Oh my oh my.

I am starting this post on 22nd Oct.  =)

Alright, to start, i have to say that my trip to Osaka was one of the best. It was short but fruitful and i’m super glad that i was able to go. Osaka was wonderful as a host, but the company that i had there was awesome. Like seriously, i bet you can’t get cooler than us.

Ok let’s get started.

On the night of October 6th, we met at the airport at 10.30pm for check in and some brief briefing. After checking in, we went into the transit to wait for boarding. We ate a bit of stuff and talked about where to go when we reached and etc. Too soon enough, it was time to board! We didn’t take too many pictures before we board. Anyway that’s not the point.
After take off, the party started. We ordered alcohol from the menu and watched movies and played cards and did stupid things and then we slept. Until a commotion. Ryhn blacked out. It was stupid in a funny way. I bet the stewards and stewardess thought that we were some kids who kay kiang can drink only.

We landed at 8+am japan time. Beautiful place that Osaka.

Landing into Osaka’s Kansai Intl airport. Anyway, a bit of background info, the Kansai airport is like an offshore island. Its on reclaimed land and its quite cool.

On the way to immigration. You can see tang trying to take a picture of jenna taking a picture.

After arriving shortly, we went to Osaka Castle.

We spotted this quaint looking building near the castle. Very Potterish/Hogwarts don’t you think?

The building was sealed. So we just looked at it from the outside.

Osaka castle has about 8 storeys. We went up in 25minutes stopping at every level to see what they offered. And came down to meet for lunch by 11.30am. Frankly, we weren’t much interested in historical things, but it was interesting though.

Our first lunch of the trip, piping hot!

I thought it was quite good, and there was pumpkin! Jenna thought it was too bland for her taste but knowing her, yeah, a bottle of shoyu is always her bff. 🙂

After lunch, we went to the Osaka Prefectural College of Technology for an exchange program with the students there. The students who received us were all guys so the guys on our side were a bit disappointed.

We were split into 3 groups and had a tour around the school by the students. We saw Judo and Kendo and uh robots!

Judo!

Kendo

Robots!

After that we went back to the auditorium to interact with the students. They bought food for us and we were having fun and we asked them out, like to bring us around.

The group of guys that we talked too. it was a long and arduous process talking, we broke communication barriers by drawing and bby gestures and everything, it was a lot of fun but tiring. It was pretty much the ancient method of communicating.

After everything, we took a group picture with the students and their principal!

And then we went to our hotel for check in.

This is Dai-ichi hotel that we stayed in for the 5days! And i love the sky. Clear blue.

Small but functionable room.

After settling in comfortably, we were done for the day and it was free time for all. Jenna and i couldn’t take waiting for the guys so we went out ourselves in hopes that they’ll call later since they thought they had roaming. But no, they didn’t. NO ROAMING.

Anyway we went to the nearby Daimaru and Hanshin departmental stores to see and look. We eyed a few things/bags that we classified as potential good buys. After walking around for a good one hour, we were hungry. So we did what we thought was the most sensible thing ever. We went to the basement of Hanshin department store where they sold all sorts of food. We bought back dinner to our hotel for dinner.

Our dinner,

It was quite good, really, even if its not a lot. But, it would have tasted wayyyyyyy better if it was hot. Yeah, our dinner was a cold affair. Literally. Like cold kind of cold, not the put too long then cold, but you get what i mean. We felt stupid. HAHA. Anyway, yeah, its part of the experience man! Oh at least the rice was hot.

We retired to bed early cus we were all tired and everything. The next day’s itinerary was to Nissin Ramen factory and the ATC eco plaza.

Woke up, freshened up, went down for breakfast. And was all ready for the day!

We spied cute as button japanese kids on our way into the museum. Japanese kids are really friendly, they say hi and wave and do the cutest things. We also spied a 100yen shop along the way where we bought a lot of things after the museum.

The founder of Nissin Ramen.

Picture on the right, shows you  ALL the different kinds of instant ramen that Nissin ever produced. Its basically a timeline depicting the rise of instant ramen from year 1958. Now this is the kind of museum that i like.

What is inside your normal cup of Nissin instant noodles, a hundred times bigger.

