counter to check in the snow globe, then we hopped back through the security check, ran to the terminal shuttle to get to our departure gate, sprinted with flailing arms and shopping bags to the gate (I almost lost Sis somewhere along the way), where the airport personnel were looking worriedly at their watches. We boarded the plane just 1-2 mins before the departure time, perspiration dripping down beneath our clothes, coz we had no time to remove our jackets before the sprint! Fortunately, or unfortunately, that was the end of our misadventures in Japan. Till the next holiday then! o(~∇~*o)(o*~∇~)o
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posted by Addy @ 3:55 PM
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