Japan - Day 4 - Osaka

Summary of itinerary: Osaka Aquarium

Zzz...

"Shit, the alarm didn't ring," Sister said.

11am already lor. I'm not sure how much of the Ninja Museum we could see if we went at this time. Fortunately, the train schedule for Iga is the same on everyday, so we could just interchange today's itinerary with tomorrow's. Tomorrow, we were supposed to go to Kaiyukan, but since it closes at 8pm, we still have time even if we went late.

This is the nth time that we fucked up our plans hah.

Sore throat again. Been waking up with a sore throat every morning. But so far I'm the only person who has remained healthy. Brother was sick since day 1 and Sister had dripping nose. We thought dry air could be the cause for my sister, so she would try wearing a mask today.

So we would be doing...Summary of itinerary: Aquarium, shop around the vicinity

Since we would be indoors today, I decided to try out the contacts.

Hmm no pictures of cup noodles. Did we skip them since it's lunchtime already?


12.30pm - 谷町九丁目駅 Tanimachi Kyuchome Station
Nope, not gonna hop onto the train yet. We had to buy the 海遊きっぷ Osaka KAIYU Ticket. It is a Kaiyukan entrance ticket with an unlimited ride pass on subway lines, new tramlines and city buses in Osaka city all day. Although we were going to take just 2 subway rides instead of 环Osaka追追追 to fully-utilized it, it was still worth it. By ¥140. Better than nothing what.

Now, where to buy it from?

From our entrance, there was only 1 visible staff member, the guy manning the gate. After ignoring him for 3 days due to his bad English (not sure if he's the same guy anyway), we were going to ask for his help. Hor hor hor!

As expected, he didn't quite understand what we wanted, and we were starting to suspect that it didn't exist. Until we told him the name of the elusive ticket in Japanese. Ah, he didn't have it. He told us to go to the Station Master's office on the Sennichimae Line side of the station. No worries, we know how to get there!

When we got to the Station Master's office (there's an office at such a ulu samy place!), the staff were already expecting us, wow! The ticket came individually-packed in a plastic envelope, with a brochure.

Floppy ticket, long time no see.

For the first time in many years, we slotted floppy tickets.


1.30pm - 大阪港駅 Osakako Station
Changed line at 谷町四丁目駅 Tanimachi Yonchome Station without difficulty and we arrived at

I thought it would be a bustling station, when it was promoted to tourists as a place with entertainment facilities like ferris wheel, aquarium, pirate ship ride, but it seemed more like Marina Bay before development. Don't the locals come here?

Out to the equally deserted streets... why did I feel like we were going to fully utilize the day pass already?

I know you see people, but that's not a lot right...

Comfortable temperature for walking under the sun. Around 20°C.

Looking for food the way modern man do and this caught our eye.

Curry rice! We hadn't had curry yet, onz!

The friendly owners ushered us in and soon we were admiring the menu.

Mini-milk and sugar syrup provided. These guys love their coffee. A photo album of presumably the owners and customers, were on the table to share with all. But not interested in photos of strangers lah.

Layout of the cafe. See that ultra steep steps with no railings and less than 1m wide? No guts for that!

The counter seat-cum-kitchen. There was an angmoh who was sitting there reading after his meal.

Salad.

Think the dressing was vinegar.

Home-made lassi. We had no idea what a lassi was, but we gave it a shot since it came with the set.

Refreshing yogurt milk drink.

My sliced beef curry, with egg! Wow!

Enough curry to drench my rice in them. And my spell of rice-eating started.

The chunky beef version.

Forgot what it was, chicken?

Needless to say, the curry was better than those that came in a mix. More taste of curry spices, but of course, nowhere near the real thing. An enjoyable meal, love the curry!

Continued walking... Tempozan Ferris Wheel in front of us. 3.25pm already, gosh! Looked like evening already, didn't it?

Tempozan Marketplace ahead.

Side-tracked for our daily caffeine fix! Don't want to fall asleep watching fishes.

Don't know why, but the drinks selection wasn't very exciting on the ground floor. Only found a gift shop with a yakult-size fridge with canned drinks, so we got 2 cans of tea.

