Osaka - 24 March 2017

My Japan trip journey began from Changi Airport since I lived in Singapore. Prior going inside the check-in area, I went to collect the pre-booked wifi router for Japan area from ChangiRecommends (their booth are available in every Changi terminal). They gave me the wifi router, charger with Japan plug (so don't worry) and the pouch to carry the wifi router and the charger. The price is S$5 per day, this is a decent price considering that I can share with my other 2 friends. 

For more details and how to reserve the wifi router, you can check it on https://www.changirecommends.com/owifi.aspx.

We took All Nippon Airways, NH802 from Changi Airport (Singapore) to Narita (Tokyo, Japan) then changed to domestic flight, NH2177 to Itami (Osaka, Japan).

It was the first time for me to travel with ANA, usually I always take Singapore Airlines (SQ), Cathay Pacific for long haul flight or the flight that is more than 4 hours. Was a bit nervous at the first time boarded the plane, however the cabin crew services and the comfortable chair (including the leg room) simply took away my nervousness! I forgot to take the picture of the meals since the quality was decent! *sorry about that :(

In the Narita domestic flight waiting room, there is a small shop that sell gifts, souvenirs. There is a lot of enticing boxes filled with well organized local sweets and cookies. In Japan this is called as Omiyage (お土産). The shop also sell bread, drinks and simple cooked food such as Rice ball (Onigiri - お握り), Ramen cup. Despite of the location, some of the food has less than ¥200 price tag, so it is affordable.

We took another flight to Itami, Osaka and arrived around 6 PM. We went to take our luggage and off we go! We went to the monorail station that is not too far away from the airport then purchased the ticket to the city. Our hostel (Khaosan World Namba) is a walking distance from Namba Station. There is no direct train from the airport to Namba station, hence we took the train to Senri-Chuo then transfer to Kita-osaka kyuko Line. 

I couldn't find any machine that sell ICOCA card in this station, hence decided to buy the one way ticket which usually more expensive. However in this case, the ticket cost considered not that expensive (it was ¥330).

Icoca Card

Once we reached the Namba station, we were a bit surprised that there were a very limited escalator! So be careful if you have a heavy luggages as you need to carry it through the stairs!

We went out of the station then walk to the Hostel direction with Google map assistance. I have to admit, having a google map access in Japan is really helpful, we would not make it if we were not having access to google map. After 5-10 minutes walking, we finally reached our hostel, yay!

Khaosan World Namba

Without time wasted, we went inside then checked into the hostel. During the check-in I tried to practice my Japanese which I learned before I went to Japan, however I failed............ I was so embarrassed, however funny enough that the staff was happy since I tried to speak in Japanese with them. 

So in the end we used english to do the check in. Luckily that the staff can speak english, so there was no issue. The room and cubicle was clean, there was one power plug on each cubicle to charge your gadgets.

Room shared with 12 persons

The Cubicle

We were very hungry as we haven't had any dinner and it was already around 8:30 PM, so we put our luggage then walked to Dotonbori area. It's a walking distance from the hostel to Dotonbori area, so it's very convenient!

We arrived Dotonbori area then stroll around to find the restaurant. There was so many interesting restaurant and street food, there was Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), Takoyaki (たこ焼き), Ramen (ラメン) and so much more.

Dotonbori entrance

We decided that we would like to have a Ramen that night, so we went to Ichiran Ramen (一蘭) which is quite famous ramen chain in Japan.

Ichiran Ramen (一蘭)

When we got inside, we need to queue and purchase the Ramen Ticket from the vending machine, we just need to choose which ramen we want and then put the money. I chose the normal Ramen as I would like to taste their original flavour (cost me ¥890). Once we bought the ticket, we were ushered to the 2nd floor, the dining area.

Interesting enough, there was an indicator to show which seat vacant (Green one means vacant), if there's a vacant seat, you can just go inside then sit. We waited for a bit since we were 2 persons and there was no 2 vacant seats that is next to each others.

Notification board to show seat vacancy

We went in and we were given a paper which we can customize our ramen! There's an english instruction so there's no issue. :)
After I completed the order form, the staff will take the order form and prepare the ramen as per our preference.

Ramen Order Form

 It wasn't even 10 mins and my ramen is ready! Not surprised that the soup was fragrant and rich given that this is Tonkotsu Ramen (豚骨, pork bone base). Noodle texture was perfect, soup was good, flavour blends very well, it's not too salty.
*Some tips from me when eating a ramen is to finish the ramen as fast as we can before the noodle become soggy, it will taste bad. However it doesn't mean that you should eat too fast till you cannot enjoy the ramen. Please enjoy the ramen! :)

Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen

After we finished the great dinner, we went outside then take a stroll around Dotonbori area.

Neon sign, peoples at Dotonbori 

Dotonbori River

While we were strolling around, we found a Takoyaki street vendor and tempted to try as the queue was long! We were thinking that the taste must be good if there's a long queue. The seller was friendly, he even wore the takoyaki hat!

There is 2 options, 5 pcs takoyaki for ¥350 or 10 pcs takoyaki for ¥650. We opted for 10 pcs takoyaki for our 2nd round dinner and didn't regret it at all.

Takohachi (たこ八)

He is preparing my order :) 

Here we go, our takoyaki!

Taste was good, it was soft and have a big octopus piece inside. We finished the takoyaki and left with satisfied feeling. :)

On the way back, we took several shots on the iconic Dotonbori sign, which is the Glico Running Man!

Glico Running Man

After we took several shots, we left the Dotonbori area.... while walking we found another interesting snacks.. it was an Portuguese egg tart!! I was surprised to find this in Japan. This Lord Stow's Portuguese egg tart is very famous in Macau. I always thinking when I can travel back to Macau only to eat this egg tart. So, I couldn't let this chance slipped, I bought one and eat it immediately (cost ¥210 each). Taste was exactly the same with the one in Macau, so I was satisfied. :)
They also sell the egg tart that is infused with Japanese culture, Matcha. However I didn't try it as I was very full.

Lord Stow's Bakery Portuguese Egg Tart

Lord Stow's Bakery Location at Dotonbori

After we finished the egg tart, we went back to the hostel (this time is really back to the hostel).
This ended our 1st night in Osaka..

To be continued on the next post!