Osaka/Kobe/Osaka : 8 April 2013

Day 5 in Japan.

Rise and shine Osaka!! Nice cooling day, today. Had a good breakfast at Ramada's coffee house. Was that all I had? Obviously NOT! So...where are we off to next? 

Nade Sake Cellar - Kobe is famed for sake production due to availability of high quality rice and water as well as its close proximity to the Kobe Port. So, we learned the art of sake making by watching a short clip and walking through a 2 storey building...no one to tell us anything, so basically, I learned nothing much on sake making except some photos to show.

At the end, the tour group had to decide...to buy or not to buy? If they buy sake ( excuse me, it's Sar-K, not sake as in for goodness sake...hehehehe..Rocker57 didn't call me Ms Correcto for nothing, ok?!?!?!) they can't buy liquor or alcohol later in Singapore or KLIA as only 1 liter is permitted. Out came many ideas how to 'smuggle' the bottles in your luggage : example by wrapping the bottles in clothes to avoid breakage and to check in the sake. WOW...people can really think out of the box if they wanted to. Err...needless to say a few did and got away scotch free! There you go! Hey...am not advocating this OK? Merely sharing with you what transpired at Nade Sake Cellar. Afterall, sharing is caring...no? Too bad, I've already shared.
You will also realise after the first day in Japan that Packaging, Packaging, Packaging is really important in Japan. Everything is nicely pack and tempting you to pick them up. They even go to the extend of making mock-ups resembling the product you are about to purchase. Now, how cool is that? Cool, right?
 

The old sake packaging.

The present day sake packaging.

Kobe China Town aka Nankinmachi. As the saying goes, there is a China town in every country and Japan is without exception ;)

Looks like in China, right? Right..Chinatown in Japan!

Good for shades ya...hey..where is the seller?

Equivalent to our local lotus leaf dumpling but taste-wise...far far from it!

Siew Loong Pau...but not siew (small)...it was huge! No comment.

We tried their 'Siew Loong Pau' (small dragon dumplings) and their glutinous lotus leaf dumpling. A definite far cry from what we have in Malaysia. The person we bought the items from is from....China Fuchien Province! There you go...not only there is a Chinatown in every country...there is a real Chinese there too! She said only lodging is provided and is ssufficient to survive. And look what I found in Chinatown...

For 395 YEN (RM13.31) fancy a breast stress ball to unstress!!

Kobe Harbourland is a shopping and entertainment district offering cafes, restaurants & shops is situated along the waterfront of Kobe port. Nothing much to see but was attracted to the stalls selling trinkets & leather shoes & boots in array of colors you can ever think of! It was really eye catching. Apology no photos as I don't think the shopkeepers would like us to take pictures plus I wanted to 'act' like a frequent traveller and not a "frog under the coconut shell" (Malaysian colloquial saying "katak dibawah tempurung" ....hehhee...yaaaa) SHOW-OFF!
I bought some ear rings for my daughter but I liked these potted plants on display...so creative and beautiful, don't you think so?  

Kobe Harbourland

Before our next destination, we had Shabu-shabu for lunch. The best buffet shabu-shabu I ever had.

    

mock up meals....looks quite realistic.

More mock up meals...very real but inedible.

Shinsaibashi - largest shopping area in Osaka. Awww...I LOVE this place. MY kind of shopping paradise and I'm sure my daughter would love it too. One long stretch of shopping haven for shopaholics. Similar to Sg Wang in Kuala Lumpur, this place has everything under the sky and more! Ka-ching! Ka-ching! goes the teller machines. I bought the latest edition G-Shock watch for my son's birthday and more ear-rings for my daughter.

It was here too that we ate the BEST shrimp burger!! You can really see and bite the whole shrimp...many at that!!! And where to get it? Surprisingly....Mc Donalds!!! And how did we order? Hmph! Just walk in and order, right? Wrong! They don't speak English, remember? So, we were given a leaflet...easy peasy...look at the burger, point and order two, right? Wrong again...all the burgers look alike. Lucky for us, we had in front of us in the queue a Japanese American who assisted us. And so, we finally got our Ebi burger. It was superb!

Tonight, we eat on our own. We patronised a local restaurant and we ordered this. In our group was Patrick (my T-Rex meat eating buddy cum macha ice cream buddy), Stewart & his wife Swee Sun, tour leader Elle, Karen my sis-in-law and of course ME!!! Simple food but super tasty! There is shrimp, okra (aka ladies finger), bombay onions, sweet potato fried in batter; served in a bowl of fluffy oblong rice. Yummy!!!

After dinner, we decided to check out some malls. Close to closing time, we decided to head back to the hotel and then.....we got lost!! Elle, our tour leader who has been there 5 times couldn't find our way home (hotel)!! Alamak! We asked around but the non-English speaking Japanese wasn't any help at all. Hey, catch a cab-lah. What ever for? Its less than a kilometer walk and with the cool weather, we were determined we can find our way back. The lost was a 'good' lost for we also saw the red light city!!! But not as blatant as the one I saw in Amsterdam...here its more subtle.

Finally, we found our way back after a few wrong turns. At a junction, Stewart mistook the train rail as the bullet train rail. As I was trying to prove my point (yes, yes...Ms Correcto in full action..), we looked down and viola! Elle, Patrick and Karen; my sis-in-law was no where to be seen!!! We acted wisely and waited at the junction leaving Stewart to scout nearby to see if he can sight anyone of them. NOPE! Gone! Kaput! Missing!! (again...we were lost in under 20mins of walking!!!). I suggested we wait for I was sure they would return to get us. WRONG!! They were way ahead and when they found out they'd lost us, they too waited for us at the other end!!! See...wisemen do think alike but unfortunately at the wrong time and place. To cut to the chase, we finally reunited at 'their' spot and we gladly tuck into bed later "safe and sound".

Tomorrow, we depart Osaka >>> Singapore >>> KLIA. 


My take away from today's trip :

• Kobe is famed for Kobe beef. I presume it comes from Kobe YET in all my 5 days trip, I saw NO COWS!!! Hmmm....
• Japanese love to bring their miniature pet dogs for walks. Everywhere I go, I see small dogs on leashes or being carried. The dogs are well trained & properly groomed. Hardly hear any dog bark.
• Everything in Japan is Packaging, packaging, packaging...mind you, very attractive packagings!
• The amount of vending machines is mind blowing!! Spoilt for choice is understatement of the year....!!!

• The Japanese also cycles a lot within city centres.
• The macha (green tea) ice cream tastes different in each town, so try all of them like Karen & I did. FYI, we were famed in our tour group for eating macha ice cream. They would recommend us if they knew of any good ones that they have tried :)

If you have missed out on my other 4 days tour, check out :
     

Day 1 :  http://superbiker48.blogspot.com/2013/04/tokyo-city-tour-kobe-beef-4-april-2013.html
Day 2 : http://superbiker48.blogspot.com/2013/04/tokyomt-fujiyatsugatake-5-april-2013.html
Day 3 :http://superbiker48.blogspot.com/2013/04/yatsugatakeshirakawa-gotakayama-6-april.html
Day 4 :  http://superbiker48.blogspot.com/2013/05/takayamakyotoosaka-7-april-2013.html 

Hope you enjoyed the read. Stay tuned for my riding trips...coming up soon. Remember to look out for it, ya.

Until next time....KANPEI! i.e. Cheers in Japanese :)