japan day 2: osaka city tour...

the second day of my trip was spent in osaka city itself... my friend suggested i go to osaka station stop to go see the floating garden...

one thing's for sure... they have a very complicated system here in osaka... there is the JR line... then there are several local companies that run the subway... luckily my friend taught me how to use it and thus, i was able to manouevre around without much hassle... AGAIN... i cannot stress how much a saver the JR Pass is... don't forget to get one when u come round...

anyway, my first target for my day was to go see the floating gardens...  getting there was easy because the tourist information center will provide you with instructions on how to get there...

i got there and got famished.. hahahha... so i bought a bento set from their convenience store... my japanese was bad so i spoke english and ask them to heat up the stuff for me..

i can't read japanese very well but i guess this is chicken karage... or fried chicken... the sauce, a fruity summery mix was kinda nice...

after finishing the whole box, i didn't really want to dump that fantastic packaging... hahah... but it ended in the bin...

i found one thing about japanese people, their teas are not sweetened... so i guess that is one reason they are healthier than the rest of us... ahhaa

look, even the straws are so nicely wrapped...

anyway, to the tour...

¥630 was what i paid to go up the building... i forgot how tall was it... the broucher containing the information is now all packed in my bags coz i am due to travel to tokyo tomorrow... early morning...

next stop, osaka castle... there must be a history to it... i have no idea what it was... i think i'll leave it to after my trip to digest the information...

ok, here is a picture of my room... it looks about the same as the picture advertised... i'm not that big so i guess it suits me OK... ahhaha

i went to NAMBA area and did a lot of walking.... NAMBA walk, the shopping walk was so so long... at the end of today, i'm not resting in my room with a very sore foot... the other one is not but i doubt it... hahaha

(pictures to come... not enough time to load it...)

tomorrow i'm heading to tokyo... so will update you guys from there...

technorati tags:japan, day2, namba, floating-garden

day 1 pictures of kyoto...

for those of you who want to see the photos from day 1 of my trip to japan, i've posted them at my multiply site at http://raymondlee06.multiply.com

i thought i'd share with you guys some photos of me in kyoto... obviously, when u are travelling single, you won't get to take many pictures of yourself in it.... this one was done with the help of my friend... but you'll get to see the whole scenery of the place...

the above picture is of the kiyomizu-dera... it is situated on top of a hill east of kyoto... i'm told there are few temples there in kyoto you have to see and i'll probably leave them towards the end of my trip, it i have time...

yes, there are few trees still with cherry blossoms... not a lot left seesing as we're at the end of the season... they do look pretty so i imagine they would look great if the whole area was filled with them... next time, if you wanna see cherry blossoms, come in early april...

if u're in kyoto, you're here to see the geisha... but alas, these are probably past their prime... hahaha... but you can get to dress like one in kyoto...

i forgot what was the name of the place, but...

it was imperative you get this picture... hahhaa

i'm trying my hardest to smile, but the strong sun was making it difficult... lucky i had on sun-block...

incidentally, this is the hotel that i am staying... it is called hotel chuo...

NOTE: not the one with the cross... hahaha

technorati tags:japan, kyoto, day1

japan day 1 : osaka-kyoto-osaka

i arrived here in osaka at 7.00 a.m. japan time... an hour ahead of gmt+8 and was rested enough to check into my hotel and start my two weeks of tour... the train which was a direct express from kansai international airport in osaka took me to this station called shin-imamiya...  incidentally, i exchanged my JR pass and should expire in 2 weeks time...

i got the wrong instruction from the train staff at shin-imamiya station and walked away from my hotel... after around 30 minutes of aimless walking, i finally found the hotel and checked in... a quick bath and my friends and i headed to kyoto..

for those who has not been to japan, osaka's train system is quite a challenge, particularly for someone who is new to the place... the JR pass is a saver in most case because it lets you travel free on the JR rails... so that is the fun thing...

anyway, i'll put up the photos from day 1 but i can't now because my pc cannot read the sd card with my old card reader... i'll source one later tomorrow when i go explore osaka...

in the meantime, the hotel that i am staying has really fast internet... i managed to talk to my mom via skype and it was a nice chat... it was fantastic because i don't want them to worry about me and still want to keep them abreast of where i am, so skype is letting me do that... they can see me so i think they are at some point relieved that i am ok here... afterall, japan is a bit different that the previous places that i travelled to...

the shinkansen is fantastic... i'll talk more about that later... in the meantime... enjoy this post... till tomorrow...

technorati tags:japan, osaka, day1, skype, jr_pass

plug-in... for japan

i bought this kit while i was in hong kong at the start of the year... it is a bunch of sockets, or part of a bunch of sockets for different country... the thing is you need to hunt down the different socket heads for the different regions... i found the kit in mongkok computer center and it cost me  hkd58.00 which i thought was reasonable...

since i am heading to japan in a few days' time, i am excited to be able to use the attachment for this trip... but i found out something interesting... the socket head looks quite similar to taiwan's socket head... which makes sense... because taiwan is very much influenced by japan...

so when i am in japan... i can still go online... hahhaa...

technorati tags:plug-ins, japan

the JR RAIL PASS...

for those of you planning to go and backpack through japan, there is this thing called the JR Rail Pass where you buy a ticket for a set amount for travel within japan on its rail using the shinkansen...

the prices of the tickets are as follows...

Type:	Green		Ordinary
Duration	Adult	Child	Adult	Child
7-day	37,800 YEN	18,900 YEN	28,300 YEN	14,150 YEN
14-day	61,200 YEN	30,600 YEN	45,100 YEN	22,550 YEN
21-day	79,600 YEN	39,800 YEN	57,700YEN	28,850 YEN

as according to the literature, you can only purchase the rail pass outside of japan and not all people qualify for it... the criterias are below:

The pass cannot be purchased within Japan.

Eligibility for the pass is limited to:

• Foreign nationals visiting Japan as a 'Temporary Visitor' for the purpose of sightseeing
• Japanese nationals living abroad who -
  • are qualified to live permanently in that country, or
  • are married to a non-Japanese person who is residing in a country other than Japan.

so is the pass worth it.... well the price of a single trip on their shinkansen varies as below:

Journey	Price in Japanese Yen
TokyoKyoto	¥13,220
TokyoShin-Osaka	¥13,750
Shin-OsakaHiroshima	¥9,950
Shin-OsakaFukuoka (Hakata)	¥14,590
TokyoYokohama	¥450
TokyoNagoya	¥10,580
TokyoSendai	¥10,590
TokyoNagano	¥7,970
Narita AirportTokyo Station (Narita Express)	¥2,940
Kansai AirportKyoto (Haruka Express)	¥3,490
Kansai AirportShin-Osaka (Haruka Express)	¥2,980

so if you plan to take multiple rides around japan for two weeks, then you best probably get one of these...

Caution:
Even if you visit Japan with an Exchange Order, to be turned in for a JAPAN RAIL PASS, the exchange cannot be made unless you have "Temporary Visitor" status; if you enter Japan under any other official status, such as "Trainee," "Entertainer," or "Reentry Permit," you cannot change the Exchange Order for a JAPAN RAIL PASS. Please note that according to strict interpretation of the Japanese Immigration Law, "Temporary Visitor" status differs even from other types of stays that are also for only short time periods.