Trip to Osaka, Kyoto in Jun 2018

We flew by Scoot from Singapore and landed in Osaka.  Then took the express train to Kyoto (about 1 hr 15 min ride).

We get by with English and Mandarin (my guest - maybe 50% of Japanese characters are Chinese).

We checked into the Ebisu Ryokan.  Our room is about 4m x 4m but with a small attach toilet.

The room is nice for me - maybe because I am not particular about where I stay.  The staff are friendly too and we are within walking distance from the Kyoto station.

Ebisu Ryokan.

The Eco friendly toilet.

A view of our room.

Kyoto Tower, from the train station building.

This video is taken from outside Isetan (11 storey of shopping).   The lights suppose to change.

The next morning, we had breakfast at a nearby shopping mall and we went sight seeing.

Western styled breakfast.

Most of the bus journey will only cost 230 Yen - flat rate.

We visited the Higashi Honganji ("ji" means "temple") first.

Views of Hagashi Honganji.

We next headed to the Shosei-en Garden: Kikoku-tei Villa.  Have to pay entrance fee but the walk in the garden is serene and peaceful.  Take your time to do some mindful walking.

Views of Shosei Garden.

From the garden, we took a 25 min walk to the Nikishi Market.  You can have lunch here as there is a wide selection of Japanese food.

Views of Nikishi Market.

A sketch I drew while drinking coffee.

Had dinner in a foodcourt in Aeon Mall.  For less than S$30, had air-flown US sirlion beef.

Nice beef dinner and reasonable price.

Saw this sign.  Guess it is excusable given that we are in Japan.

Can spot the errors?

Today we had breakfast in the room.  It was raining but we first went to visit the Imperial Palace thinking we can spend the day indoor.  However it was an outdoor walk - cannot enter into any building.

Taking subway to Imperial Palace.

Imperial Palace, Kyoto.

Gion is the next place we visited.  It is really nice - with many old structures.

Gion is well known for geihsa but don't think we saw any.  There were a lot of people in kimono which you could rent for a day.

Gion.

Taken from Kiyomizu-dera, Gion.  Can see Kyoto city from the temple.

Another cup of coffee.

We had shabu shabu for dinner.

Shabu shabu.

The weather was fine on the 3rd day.  We took the local train to Arashiyama.  Visited the Daihikaku Senkoji - a zen temple up the hill.  Also visited the bamboo walk.  The place is very "touristy".

Arashiyama.

A sketch of the zen temple.

On the 4th day, we took a train to Lake Biwa (Shiga Station).  The place has lots of padi fields - like almost every household plants their own rice.  The place is really quiet -  think people only go there to camp or ski.

So not much at Lake Biwa.

Lake Biwa.

We jad lunch back in Kyoto and spent the rest of the day shopping at Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Center, Kyoto.  The number of signs is amazing at Level 3 (think other levels may be similar).  Looking for the toilet and escape route can be challenging.  Amyway, bought toys for our grandson (hopefully grandchildren the next time we have to buy toys back).

Yodobashi.

Another cup of coffee.

On our last day in Kyoto, we visited the Heian Raku Market (opens on 2nd Saturday of every month).  Most sellers sell handicraft.  Definitely worth a visit.  There is also live jazz, blues, oldies in English (I think depending on luck).

Heian Raku Market.

Quite a few people were sketching at the market.

After a pinic lunch, we made our way to Osaka.  It is a maze of underground passages and the problem was that we keep loosing GPS signals.   I suggest you get to the street level to navigate.

Osaka Tokyu Rei Hotel - where we stayed.

Ferris Wheel, Osaka

Beef from food hall.

Behind our hotel, Tokyu Rei.  Food and lots of people.

Views at Osaka Station in the evening.

Saw the above display outside Daimaru, Osaka Stn.  The images are formed by water coming from the top.

As it was Sunday, we went for Mass at the Church of the Holy Family, Umeda.  The Mass was conducted in English.  Wonder why there are no keeners.

Church of the Holy Family.

Next we went to the Kuromon Ichiba Market.  It is a market worth visiting.  Lots of street food.  One of the food we had there was Wagu and Kobe beef (the smaller beef in the photo below).

Kurumon Ichiba Market.

We next headed towards the Dotondori, Shinsaibashi Shopping Street area.  There are lots of people there and if you are free, you can walk along the canal.

