Saturday, March 29, 2008

Osaka: A Trip That Went Wrong


No, it wasn't that bad, really; but it could have been alot better.


First off, I began to have a fever the day before my departure. It's probably a combination of stress and lack of sleep mainly from work, and then probably the reduced adrenaline which has been widely studied as the main factor for "leisure sickness".


Anyway, the trip started off on the wrong foot. I was worried that they wouldn't let me through immigration over in Japan, so, I got all drugged up so that my fever would subside, and went into hybernation pretty much for the first 3 days of the trip...

Drugged all the way from HKG to KIX, now on Nankai Express from KIX to Namba

Though slowly recovering, my moving radius was confined to about 1km from our very centrally-located hotel in Namba... which is not so bad, because besides Umeda, Namba/Shinsaibashi is the main tourist/retail hub in Osaka. We went to this shopping street called "Tachibana", and already my travelmates went nuts. Seeing that they were so excited buying stuff, I emerged from my sick body, and ATTEMPTED to get something for myself, but like most other times, I ended up not buying any clothing (well, except a sweatshirt) because they simply don't make clothes my size in Japan. What do taller guys wear in Japan?

So, no spending on clothes, and I couldn't eat anything cold, raw, spicy, nor fried, this really has been a... Thrifty Trip Through the High Yen Times.

(there will be more to come... but sort of brainfarting and dunno what to write about this trip at the moment)



The only store where I could get something that fits me (what an irony)

A corner restaurant near Tachibana, nice place but no appetite though


Oh how I love bathrooms in Japan, especially the multi-functional toilets, you know what I mean?

(just realized that I have NO pictures taken in Osaka, so all picture posted today are supplied by Fun, THANKS!)

10 comments:

Wordy said...

Finally get something to read. I hope you are recovered.

I have never been to Osaka. From your FB album you guys were able to appreciate the sakura in Kyoto. Cool!

The yen is so high. Luckily I should have enough cash for hotels and food (got at 0.063 to 0.0645) last year. Only the rail pass I bought couple weeks ago is just expensive :p

CH Mak said...

I must have been still a bit drugged... coz I just found another bunch of pic saved in another folder in the SD Card... yeah! Will upload some more to FB and in later posts here.

When do you embark on your trip? It's funny, I met with my travelmates again tonight, and it seemed like I never went on that trip because I didn't do much at all... *sigh*

Whoa... I bought my yen at 0.79 wor...

About the sakura... eh... we must have seen.... 4 or 5 trees that were blooming... out of millions lor...

Anonymous said...

multi-functional toilets....咁難明嘅?

Wordy said...

4 or 5 trees are far better than none, my friend :)

When you check the fotos and try to write something surely you will remember more of the trip.

I bought my rail pass at 0.0765 in mid Mar but got 3% off.

Fun said...

樓上,

佢全程真係買得一件衫咋~~~~~

CH Mak said...

Wordy: another 3% off? That's good. With Yen this high, any discount would help. ;p

Naruto: Gor d toilet le... with heater, fan, auto-detect flush, spray, badet, all-in-one. So much fun. :))))

Fun: mai hai lor..... ONE piece...

Wordy said...

衫買左一件(聽落好清苦……),但可能第 d 買唔少嘛 ^_^

Anonymous said...

I wear small-medium size in the States and have to buy L-XL in Japan. The small size clotings in Japan are as big as what a 8 year old Yankee boy could fit into and I am not kidding. Funny but the Japanese guys I have "first hand" experience with are not that small. Can't imagine where normal size people in Japan shop?!

Anonymous said...

明白哂,照計咁鍾意厠所嘅我無理由諗唔到架

等緊睇櫻花,快快

CH Mak said...

Wordy: my 战利品 on this trip: A sweatshirt (that you can find in HK), and a pair of running shoes... THAT's ALL.

Annon: Just what kind of "first hand" experience do you mean? haha. Seems all the "bigger" people wear rugby shirts and checkered shirts... or is it just a stereotype?

Naruto: Sakura photos? Let me try to dig out a couple that we were lucky enough to run into. I swear there were maybe 5 or 6 that we saw on the whole trip. Right now they're probably all blooming. We were just a week early.