welcome to osaka, japan

Those were the words that greeted the teams in Amazing Race when they came to this city last season. Ok, so I am not exactly on a race to win a million bucks, but still...Japan's 3rd largest city after Tokyo and Yokohama feels...like Tokyo and Yokohama...haha. Bustling with activities and people here walk so freakingly fast that even I seem slow. And all these from quint (and already bustling) Kyoto was a (non) refreshing change.

I spent alot today. Ok, what's new anyway. Well, I checked out of my luxurous Okura Kyoto into (what I think is equally posh) Granvia Osaka today , and since the trip from Kyoto to Osaka took only 28 minutes by the normal train, I was too early to check in at 11+am. So, what is a bored boy like me to do? Ok, first the location of Granvia Osaka rocks. It is directly connected to the train station I arrived and this makes getting to the hotel a breeze. Also, posh Daimaru is located in same building and all i have to do is get in the lift, get out at reception, walk 5 meters and ta-dah! I'm in the land with no budget. haha...ohhh, Tiffany has a store in Daimaru too...

Ok, so, to kill my time, i decided to go shopping, and since I am too poor to afford first class luxury, i went to Rinku town's outlet mall which is 1 hour away (next to Osaka's Kansai Airport) from downtown Osaka. Man! I was in heaven and you guys are lucky cos I was lugging my messenger with my mobile inside so i managed to snap some shots.






Ok, the mall was realy cool, guys! There was Coach, Armani, Loewe blah blah blah, but I did not get any of those cos dah-ling, me ain't gonna fork extra bucks to get 40% off retail Japanese Coach bags that still costs more than me buying from the US website. No wonder luxury items makes tons of mooh-lah from Japan! Instead, I went straight to my purpose of going there: Edwin and Levi. Japanese made Edwin and Levi to be exact! I was in jeans heaven! I managed to grab a pair of Edwin and Levi's Engineered Skinny!


The Edwin was only 5,000 yen, off the 9,000 retail price and Levi was even better! Only 6,500 off retail of 12,400 Yen!!! And! I even got them to trim the extra length at only 300 yen each!Heck, even my neighbourhood charges more to (like what the Jap pronounce) cut-toh the jeans!

Look at my pretty Edwin!






And I love the Levi to death! It is totally unlike those we get back home (those are so mass!) and the material is soft and gorgeous!




I also bought the exclusive to Japan Paul Smith label, R. Newbold! I got a Tee and a black blazer for only 20,000 yen! Wanted to get a suit but i cannot fit into the matching trousers! haha...so too bad! Got a similar looking black blazer instead. The tees is really cheap! Only 3,000 yen, retailed at 7,000.


After all my sharing of the shopping loot i managed to gather, something more intereting...haha...I checked into my room and realised that besides the TV remote was a pamphlet...haha and guess what? Well, the land of Asian porn has a catalogue telling you what's showing on their pay TV channel...haha I managed to snap....the catalogue lah! Too broke to pay for view haha besides, i do have internet access, you know...haha...



I really wanted to close up this section cos I was very intrigued by the nurse haha, ok, and the gal with extremely big boobs and flexibility besides it...haha


Ok, the Granvia has bad rooms! haha...this is more noticable since I was at the ultra comfy and posh Okura,,,the toiletries here are those big bottle to be re-filled kind! No bath salts and! The bath tub is like...erm...3/4 the length of the Okura one...The toilet is also 3/4 the sixe AND height of Okura's! And so is the bed, and room and TV and...I can so go on...






OK, the view is not bad, but considering opposite me, I can see Hilton, it just makes me feel more shitty to be in this room...hahaha...


And! to make things worse, I just got an email telling me that since I did not turn up for the Kyoto hostel, I had to pay 100% cancellation fees! WTF?! Man, another 70USD gone like that!

And while I was trying to look for this ramen stall rec by Chubby Hubby near to my hotel, I went into what I tot was the one (all japanese words look the same, seriously) and then i realised it's actually not the place! Paid 1500 yen for this hot pot thingy (ok lah, actually, pay for experience lor, what to say since I already had it...) But one interesting thing is this really chewy thing in the pot, I suspect its some intestine of the chicken, I don't know what it is but it's really chewy and good!





Then I came back and went down th Daimaru food hall cos the pot of neggies did not fill me up and bought some Yakitori and bento that is on disc. I tot the yakitoris are on sale too cos I saw 20 yen signs so i choose like 5 sticks, but then i was wrong again! haiz...it pays (literally) to not understand Japanese, man. The bento was cheap though, only 300+ yen. Paid 1 k for all so actually my dinner tonight's very expensive leh! 2.5k yen u know, that's like 35 bucks! Ok, but the Yakitor's grilled chicken skin is REALLY good! Tastes NOTHING like our local flabby, soft soft ones! the ones here are oh-my-go so chewy and tender! I think I would rather pay for the skin than the chicken!