Shisaibashi Shopping area.

Next we headed for the Osaka Castle.  It is definitely worth a visit.  At the top of the castle, you can have a bird's eye view of Osaka.  The museum at the Castle is also worth the entrance fee.

Osaka Castle

The Osaka Castle was also the scene for a gozilla movie.

Today is Monday and we made a trip to Kobe.  It was just a 45 min local train ride.

We visited Chinatown (small though), the Kobe harbour and walked around the old settlement area a bit.

Kobe

Today is our last day in Osaka.  We are going to the airport by 10 am.  So we took a leisure day to just stroll along Kita Tenjibashi - the longest shopping street in Osaka.  It took us a couple of hours to walk the whole street - stopping for shabushabu lunch along the way.

Wanted to visit the Housing Museum but it was closed (close on Tuesdays).

Kita Tenjibashi

Never thought we would see this in Japan.  Guess humans are generally the same.

Thank you for visiting the blog.

Trip to Melbourne & Sydney 2017

Went to Melbourne and Sydney (Nov - Dec period) with my 2 elder sons and their families (this time with a grandson).  Attended my niece graduation celebration in Melbourne and then went to Sydney.

In both cities, the weather was wet and chilly about 50% of the time.  Personally, I don't mind it.

Though we spent most of the time in the cities, we also managed to drive out to the Maze Garden and Colac when we were in Melbourne.  We stopped by to have meals along the way.

When in Sydney, I managed to drive to the Blue Mountains with my wife and visited some towns along the way.

If you are Sydney, go to Newtown and visit this place: https://lentilasanything.com/sydney/.  Payment is by donation.  I must say that the food is nice.

This time, instead of photographing and videoing, I did some sketches (only in Sydney).

Also did my Taiji exercise in Blue Mountain.

Trip to Taipei (13th Jun to 19th Jun 2017)

May wife and I went for a short trip to Taipei from 13th Jun to 19th Jun.  It was raining throughout but it was still fun.  The people were friendly and the first thing we did when we landed was to buy ourselves a SIM card with unlimited data - so that we can use Google Map to navigate.

We also bought a Easy Card to travel on buses and the MRT train.  It is highly recommended.

Though Mandarin is commonly spoken, younger youths may know some English.  If not, most signs have English on them - except for smaller eateries.  If you need help, just ask.  The people are really friendly.

We have captures some shots and short videos and hope to share our experience with you.

We stayed at Cho Hotel in Ximen.  I highly recommend this hotel.  The ambience is fantastic despite our room not having a window.  It is within walking distance from Ximending (where the actions are) and also the Red House - if you like pubs.

Venturing around the hotel - Ximending area.......

And this guy is from Singapore....

Food around Ximending:-

Eating stinky bean curd.

It is actually quite nice though it smell may drive many off.

Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodle

At Jieufen.  How we got here?  We asked Google.  Do that.  It is really very easy and worth the effort.  Many food at the Old Street.

Raohe Night markets.  We went to 2 night markets - something everyone must do when in Taiwan.  However it was raining and I guess that affected the crowd and atmosphere.

This is the bun with meat and vegetable inside.

Taipei Fish Market is a place where you can eat sushi, shasimi and other Japanese (???) style stuff.

Raohe Night Market

Tonghua Night Market

Taipei 101 is situated at a more modern and upmarket area.  We did not go to the top.  Figured that we will not be able to see much due to the weather.  Frankly, I also prefer the older part of Taipei - more life, more real.

Visited Tamsui where there is another old street.  If the weather is nice, you can actually cycle here - and to the Fisherman's Wharf.  If you want to visit the Fisherman's Wharf, I suggest you cycle or take the public bus.  It is too far to walk from the MRT station - at least for both of us.

Back in Taipei and this is the famous Fu Hang Soy Milk.  We queued for 30 mins behind 100+ people on a Saturday morning.  If you are trying to locate it by Google Map, please look for "Fu Hang Soy Milk" and not whatever that is similar.

More pictures of the queue.

Us, enjoying the fruits of our queue....

This is how the pancake is made.

All-in-all, Taipei is a nice place.  It is highly likely that we would be back and venture out to other parts of Taiwan.  Hope the next time we come, the weather will be nicer to us.  The people definitely are nice.