Osaka version 2.0 - Day 1

It's been a while since I last published a post here not because I have been too caught up with work, but because I have been on vacation. I just returned from Osaka for the second time last Friday, and boy was it a fantastically fabulous holiday. I planned this trip way back in May and given the events that unfolded a couple of months ago, I wasn't exactly sure whether this trip could go on as scheduled. But it did and so here is a write-up of my wonderful holiday.

We boarded the 8am flight to Kansai on Air Asia X. The flight took approximately 6 hours and 20 minutes and was a very smooth journey all the way. By the time we arrived at the airport, it was already past 3 in the afternoon. I bought an onigiri and some Gatsby toiletries at Lawson (a Japanese mini-mart) just to get some small change with my JPY10,000 note. After that, we caught a shuttle bus to Rinku Premium Outlets just 20 minutes away from the airport.

 

We arrived in Rinku at approximately 5.00pm just as the sun was beginning to set, casting a warm glow over the place. The outlets had a peculiarly European feel to it with its brightly lit lamp posts, paved courtyards, tiled walkways, and dainty potted plants scattered around the area. Rinku Premium Outlets offers most of the familiar high fashion brands as well as some lesser known brands. One of the outlets that was a must-visit for me was GAP. GAP is really cheap at these outlets in Japan as prices of similar items back home are around 30 per cent more. I just had to spend some Japanese Yen on two long-sleeved shirts as I would have felt guilty ignoring them after exiting the store.

As evening approached and our stomachs rumbled, wanting to be fed, we decided to have our dinner at the outlets before catching a long 76 minute train ride to the hotel. We settled for udon for dinner. I chose curry udon. It was quite delicious even though the soup was a bit watered down. Perhaps it is meant to be watered down instead of thick curry which would make everything too gluggy and heavy. The best thing about the curry udon was that it had bits of thinly sliced bacon strips in it which gave the soup a slight smokey flavour.

We left Rinku at about 7.00pm to catch the 7.52pm rapid service train from Kansai International Airport to Nishikujo for an interchange onto the Yumesaki line to Universal City. The one-way trip cost us JPY1,160. It was a bit of a challenge buying train tickets from the vending machine at first as the machine was all in Japanese. After poking around at the machine unsuccessfully and feeling rather embarassed by our antics, we noticed a small A4-sized notice pasted on the wall which had instructions in English. Check your fare for the destination, select type of ticket (single, double, etc.), insert money into the machine, select the fare that corresponds to your destination. It's that simple. A cute tiny little ticket the size of your thumb then gets printed.

After what seemed like a very long train ride and making an interchange at the correct station, we finally arrived at our destination. The station looked very busy with a large crowd waiting to board the train on the opposite platform. We exited the station and dragged our 10kg luggage along the walkway until we arrived at the quaint Hotel Universal Port. This was my second time staying at the hotel and I was quite familiar with the place, but still as thrilled as before to be staying at my favourite hotel in Japan. After checking in at just after 9pm, we made our way to the hotel room and took a short breather before unpacking, showering and getting some rest for a full day of excitement at Universal Studios the next day after a very long day out.