Hello friends !!!!
I am here again, to write about our annual holiday last year 2014 in May, to OSAKA , JAPAN !
We actually wanted to go Korea, but Japan is always a personal favourite for me :)
Anyway, we always always book tickets from SQ really early and get it cheap ! Our economy return flights from Japan only costs about $650 .. and we are heading to Osaka from Singapore, about 5.5 hours flight !
Took the midnight flight to maximize time there ...
Reached Osaka Airport ! Been years since I last stepped foot here, I think about 5 years . Love for Japan never ends !
Walked towards the train station interconnected to the airport, to take our train into the city !
You can click on this link to view the Osaka Train Map ! MAP HERE
Basically it looks something like this :
Confusing right ! But no worries ! You'll get the hang of it :)
After some calculations and research (we want to cover Kobe & Kyoto during this trip), we decided on getting the :
3 day JR WEST KANSAI PASS , which costs 5140 Yen . (as at time of writing)
*** You must buy the Pass before entering Japan***
and our 3 Days Pass will start from Day 2 of our trip !
JR West Kansai Pass cover the below main lines :
So we actually found out there is a good combination for us on Day 1 , which is the:
Nankai Aiport line + Osaka Kaiyukan pass
(Nankai Railway Version), AKA Kaiyu Ticket
it looks something like this below: This costs 3010 Yen (as of May 2014)
This pass , The Kaiyu Ticket covers entry to Kaiyukan plus all the rides of the day (on the subway, not JR lines!!!) :
eg: from KIX your hotel (e.g. Namba) to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan to back to your hotel
This pass quite worth is because the adult price of the aquarium ticket is already 2300 Yen ..Since we will be visiting the Aquarium today !
You can use Kaiyu ticket to travel on the subways , valid for one day ! Perfect when you come from the airport . There are also various type of passes for your needs.
Pls note that they most likely don't show these passes at the counter, so must ask for them !
you can view Kaiyukan official travel tips HERE ; OFFICIAL TRAVEL TIPS
Moving on, after purchasing our Kaiyukan pass....
we hopped on to the Nankai railway straight into the city , directly to Namba !
Actually at first we were contemplating whether to stay Namba or Osaka / Umeda, but if you want nightlife and happening, where all the neon light and street food heaven is , you must stay at Namba !
First vending machine we saw in Japan :D
We alighted at Namba and started to walk around to find our hotel for the day :
So we came across this perfectly located hotel, considered really cheap for its location !!!! Around $130 a night, for a decent hotel in Namba !!! What a good deal :)
I cut and paste my review on tripadvisor:
Namba walk exit B22 or B24 . Convenience store below the hotel . Very good for exploring around at night as it's few minutes walk away from dotonburi and shinsaibashi - plenty of food around and game arcades too.
They help us to keep our luggage at the hotel after the early check out time of 10 am , which is a little too early. Check in time is 3pm . You can leave luggage there if you reach earlier . rooms are acceptable , they refresh amenities everyday !
Just that the one escalator at the front of hotel is quite inconvenient if its not going your direction and you're carrying heavy luggages ...
Please note that its NAMBA WALK (Air conditioned underground mall) !! Because Namba station is really huge, i think 3 interconnected lines, so everything is linked underground, just be sure to walk into NAMBA WALK, its a really long 2 stretches of shops !
This is how it looks like.. with shops all closed lol .
Headed to the Kaiyukan from Namba station after checking in and a change of clothes :)
Absolutely love 100 yen vending machines !!
Found a Gyu don (Beef Bowl) shop near the station of Kaiyukan .
The Kaiyukan station is called Osakako (Osaka Port) Station on Chuo Line .
"Tempozan Harbor Village is located about 30 minutes from JR Osaka station by public transportation"
Get prepared for feasting !! on GYUDON !!!
Different sizes available
its actually quite affordable !
Beef so fresh and juicyyyy
While walking towards the Aquarium building, we saw the huge ferris wheel !
Ta daaa this is Kaiyukan building ~~
WAH sibei sian... WHALE SHARK ON MC ... T_T
a leopard stingray, in the freaking touchpool ?!!!
Came out after 2 hours !! Quite interesting to see and all the animals were so lively. Pity about the whale shark, we'll view next time.....
Passed by Milky shop and decided to get a softie... the best decision of the day . AMAZING.
Headed back to the hotel for a rest before we hit the streets at night !!
We're heading towards OSAKA Station now, to exchange our JR passes !! Because Namba cannot exchange, then we took the chance to visit Umeda also !
We planned to go to HEP FIVE, JOYPOLIS BY SEGA !!!!!!
The very busy Umeda station
Here's the HEP FIVE shopping mall, with a ferris wheel ON TOP.
Looks like someone just stepped into UFO Catcher Heaven !!!
This is where we caught Nameko , my favourite . WITH ONE TRY WTH.
this is the map of joypolis ! If you wanna go, can go after 5pm (iirc) they have discount on the electronic rides !!
Shopped around Hep Five and moved on to.... YODOBASHI CAMERA !!
floors of electronic goodness ... Heaven for the boys
After Umeda, we headed back towards Namba, but decided to walk back to our hotel from the Shinsaibashi streets ! Yeah we even had time for that ! hahaha.... City never sleeps uh ...
We had some snacks and back to hotel after, yes we did buy a Pablo cheesetart ....
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