Hello Kitty and everything pink.

Get out already, no shopping!

Open area, fine weather, perfect for busking. Didn't know what he was up to, but this angmoh spoke Japanese fluently and the kids were very much entertained.

3.35pm - 海遊館 Osaka Aquarium
The unlit Christmas lights. We will see them come nightfall.

They have staff members patrolling the exterior to look for people to help and yes, seemed like we had the "help me" look on our faces. She ask us to follow her and we did.

Our entry was settled with the uniformed and heavily-made-up (and also looked weird) lady at the tickets counter. Lockers were available, but we had nothing to deposit.

Normally, people take a super long escalator up the aquarium, but obviously escalators were a no-go, so she led us to the staff lift.

Seen outside the staff entrance, guys rehearsing.

Ooo a pirate ship! But we were following someone, so I don't think we should hold her up. Will look at it when we get out later!

So we took what seemed like a cargo lift to the top floor, 7th I think. This was the sight that greeted us.

The staff member with us started helping someone else on wheelchair. Well, we didn't need her help anymore anyway, so we told her we were fine on our own. But she was like 放心不下, had to tell us the way to proceed before she would leave. Aiyoh, they would need to hire MANY more people if they were to 送佛送到西 everytime!

This is the Japan forest section, showcasing the creatures that live in and near the water. A rather warm area, as it's glass-covered and seemed unairconditioned.

Crabs that thrive on wet, slimy rocks.

Hey, don't they look like the crab snacks in supermarket?

Ok, I guess not, the color is different.

Entering a dark, air-conditioned tunnel that the staff told us to take. Various feathered friends.

The water level was exactly at eye level, so there were fishes swimming beneath the ducks. It's fun watching how ducks paddle.

Active otters showing-off their fish-catching skills. Well, the keeper was throwing fish in the direction of the visitors and the otters would catch them with precision. The way it happens in captivity.

After they had their fill, they took a bath by rolling about in the water and floating on their backs to scratch their tummies.

I was falling asleep... the tea was not helping! -_-zzz

O, these guys were the posers of the aquarium. They held their respective positions for as least as long as we were there.

Fish at last! I almost thought we went to a zoo.

Ooo something we just had 2 days ago!

Fish that kept kissing the glass.

罗汉鱼! No color eh? Should have a colored one, so can attract more Chinese tourists.

World's largest rodent.

Penguins that actually move, and even SWIM! Contrast with those statulized ones in Singapore.

When getting out of the water, they use their beaks for support.

And enjoy the few flakes of snow raining from the sky.

Looked like penguins have it better here than in Singapore. Ours must be too depressed to move.

This was supposed to be a heart-warming portrait of a pair of mother and calf swimming carefree in deep water, but after watching The Cove, they just seemed depressed.

They were just swimming in the same circuit, reappearing before us every few seconds. Any fish would go insane doing this n times a day.

Colors! The signature of coral reefs.

Big fish with lots of kah kia.

Excellent camou. We almost couldn't see it.

3 bobbing in the hole on the upper right, facing the same direction.

This stingray kept swimming up against the glass, trying to convince us that he's male.

Very smooth and botak-looking.

Schools of sardine. No wonder sardine is cheap.

Close-up...

A crab that resembled a spider.

Hermit crab. Strange, stripey eyes.

Wonder if those tentacles of the sea anemones look creepy to fishes?

There was a whole area devoted to clownfish, which I guessed must have been setup thanks to Finding Nemo. I didn't know there were so many types of clownfish, and their stripes could be different!

A happy-looking tank, with cheerfully color Nemos, starfish and brilliant-red prawns.

You don't need psychic powers to guess what was going through my head.

"Looks yummy!"

And a section devoted to the graceful, quiet, translucent creatures that strike fear in people who encounter them.

I have been wondering if they get tangles. Yes they do.

Looks like mushroom. They keep bobbing up and down, probably aided by a water circulator in the centre.

Ooo hoo, red and threatening.

Too bad they didn't have a Portuguese Man-of-war.

A school of fish in a short tunnel resembling Singapore's Underwater World captivated us.

