Thursday, September 21, 2017

Japan Trip Day 6: Osaka

My legs gave up and after much deliberation I really had to give Kiyomizudera and Fushimi Inari a miss. I only went to the flea market at Toji Temple that my friend had been very excited since it only takes place on the 21st of the month. I did not buy anything but I ate takoyaki there. On the way back, I went to Bookoff near the station. Wow it seemed that my effort to learn Japanese is not completely useless. I am able to navigate better although the downside is I am spending more time there. I could not find any book that I aimed to find but my heart pained when I saw Dream Kingdom. I just bought it through proxy about 2 months ago and in total it cost me $45 and here I found it only for 360 yen!!
I saw a banana milk drink from a vending machine and that was nice. Hmm.. I never saw this in Osaka. I went to Kyoto station to visit Aventi mall. This is the mall where I bought a lot of second hand anime books 2 years ago. Sadly the whole floor of anime shops was closed as they were preparing for moving up to level 6 for this Saturday. WTH!!! Wasted trip sia... I went to Don Quijote for the first time and I was amazed with their stuff. I saw some boots only for 1200 yen. Wow.. that would be nice for winter. There were a lot of cheap shoes, bags, and t-shirts too. The one caught my interest the most was jinbei and I decided to definitely buy this when I am back in Osaka.

I took train back to Osaka and it was a sad realisation that today is already Thursday :( Holiday is ending and it is time to start buying things to pack home T_T There was a post office somewhere near Namba Nankai station but I went round and round just to locate it. I bought 2 large boxes (210 yen each) to pack my things. I planned to get mochi etc that comes in nice packaging boxes for souvenirs and hence I needed boxes to ensure they were not crushed in the luggage. I overestimated my own luggage and I could only put 1 box. The other one was wasted.

I went to get souvenirs from Big Camera again and the cashier queue was crazy. I thought the queue was crazy the other day because it was almost closing time. I was quite pissed with the PRC tourists as they were bloody noisy. One wanted to cut queue and I gave a death glare. I don't care if you only had 1 item but the queue was long, everyone was queueing, and you bloody hell gotta queue. For the first time, I also scolded the cashier. I am pretty sure she is also a PRC and not a Japanese from her lousy attitude: chit chatting with her neighbour and withou the usual Japanese polite mannerism and hospitality. No matter where, I find it irritating and rude when people assume that I am from China and I speak Mandarin. Apparently in Japan I only experience this when the shop is filled with PRCs. Again another death glare for me as I told her to speak to me in English and not assume that I am from China just because of my face. All the time wasted to look for the box from the post office earlier was really wasted as Big Camera also sells similar boxes T_T Plus the price is cheaper too (160 yen). Something to remember the next time I go Japan.

I went back to our airbnb again to start packing so that I got a rough gauge how much more things I could buy. Haha.. After this I went to Denden Town and I decided to explore the area by walking to Denden on the ground, rather than underground. It was a good decision as I realised that from our airbnb, we literally just walk straight to Nankai Namba station. That means on the last day when we are leaving, we can just walk on the ground and avoid having to carry the luggage up and down the staircases if we are going from the underground route that I am more familiar with.

I reached Denden Town when the sun was down and honestly I felt quite uncomfortable as it became rather deserted and quiet. It is nothing like Akihabara which remains buzzing with lives even after the sun is down. There was no new items to buy so it was quite a quick shopping.

For dinner, I finally got to buy stuff from Takashimaya food area. I was still eyeing for the gyoza but I was really not sure if the plastic packaging would be fit for microwaving. It was still about 7pm+ but all the food stalls were already discounting their items. Hmm hmm :D To avoid overeating and because my hands were full, I decided to buy things in moderation. I bought fried squid and kakiage with sakura shrimps topping from a stall for 510 yen which was a good bargain considering the regular price to be about 400 yen each. Sadly the kakiage was bad and I could not finish it. I nearly vomitted as I really could not stand the texture of the sakura shrimps.

After dinner, I went out to Don Quijote near the airbnb and siao liao they don't have the jinbei that I saw in Kyoto. That means I need to find other Don Quijote in Osaka and in the worst scenario, I will go back to Kyoto on Saturday.

Tomorrow is officially the last day of travelling. We will go to Kobe but we have no idea what to see or what to do there. There is a high chance that I will separate myself as my friends are more interested in shopping and man-made attractions while I am more inclined with the nature.

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