[Travel Log] JPN 2023 - Day 6&7: Ikeda & Homebound

 Day 6 & 7: Ikeda & Homebound

27-28 February 2023, Monday-Tuesday

Hotel Monterey Le Frere was in a pretty convenient location, not only was it near Osaka-Umeda station, it also had a Sugi Drugstore (with tax-free option for foreign travellers) and a Lawsons just at the first floor. 

On the day of our check-out, I wanted to visit the Cup Noodles Museum before leaving Osaka City, so we decided to do a quick breakfast (a.k.a. Konbini brekkie) as we had to check out before 11 a.m. 

We were such lazy bums, we legit checked out at 11 a.m. HAH. Then we headed to Ikeda station via the Hankyu Line. 

It was such a nice day to be out, the sun was out while being breezy. 

Cup Noodles Museum Osaka Ikeda 

Map: 8-25 Masumicho, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0041, Japan

Explanation within the museum that I need time to understand... 😂

And the mandatory activity of the day, designing our own cupnoodles!!  So first, we purchase an empty cup from the vending machines for 500 Yen. The staff will put a lid over the cup (so it does not get contaminated) and direct you to a table to draw. 

Ta-dah. This was my cup with a failed drawing of Hiyoko-chan (the sister helped to make it look a bit more decent). 

After we were done drawing, we could join the queue to choose the base flavour and 4 toppings that we wanted in our cup. For me, I chose curry flavour & a mixture of Hiyoko-chan fishcakes, Garlic, French Bean and Tamago as the toppings. 

Went to the 2nd floor and saw the Chicken Ramen Factory where you can make it from scratch. Unfortunately, this is by appointment only. Shall put this in my to-do list for next time. 

 

After the cup noodle experience, we were deciding between going back to Umeda station or to stick around the area when we passed by this signage at a tourist center (that was also operating as an eatery). How could I pass this? I saw the Ice-cream cone with Chicken Ramen topping... hahaha

An inspirational piece from the cupnoodles museum... (all the souvenirs we got at the shop for the kiddos)

After lunch, while walking back to the station, we spotted my sister's favourite store, and proceeded to get our lives coloured. (we nicknamed Seria as a 'Colour our lives' store 😂)

I think we spent almost an hour at this Seria store before heading back to Hotel Monterey to get our luggage to move back to Rinku-Town in preparation for our morning flight the next day. 

The hotel was a distance from the train station (about 8~10 minutes walk). Loved the interior, but probably had the most flaws among all the hotels that we stayed at (during this trip). Sound-proofing wasn't as good, we could hear the cars on the streets. No retention of heat in the room too. 

I didn't really mind it, since it was only for a night. 

Hatago Inn Kansai Airport

Map: 2番85 Rinkuoraikita, Izumisano, Osaka 598-0048, Japan

There was really nothing much at Rinku-Town, the road to the hotel was dark and quiet, so we didn't venture too far. Again, there was a Lawson's at the ground floor of the hotel, so we decided have yet another Lawson's meal. 

A glass cup that came bundled with a jelly cup.

Packed all the loots into the zipper compartment of the luggage... just look at all the stuff for the kiddos. 

Then, it was the day to fly back home... you could see the bridge connecting to the airport from the view of the room. 

And, that is the end of this travel log. We landed in rainy Singapore and was stuck at the immigration for awhile because we had to submit a declaration form and the sister took quite a while to get it done. So I found this corner near immigration that had this little decoration. hahaha. 

That is it, for now. 💕

Previous post: [Travel Log] JPN 2023 - Day 5: Amanohashidate Klook Tour!!!

[Travel Log] JPN 2023 - Day 5: Amanohashidate Klook Tour!!!

Day 5: Amanohashidate Klook Tour

26 February 2023, Sunday

It's D-DAY! The Klook Tour to Amanohashidate - the highlight of the trip. I had originally planned the highlight of the trip to be the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, but the moment I saw this tour, I knew this was going to be the one. 

Amanohashidate - one of Japan's three most scenic spots.

I got to know the existence of this place from one of my Japanese teachers (誰から聞こえたこともう忘れましたが。。。😖) and I'm so glad to have the opportunity to visit. 