There was a bigger fish "playing" with them by swimming into them, but these timid smaller fish were always spooked and broke up into 2 schools, which would merge later. I have a video, but can't put it up as our voices were recorded hah.

Something yummy again... crayfish!

We came to what seemed like the end of the place. Huh so fast? It's only 6pm. At the exit, we were very kindly reminded by the staff who asked if we had seen the shark exhibition. You mean there's a shark exhibition? We missed it!

And she led us to the lift to go up to the exhibition. Heng ah!

At the entrance of the shark exhibition, we were constantly bombarded by a looping welcome video, starring a guy acting cute. Boey tahan!

Got the kiam pah face, sorry.

Shark that sticks on walls.

That's how big the jaw can get!

Stoney-looking. It works better when they don't move much.

Inside a cage that allows visitors to get close to a shark. But later a small shark swim inside, how?

Amusing square eyes that seemed to stare at you.

A pool where visitors could touch the stingrays and small sharks.

A sign had warned not to touch the stingray's eyes and only to touch the back. But an idiotic man had to try the forbidden, causing the stingray to struggle and caused a huge splash. Fishy water on us! Eww! A few drops only lah, but get away from him now, in case he did it again!

And we had truly covered every inch of the aquarium. This place is wayyyy better than Underwater World. Worth the buck!

Back at the reception, we decided to make a nature's call before leaving. The barrier-free toilet's lights were off. Upon opening the door and turning flicking the light switch, we saw a startled 小强 scurry away!!

:O Run away! We wouldn't be using this room!

We escaped to the normal toilet, which was amazing. Spacious at the sink area, even the cubicles were larger than usual. There were even toilet bowls for children. And no cockroach.


6.50pm - Tempozan Harbor Village
Well, we were just hanging around the space outside the aquarium lah. When was the last time I took a photo with Christmas lightups?

We went to see the pirate ship and it was GONE. Keep so early... 7pm only T_T. Why couldn't they just park it there? Luckily we had a photo of it already...

Dinner dinner... Tempozan Marketplace was the logical choice, because no choice. There is the Naniwa Food Theme Park, which has a variety of food, but many of them were closing already... and many were snacks which didn't qualify as mains. There might be food that one of us wanted to eat, but couldn't because the rest didn't want and it was dine-in only.

After circling the food street, we gathered back at the common dining area with the following:

Top: My Omuraisu 蛋包饭. Flavorful fried rice wrapped in egg. Not dry and didn't feel oily. Maybe the Japanese rice made it better. I could have finished it all by myself, if I hadn't had to let the others sample it!
Bottom left: Sister's local fastfood, First Kitchen. Teriyaki burger, green tea smoothie float and flavored fries. I don't remember tasting the burger. Fries tasted good. They can't go too wrong when eaten piping hot. Love straws in Japan, as many came wrapped and hence easy for us to keep.
Bottom right: Brother's KFC. I still don't understand why KFC?? Only original available, no crispy! Tasted the same as in Singapore. That bun... forgot what it was.

I was craving for corn soup, but only KFC had. I think it was expensive or something, so I didn't get it.

8pm when we finished dinner. All of the businesses were also done for the day. People had almost all left. Ghost town already.

O c'mon! It's just 8pm *stamps feet*

We walked around the building to see what could have been... so zero shopping today :(( T_T

No choice, go back now.

Quite deserted already.


9.30pm - Hotel sweet hotel
This has to be the earliest day we returned.

Cooked vegetables in miso, ate the o-so-delicious oranges and other fruits, the compulsory daily beer and dorayaki from Day 2.

Didn't find the dorayaki super outstanding. Maybe that's how dorayaki is. What was I expecting?

And of course, the supper from convenience store.

Tada! So exotic! I had to buy it. Unfortunately, it was just sweet. Not outstanding.

Traces of blood were beginning to appear in the mucous from my nose. This air... was too dry for comfort.

My sister figured out the cause of the alarm problem - it was set for weekdays and today was a Saturday. Good that we know now, because tomorrow is Sunday, our last chance for the Ninja Museum!