Japan Day 1

{Re-posting this to be in line with the rest of the Japan posts}

Guess who did we meet at the Airport??

Bumped into Kaiwei in our usual chui form at the airport. Diff is he was on his way to Brunei for biz trip, while Blamer and I were on our annual holiday trip.

Once again, we were in a bit of a rush to check in our luggage hence it's sandwiches and muffin for dinner.

Practising our zi bai once again.

This was on board our transit flight to KL, then KL to Narita Airport. Very colouful seats. It's actually my first time taking a flight to KL.

The whole flight was a zippy 25mins (minus the taxi-ing of the plane), only had time for drinks. Lucky we grabbed a bite earlier.

More decent fare once we were on the main flight to Japan! Blamer actually told me she has a liking for aircraft food. Hmm... ... is it equivalent to she likes da bao food?? So next time I can save on the restaurant outings. Wa ha ha.

After a total 9hrs, we arrived! As you can see, I still a little sleepy... ...

Some prep work before leaving for Osaka. Bought an airport limousine ticket for our return leg which on hindsight, was a tremendously good move, since we luggage increased from 4 to 7. Kudos to Blamer!

And of cos, to draw some more cash out. These are the times where you appreciate the global presence of banks.

Another good move was the 14 days JR pass. Definitely saved a bomb on transport with these little tourist exclusives. (you can refer more to www.japanrail.com)

Our very first reserved seats Shinkansen tickets. But it was a terrible mistake to book a smoking cabin. No offense to anyone but if you are a non-smoker, never book a non-smoking cabin even with a gun pointed at your head. Blamer and I nearly died in the smoke filled cabin... ...

The interior of a smaller train we took in order to reached the Shinkansen.

Buying our first Bento for the 2-3hrs ride to Osaka.

Not cheap as each cost around 900 yen. Although it's cold, I was totally surprised by how tasty they were. Especially the mushrooms cos they were still soft and tasted so fresh.

Fishing out coins to buy our first subway tickets.

These small rectangular pieces of magnetic strips actually work like the transitlink cards we used to have in Singapore.

It was only the first night but guess what, we deviated from our original itinerary to go shopping.

Rinku premium outlets.

The only brands familiar to us were Tag Heuer, G-shock, Seiko, Levis, Coach, Gap, Addias, Nike and Kate Spade. Apparently, there were much more but neither Blamer nor me could find anything worth buying here. Perhaps due to the exchange rate, prices weren't really cheap.

So it's back to our original plan, but before that, we grab dinner at one of the many restaurants situated in their train stations, much like the Raffles xchange and Tanjong Pagar xchange that we have now but of a much larger scale.

A simple tempura udon in clear broth for Blamer. Mine is soba with some beef and an egg, also in clear broth. In Osaka, where it's still considered near the sea, fish sauce is an important seasoning in most of their cuisines and the broth is actually made from it.

Another interesting thing, there are no seats in the joint!

After dinner, we walked along Dotonbori which is famous for their neon lights and local street snacks.

A must eat in Osaka, takopachi!

And where else to have it then at a roadside stall for the authentic local flavour. More on the next update!