Considering the early meeting time of 7.15 a.m. for the tour, I had booked the hotel to be close by so that we wouldn't have to rush. However, I didn't really sleep well the night before anyway as I was really afraid that we would oversleep. haha. 

Sunrise from our hotel room at 6.10 a.m.

We were greeted by a local tour guide (Yoshi-san) who said that he actually lives in New Zealand and that he does these tours for 2 months in every year (when he is back in Japan). So the ride to the first destination was going to take 2 hours and most of us took the time to catch-up on sleep. 

At one point during the ride, we actually saw that it was snowing!! 

We reached our first destination after approximately 2 hours from Osaka (Umeda). The tour only allocated half an hour to this place as it was a packed itinerary (or rather the travelling time between the locations were really long so we had to make sure that we were on schedule).

Miyama Thatched Roof Village (Kayabuki no Sato)

Map: Miyamachokita, Nantan, Kyoto 601-0712, Japan

We were told that it snowed the previous day, and hence, we could see the snow-filled village. 😍 I was so amazed walking on these thick snow... Its like walking on shaved ice, your shoes don't really get wet from snow. It only turns into water if it melts. 😍 

Really wished we had a bit more time here to explore a bit more of the village, but so happy to see this. 

A mandatory photo of xiao piglet against the snowy village backdrop. 😆

At 10.10 a.m., we had to move to the next location which was about 90 minutes away.  

Lunch place & Amanohashidate

Map: 437 Monju, Miyazu, Kyoto 626-0001, Japan

Arriving at the lunch place (which was located on the 2nd floor of one of the souvenir shops), we were greeted by the sight of lunch all set up for the whole tour group. 

We had an hour to eat & shop at level 1, and had to meet back at the bus (to drop off the purchases) before heading towards the chair lift point. 

It was so fun, just sitting on the chair lift to the top of the viewpoint. 😄 And check out the view!

Okay, now for the iconic thing to do at Amanohashidate, bend upside down and look at the sight from under your legs! So the reason behind this is that, by doing so, its supposed to look like a dragon soaring through the sky. 😁

Yep, this pose, but this was a make-up shot, because I had a mask hanging off my hands in the original shot (there was no fence in the original shot), I can't see anything on this particular bench. 

At some point, there was a drizzle of tiny snowflakes... 😍😍

Besides the chair lift, there is also the option to take the cable-car up to the viewpoint (the usage of the chair lift has an age limit imposed & its a single seater only - as there are no safety belt whatsoever, you just sit on it like a chair and it goes up, so definitely not recommended for kids that can't sit still).

We had about 50 mins to roam about here before descending back to the ground to move to the final destination. The sun came out as we were about to leave... 💕

About 40 minutes from Amanohashidate, we were at our final destination of this tour, which was to take the Ine Bay Sightseeing Boat to look at the Ine fishing village (or that was what I thought the highlight of the sightseeing boat was)! 

Ine Bay Sightseeing Boat

Map: 11 Hide, Ine, Yoza District, Kyoto 626-0425, Japan

It turns out... the seagulls/black wing eagles were the stars of the show. Before going onboard the boat ride, Yoshi-san recommended that we buy the prawn cracker snack (to feed the birds) at the souvenir shop for 100 yen/packet. Its basically prawn crackers, lol. Then, to avoid getting your fingers bitten off by the black wing eagles, you were supposed to throw it upwards as they come near so they can dive after it. I guess, the wind was really strong that day, because the birds couldn't seem to aim at the crackers very well, hahahhaa. 

Quite terrifying seeing the number of seagulls/eagles flying around the boat, but the view was nice. 

It was then, time to head back to Osaka city. The whole journey back would take another 2.5 hours and at the mid-point of the trip back, we got to do a quick 10 minutes toilet break at a rest stop (we did so too in the first hour of the tour). The toilets were so clean... 👍

Caught the view of the sunset from the bus... 💕

The tour ended at a different end of the Osaka station, which wasn't near our hotel (unlike the pick-up point), so we decided to just grab dinner before we call it a night. 

Found Saboten at Lucua Food Hall B2F... It was like a fast food concept which really amazes me because its branded differently in Singapore (a bit more high-end, restaurant style). 

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