Fun Hideout

We bought the Hankyu Tourist Pass (1 day @ 700 Yen) at Hotel New Kankyu since we were travelling to Kyoto as well as Arashiyama via the Hankyu Railway on the same day. The journey from Osaka to Kyoto was slightly less than an hour, super easy to go. =)

Highly recommending Hotel Grand Bach! The room rate was relatively cheap ($100+ per night) and directly connected to Kawaramachi Station @ Kyoto. The bathroom comes with rain shower and massage jets, which was quite shiok. That's not all. The hotel also has public bath and supper ( simple porridge). Impressive for the price paid. The Osaka hotels that I stayed only have basic facilities and cost me $230-300+ per night. =_="

We went to Nishiki Ichiba Market for lunch, which is just walking distance from our hotel. Lotza snacks and fruits. If you are here at Kyoto, remember to buy Kyoto grapes! They tasted just like Hi-Chew grape flavoured sweets. The sweetness was just unbelievable. I actually preferred the grapes to strawberries.  The grapes were sold around 1000+ yen for a small packet (depending on the weight) but  they were sold like $20+ at Taka Cold Storage.  

Flowers that smelt so good!

Another must eat is the matcha warabi mochi. It is a more jelly type of mochi, very different from those taiwanese mochi. Must try! If you are keen to find out how it tastes like, you can find it at Buruto @ CBD. Although Kyoto one still tasted better lah. =p


Too bad, it can only keep for 2-3 days, so cannot buy back as souvenir. =(

Next, Arashiyama for tourist sightseeing.. cannot be eating all day one mah, although I must say majority of our time at Kansai was EAT...keke

We first went to Monkey Park Iawtayama, which is around 20 minutes walk from the station. Well, we went with slippers, without realizing that we got to trek uphill..

This was just the beginning..... the staircases slowly turn to muddy uneven path; dunno why we always ended up trekking when we went for holidays... @#$%

Finally..... we reached the hill top where the monkeys reside and a bird eye's view of Arashiyama, after like 45mins to an hour?

Ok lah, we got no stamina. I think if I tell people I've been to Nepal for trekking a few years back, I dont think any one will believe.... but I did hor. Anyway, it was not easy to 'giap' my slippers, especially when the path was muddy and slippery.  If you are coming here, please wear proper walking shoes. Well, at least the route downhill was easier and faster.

We skipped the temple but just visited the garden which will lead to the Bamboo Groves. You can also take the other route (refer to the map which you can get at the station) to go straight to the Bamboo Groves if you dont want to pay the entrance fees.

Bamboo Groves

Arashiyama is famous for its tofu, so dont go off without trying! We randomly went into a restaurant and ordered a full tofu set.

Back to Osaka for dinner at Kichi Kichi Omu Rice, which is again walking distance from my hotel. Told you, my hotel damn good. Keke

Kichi Kichi Omu Rice (5pm to 9pm)

Address: 185-4 Zaimokucho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 604-8017, Japan

As the restaurant is really small, probably sit around 10 - 12 pax, so if you are keen to try this, remember to make reservation online! Location is at a small alley, so check with your hotel reception to find the way. 

For this trip, I had tried not to plan too many activities, in fact to allow for last minute changes or delays. I've got a 'bad' habit to pack as many activities as possible to maximize the trip, but would end up quite shagged lah. Lol

If you are keen in my itinerary, just drop me an email! I followed about 90% of my itinerary, with some minor changes. I did quite a number of online booking/reservation, which I will share the links along the way. Hope it will help in your planning!

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Transportation

I stayed in 2 hotels, Hotel New Hankyu and Hotel Granvia Osaka when I was in Osaka. Both are located near the Osaka Station and accessible to the major transportation lines such as Hankyu Railways, Airport Limo, Subway and JR Lines. Shinkansen  is located at Shin Osaka which is just a few minutes subway ride away. 