RAMEN VENDING MACHINE! Speaking of which, we found a frapp vending machine under the basement of our hotel. It was very interesting. One of the best parts about japan are its vending machines. Awesome one of a kind stuffs they sell.

Cute Qoo bottles and a picture outside the museum. The museum was situated somewhere in a what we think is a higher maintenance neighbourhood. There were nice houses around.

After the museum, we went to the nearby 100yen shop and bought some stuffs, mainly food and everything. After that we went to Shinsaibashi for a shabu shabu lunch!

The place we had our lunch, it was really good. The miso was fantastic.

Getting ready for lunch! All the lovely veggies and meat. A refill for a plate of amazing pork was at 200yen! Super cheap! And we were in japan!

After lunch, we went to the ATC Green Eco plaza. It wasn’t very interesting truth to be told. But! We had the opportunity to meet a cute uncle instructor.

Very cute and funny uncle in black. He was super cute!

After ATC, it was free time! FREEEEEE MEANS SHOPPING. That night was like our first decent night of shopping. In japan, shops and stores close at 8.30pm, food outlets close later, so we all did our shopping first. And bear with the hunger and shopped until the shops closed then we decided what to eat for dinner.

SHINSAIBASHI!!! It was shopping haven. Think Bugis street but many more times cooler.

This was the day when real shopping started! Ok, to start, the few things that you should get from if you happen to go japan are(common sense), Uniqlo, Agnes B, Burberry Blue and Burberry Black label. 3 out of 4 are not yet available in Sg though if i’m not wrong Uniqlo will be coming in 2010. Agnes B is about 50% cheaper in Japan and the stores are as common as Giordano in sg. As for Burberry blue and black, it speaks for itself man.

Oh i forgot CDG too.

Anyway back to the trip. We headed for Uniqlo immediately upon reaching Shinsaibashi. We took quite some time to shinsaibashi, wrong station, overshot and everthing. It was deep into the street and we took about 20mins to find the place, oh before that, we spotted a Agnes B boutique and went in to look around. I saw a black wallet and was immediately attracted to it! But i didn’t buy it cus i wanted to think it over. Yes, i’m quite the sensible consumer.

We took about 1hour in Uniqlo. Combed all 5levels of it. Actually the guys were the ones who went crazy over there. What with all the hoodies and shirts and basics.

We also stopped by Tokyu Hands and Gap and a few other shops along the way. After shopping, we went for a burger dinner at Lotteria because the pictures looked so good! But alas, you know the quote about the book and the cover and that’s all i’m gonna say. But it was good, even though it wasn’t what we had in mind.

We went back to the hotel after dinner at around 10+ if i’m not wrong because the next day was gonna be exciting! Universal Studiosssssss! Whole day of it.

it was near Halloween then, so traditional decorations like pumpkins! were all up.

Our very efficient and funny guide! His name is Kenny.

Queuing to go in

 Nicholas, Nam, Anthony

This is how the tickets look like, varying with Snoopy, Roadrunner, Hello Kitty and a few more.

Nothing better than to start of with a disgusting but exciting roller coaster ride called hollywood dreams. It looks mild, but its scary. Serious.

Where and how to go next?!

We decided to chill a bit and watched 4-d Shrek movie. It was really quite cool! And the was one part which involved spiders that was really creepy.

4D specs!

Map of the place

E.T.

Spiderman and Spiderman instant noodles

Snoopy

Oz

So we walked around and the place was incredibly huge. We stopped at a burger restaurant for lunch. IT WAS 18SGD! For a simple meal! Damn theme parks and overpriced food.

And we saw very nice cars, wouldn’t mind owning one of them!

Very pretty buildings. I like architecture like that. Very english.

Jurassic Park

Some show/parade that we chanced upon in the park

Hello Kitty. HAHA

That about sums up the day we had in universal studios!

After going back to the hotel we just walked around nearby malls like Hankyu, Daimaru and Hanshin because we really didn’t want to walk too far or too much. We had soba dinner at a nearby food street behind Hankyu and it was very cheap! Only 320-450yen depending on what you order! And it really was quite good, or maybe we were just all very hungry. The auntie tending to the shop was very nice too! It must be the japanese air, their people are all polite and cheery and especially the old. HAHA

The next day we were due for the Panasonic Centre/Showroom and then lunch and then the best part, whole day of shopping.

