Continuing my Osaka trip, I took the kyoto-tozai line to Kyoto aka the City of Ten Thousand Shrines.
(FYI, it is about 1000yen to and fro on the subway)
Kyoto is currently my favourite city in the world !
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| People sitting by the river bank chatting. |
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| Beautiful old school back alley. Ninja ninja everywhere ! |
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| Crane alert ! |
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| Wanted for a thousand years ~ |
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| The present and the past. |
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| Tourists in their traditional garb. |
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| People people. |
And if you ever reach the Kiyomizu-dera, you will come across the Otowa-no-taki waterfall which has 3 different streams of water, believed to be for health, longevity and wisdom respectively. However, you are suppose to drink only from one and if you drink from all three streams it is bad luck and considered greedy.
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| More people queuing to quench their thirst. |
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| Beautiful like a scene out of a Studio Ghibli production. |
Kyoto also boost the reputation for having Geisha/Geiko.
But the number of Geisha/Geiko in modern Japan have dwindled to an estimated 1,000-2,000. And to be able to meet one is considered to be extremely lucky.
Most of my Japanese friend themselves have not even seen them before.
After 3 hours of walking around and on my way back, through Gion ....
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| From a distance... |
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| Fukucho-san ! |
I was lucky enough to meet a Maiko (trainee geisha) aka Fukucho.
Truth to be told, when I was young, I was so obsessed over Geisha.
I spend like hours drawing miniature geisha and even learning the 祇園小唄 ( Gion Kouta ) movement. The fan dance ... The way they look at people and people falling at their feet.
I always thought the perfect kind of woman/lady is like a geisha, walking small steps and doing only small actions.
I wonder what happen to me now ....
So one day, I told my dad that I wanted to be a Geisha and he explain to me what a " Geisha Girl" does (geisha girl is somewhat like a prostitute but geisha can choose to be only an entertainer).
And the young me got confused and decided not to condemn myself so .... I grew up to be a modern person.
Food!
I decided to pop my head into a small eatery but some okonomiyaki ~
The taste was not the best but Ojisan had a lot of passion. Ojisan ! Arigotou Gozaimashita !
Overall, I am really thankful for the opportunity to be able to travel to Japan so often.
I really love the country and thanks god for letting me discover Kyoto.
Osaka have officially bumped up into my "Favourite City List" to number 2.
(Number 1 being Kyoto. hohohoho)
Not an expert in Japan especially the Kansai area, but here are some places I went to in Osaka.
Osaka Kaiyukan (海遊館)
Not going to bore you with the usual tourist book talk but the Kaiyukan is located in the Tempozan area which you can also find the ferris wheel and universal studio japan pretty close by.
Happens to be the period of school excursion. Wherever i go, kids in their uniforms.
The normal tickets cost 2300yen but I bought the Kaiyu Ticket at the Airport for 2,550yen thinking that it comes with a "Unlimited ride within Osaka City*". Mind the * sign. Despite the fact that you think Osaka City means the whole of Osaka, there are some places in Osaka such as hankyu line that you can't use the ticket. So for me, it was like a "I try this ticket, I pass, I go in. I fail, I use my regular card."
Truth to be told, when I came into adulthood, i started hating on zoos and aquarium.
It's inhumane how they keep animals in their enclosure and restrict them to a whole life in a tank.
Dōtonbori (道頓堀)
Dōtonbori as you may or may not recognise from the famous glico man (who was on a vacation when I was there, replaced by Ayase Haruka) is the number 1 must go in Osaka.
It's the most tourist filled and the one stop where you can get almost everything and anything.
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| Halal food alert ! |
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| Extremely famous takoyaki. |
Dōtonbori as I mention is like a one stop for anything.
You can find the extremely crowded forever popular Don Quijote(look for the penguin) along the river where you can get all kind of snacks, make up, electronic stuffs at greatly discounted price.
Within walking distance is also Shinsaibashi (心斎橋) and Amerikamura (アメリカ村, American Village), you can feast your eye at gyaru at the latter.
Umeda Sky Building (梅田スカイビル)
Spend 700yen with Mari-unni on a walk up the Umeda Sky Building.
Should not have done that ....
Takoyaki (たこ焼き)
Is my favourite japanese food.
And when you are in Osaka, it is a must must must eat.
Takoyaki can be said to be "invented"in Osaka.
And nowadays there are a lot of varieties of Takoyaki, my personal favourite goes to the runny one ~
This concludes my Osaka trip.
Stay tune for Kyoto's next ! ^^
Previously when I was in Tokyo, I stayed in this room in an apartment that I found on airbnb.
This time, I decided to be more ready and looked for my lodging about 1month plus before (prior, I only spent like 2 weeks before booking the accomodation)
For 4 nights, it was only 125,000won (about usd125).
I thought I got a real good deal and after much researching about it, I found out it was a love hotel....
Well.... Hmmm... Okay.
But the picture was really good and since there were bathtubs and its a HOTEL, i mean, how bad can it be right ?
Hotel Grand Fine is a chain love hotel in Japan. But it can only be found in Kyoto, Osaka, Tottori and more of the non city places.
To go to Hotel Grand Fine Toyonaka Minami, from the airport, I have to take a airport bus and then transfer to a train.
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| Buying a return ticket together is cheaper. |
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| Love Osaka's train vibe. So vintage ! |
One thing about Japan's train station is that, one station can have a few names. Like Umeda Station is the same as Osaka Station as it is known on the JR line. Most people from the other prefecture, gets off at Osaka Station when they wants to come to Osaka. Hence the naming...
Hotel Grand Fine Toyonaka Minami is located between Shonai Station and Hattori-tenjin Station. The hotel is located about 13 to 15mins walk from both station.
The area is pretty dull, with mostly clinics and shops catering to the nearby area. But from Hattori-tenjin Station to the hotel, along the way there is Mcdonald (omg, shitty jap mac) and Uniqlo.
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| Hotel Exterior. |
The staff speaks pretty decent amount of English. I guess after all it is just check in and out....
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| OMG. HUGE ROOM. |
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| Kinky stuffs. |
The room is decently stocked with almost everything you need. Towels, bathrobe, shower essentials, shower cap, toothbrush, hairdryer and all the whats not. And there is free wi-fi ~ bliss.
My room also had like nintendo games and karaoke.
I heard that some room had billiard or outdoor jacuzzi. WOOOOO.
The food was okay... A little too salty for my liking, but that is Osaka food for you.
For 125,000won for 4 nights, I have nothing to complain about (seriously! how do they make money man ?).
The love hotel in Japan is seriously interesting though, the Jackpot machine by the side allows regular to play and if they win, they can exchange points with prizes like shampoo etc.
And there is also another machine at the door, that allows you to pay for room like extra hours etc.
Anyway, despite the reputation of it being a love hotel, the room was decently quiet enough. Won't encourage family to book though. There is too much kinky stuff around the room. I would not want to spend my time explaining to the kiddos~
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