I got quite a 'hard time' deciding which is the most cost effective transportation. Transport in Osaka is not really cheap, a one stop subway station may cost 240 Yen (i.e.$3). So hor, Singapore transport is really still manageable. I bought the ICOCA card (similar to EZ-link card ~ a top up value card but with no special discount for tourist) and I used about 5000 Yen per pax (i.e. $62.50) for my 7 full day trip, excluding Airport Limo, Hankyu Tourist Pass etc.... *Shrugged*. 

At the tail end of my trip, I realized that there's this One-Day Enjoy Eco Card (cost 800 Yen). which is good if you intend to take the subway/bus at least 4 times (to and fro) a day; you might want to consider to get this card if it fits your travelling plan. You can use HyperDia to do a rough calculation of your daily transport expenses to see whether the Eco Card is worth it. =)

As our flight arrival time was close to midnight, I booked Hotel New Hankyu which is one of the stops along Airport Limo route. The ticket (round trip = 2760 Yen, valid for 14 days) can be bought at the 1st floor of Kansai Airport Terminal 1, i.e. the arrival hall. The vending machine to buy the ticket is outside the exit, where the buses will be parked. Dont worry. as there will be a staff to help with the vending machines. One thing I really need to salute to the Japanese, the timing is so damn accurate, the bus really left on dot, so just refer to the schedule in the Airport Limo website.

If you want to plan your travel, HyperDia is a good website to know the exact timing of departure, the route and the fares. For my Kobe and Kyoto trip, I went with Hankyu Railways and I referred to the 'Time Schedule Search' online. It's important to check the schedule to know the train that you want to board, a minute difference departure time can mean a different train and ended up with a longer route (happened to me). 

Take this lift to level 6 which will lead you directly to the waiting area (there are some other entrance apparently) and write down your name. The staff will call your name when it's your turn.

We reached the restaurant around 11am and there was already a long queue. I guess, Singaporeans are not the only kiasu ones. Keke

The place is huge so waiting time was about 20-30mins for us. We opted for the Kobe Beef Steak Lunch Set (3,180 Yen), which consists salad, appetizer and a drink as well.


Money well spent!

One next stop is Kobe Sanda Premium Outlets, which is about an hour bus ride. You can buy the bus ticket at Sannomiya Bus Terminal, which is located near to JR Sannomiya East Gate. It took us a while to find the bus terminal and another challenge to buy the bus ticket as the staff could not understand English. Thank goodness, we managed to get our tickets at the vending machine beside the info counter. Lesson learnt, dont bother to ask the staff; time is more well spent to figure out the vending machine.

The one way bus trip to the Premium Outlets cost 660 Yen and I bought the bus trip back to Osaka online (1000 Yen), which supposed to be cheaper. Erm, if you plan to go back to Kobe from the Premium Outlets, I dunno where you can buy the ticket as I dont remember seeing any counter selling bus tickets at the Premium Outlets.


Back to Osaka for dinner....

Gutetama Cafe (11am to 1030pm)
Address: HEP Five, 7th Floor


Apparently, this cafe was the only restaurant where there was no people queuing outside during dinner time.... *Shrugged* We almost thought it was closed lor, coz cant see inside and the automatic doors was not responding well. Lucky there were people leaving, if not, we were had left for another option.


Since we were at HEP Five, we took the Ferris Wheel for the night scenery. But it was drizzling and actually not very high to have a good view, so didnt see much. Haha, I think can skip this if you are there.

And we bought cheese tart! In 2 separate days, if case you are wondering are we gluttons..

BAKE Cheese Tart
Addres: Hanshin Departement Store B1 Food Section

Pablo Cheese Tart
Addres: Osaka JR Station

Steakland Kobe 

Kobe Sanda Premium Outlets

Monkey Park Iwatayama 

 Kichi Kichi Omu Rice

 Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Fushimi Inari Shrine 

Kinkakuji Temple

Gudetama Cafe @ HEP Five

Ferris Wheel @ HEP Five 

Kuromon Ichiba Market 

Shinsekai 

 Kushikatsu Daruma

Matsusaka Beef Yakiniku M 

 Universal Studios Japan

 Lucky Owl @ Dotombori