There should be a group picture somewhere but i’m not sure where is it stored, and i can’t find it now, so i’ll leave that to next time. =)

After the tour around Panasonic we went to Shinsaibashi for a table bbq lunch, it was not a lot, just beef, pork, chicken and selected veggies, but boy, it was already damn good. Especially the beef. That was the best beef i had in life, i’m not exaggerating! It was really very very good. After lunch it was free time. We spilt into groups and went shopping, and then to meet again for dinner at a later time.

So jenna, jijie and i walked around! Buying buying and buying. We manage to got what we wanted and combed the street at least once. We sat down at Mister Donut because we got really tired and saw the boys, so about 7 of us just sat there from 5 to 7 before meeting the others for dinner.

We had dinner at the Osaka food street!

A lot of food calling out to you!

This is about the all our shopping on our last day. Combined

It prolly doesn’t look as much because its taken from the side, but i can tell you it was a lot if you looked at it from the front. And i think people got a bit shocked when they came up and saw our shopping.

Food! The food was quite good, and we tried pufferfish!

This is one set

Another set, which comes with a big pot. Something like a steamboat for yourself.

Tempura

Sashimi boat. It looks kind of small here, i don’t know why cus i remembered that it was quite big.

Next table.

I really like love my food. 😀

And then it was the star! Pufferfish!

I rather liked it, the texture is like cooked fish rather than normal raw sashimi. But that’s how i feel, some didn’t like it. Others was so so. And yeah, its super thinly sliced.

After dinner, we took the subway back to hotel and played cards and drank and pranked until quite late.

The next day which was the very last day, we checked out and went to McD’s for brunch!

Prawn burger, this was awesomely good. I still think of it now. LOL. there was also McPork and McRibs which was so damn good. Its a pity that singapore will never have it, but at least we’ve had it in other countries. HAHA

Cinnamon melts looks uhmm, a bit dubious, but it was really good. Also there was a bacon potato pie,

Tasted like carbonara.

And then we went back to the hotel, took the bus and went to the airport for our flight back. =(

Getting ready to go home.

One last picture!

And then it was bye to Osaka. =)

this post is officially done on the 29th of Oct. took me a week! But this is considered fast already, i took 2months before i did my taiwan post, and not doing any for my second taiwan trip. So yeah, thank you Osaka! You’ve been nothing but wonderful.

Ok, WHERE THE HELL IS McGONAGALL AND DUMBLEDORE? COME AND GIVE ME MY LETTER TO HOGWARTS! I got “Outstanding” for Potions, Charms, DADA and transfiguration! HAHA. I’m feeling quite smart now. So this could mean that i can actually be a decent witch. Hmm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXEMmHn46Ec

Can i say say ohmyfcukinggod. OHMYFCUKINGGOD LOOK AT THIS COOL TRAILER. Damn you WB, why July, WHY. Anyway, LAST 20 SECONDS IS OHMYGOD AWESOME.

“But i AM the Chosen One.” Oh, Harry, you say the funniest things.

Edit: i tried embedding the bloody thing but i didn’t succeed. So i just post up the link.

I’m almost done with my Osaka post, i just need a few more food pictures from jijie and i’m pretty much done.

I love doing post on my trips, i get reminded of the fun and laughter and all the funny nonsense that we had then.

Ahhh, i miss Osaka.

Hi i changed my blog skin!

I’m going to start my Osaka post. Let’s see how long it’ll take.

I just finished the latest episode of Gossip Girl. It was smoking hot and effing good.

And if Chuck and Blair don’t get together soon, i’ll probably die from all the waiting.

 

I think i got cheated of a bit of money for the IT fair. LOL

Final call for Singapore Airlines/Lufthansa/China Eastern Airline Flight SQ/LH/MU…, Please go to Gate A/B… for immediate boarding. The boarding gate will close 10minutes before departure.

I hear this like, at least 25 times a day.

I don’t know why the hell i agreed to continue working after my trip from Osaka because right now, i’m quite screwed for my first week of school. Shitszxszx.

I ❤ Osaka

Where the hell is the new timetable. WHERE.

Konnichiwa! I’m back from Osaka it was much fun and i loved the place. i’m gonna update about the trip soon and i’m gonna go unpack now. =)