Osaka day 6, 7 and after

 Day 6 was shopping day.

We were considering the Rinku Premium outlet and the Kobe sanda outlet. However, after checking the feedback and considering the 2 hour trip one way, we decided to just stay in the dotonbori area.

Part of day 6, since it happened after midnight, was our trek to the night life of dotonbori. 

The Don Quixote stores were still open. There were a lot of restaurants and some stalls selling liquor and stuff on sticks. I had some wagyu beef while they bought takoyaki. People were getting drunk and unruly. One guy jumped into the river, while another guy was picking a fight against a group across the river. Soon after a bunch of rescue people and police came. Impressive despite that fact that it was pointless.

In the morning, i insisted on getting the candy covered strawberry i keep seeing on our daily walks.

 It was worth trying. I wont be looking for it again though. 

Next was shoe shopping, luggage shopping, back to gu then to takashimaya for cosmetics (obviously, i was accompanying a bunch of women). The time it took for me to go to ABC store and buy my shoes was the same amount of time that it took for them to choose what luggage to buy.

For dinner, we went to the nearby Ichiran Ramen place. The queue was way over 1 hour long. It was good but not worth the wait. There were other ramen stores nearby.

    Afterwards, we went home to pack. Our check out was 10am and our flight home was at 2pm. The klook booked van was arriving at 10am. 

I took a video of the airbnb place and us locking up before we left. This was just in case there were issues later on. BTW, there were none. The van was comfortable. We were all still sleepy so the nap to the airport was good. 

Juvenile but funny

Upon arrival, i looked for the post box to mail back the wifi devices we rented. I took a video doing it just in case. Then it was time to queue up for the check in. By the time we got to the gate, we only had to wait 30 minutes before they allowed us to board. 3 hours before the flight is the best time to get to the airport. More time needed if you had to do stuff like return wifi or have your luggage wrapped.

The flight home was ok however, the experience of having the crew spray insecticide on the overhead bins was bothersome. We were in an enclosed area so that means we inhaled this insecticide. We only experienced this on the way to manila. They didnt do that on the way to japan.

We arrived home ok. Terminal 3 was smooth. The automated terminal at immigration doesnt work all the time so most of us just queued in the regular immigration counter. I felt that the Etravel.gov.ph qr code was worthless. The queue wasnt long though.

The heat and traffic was familiar. We took the skyway which cut our traffic by a lot.

We scheduled our massage for the next day haha. I need a vacation after this vacation as usual since i handled a lot of the heavy lifting. 

The kids were happy so it was all worth it.

Osaka day 5

 Osaka day 5 is all about the Tsutenkaku tower, shinsaibashi area and the Tennoji zoo.

On the way to get a cab, we passed by the waffle cone place near the dotonbori bridge. It was good!

We went to the zoo first. There were giraffes, zebras, bears, lions, penguins, birds (the aviary was huge), nocturnal animals, red pandas, seals, hippos, polar bears and a lot of flamingoes. Our sons liked animals so this was a must go for us.

The aviary

Next we went to the Tsutenkaku tower. I wish i just took a photo outside and left it at that. The tower was crowded and there was an extra fee to go to the open air observatory area. Same view as the observatory is the Umeda sky building. The slide was a thousand yen 5 second thrill. 

Oh, once you enter, they will ask you to pose for a photo then they will offer this photo to you for a fee.

You can refuse.

After the tower, we looked for a place to eat. Shinsaibashi area is popular for the kuchikatsu. Deep fried battered veggies and meat.

We ended up in this restaurant that was popular for letting you fish for your lunch. We just ordered off the menu. The appetizer was a 3 part thing that you paid for if you wanted it. 275 yen i think for a small dish that you cooked at your table.

The automated cotton candy machine was a hit with my youngest.

South of the tower was the Mega Don Quixote. This is where we bought most of our pasalubongs and souvenirs. Im most happy finding my gundam kits there plus this really fragrant Sakura lipton tea.

On the way back we went through the south side of dotonbori where the women shopped at Ioio that had Gu. I played with the claw machines in the 5th floor. We only left when the store closed.

 

Osaka day 4

 Day 4 in osaka was scheduled to be the Osaka Epass day. We availed of the epass since just seeing 2 attractions will allow us to save already. We wanted to see the Umeda sky building observatory, the koji kibutani tenken art museum, visit the pokemon center, the hep five ferris wheel and mall, then check out the Osaka Castle and ride the Osaka jo gozabune boat ride around the castle.

The Umeda sky building observatory has these standees and a fence for engraved padlocks. The padlocks have to be ordered online before you arrive. Also, you get to see all around the city via the open air viewing area. If you go here, you might want to just skip the tsutenkaku tower unless you want to check out the slider. 

This is basically the view from the observatory. Again, if you dont want to do the slider (worth 1000 yen) then just go here and save the 1000 yen entrance in the Tsutenkaku tower. It is good to visit the tower surrounding area though. There are a lot of food and the Tennoji Zoo is nearby. See the Day 5 blog for this. 

We didnt go to the koji kibutani tenken art museum since we were running late. The epass was only good for a day and we wanted to reach the Osaka castle on time. Also, this was the only day we allocated for the northern part of osaka. We walked over to the Pokemon center nearby for some gifts, gacha, and to play the new version of tretta.

On the way, we went to the nearby mall's food court and had a really good tempura meal.

They served it in batches so the food was always piping hot. 

The new tretta has an oval shaped playing chip instead of the square ones.

Pokemon center was great. It had a lot of the pokemon stuff plus other stores.

We managed to reach the entrance to the Osaka Castle some time before it closed. Walking around the castle to reach the Golden Boat ride along the moat was over 1 kilometer. It was really tiring. The queue for the entry to the castle was long. The elevator was broken so everyone had to take the stairs. A lot of stairs.

By the time we reached the boat area, the last trip was about to leave and the counter said that it was fully booked. Being the hopeful bunch we were, we stayed near the dock and begged the crew to let us get the last 4 seats. They were nice enough to do so. It was a half moon ride around the castle. It wasnt bad considering that it was part of the pass.

We were too tired to walk back so we paid 300 yen to ride the train back to the entrance. We found a crepe place there and had our fill of the japanese crepes.

The Osaka Epass was worth it as long as you set your schedule well and plan ahead.