Tuesday, 25 December 2012
We started off late today and left
after 9 am. Again, we took the Whity Shopping Town underground route to Hankyu
train station where we boarded the train for Kobe.
Now, Kobe has been designated as a
UNESCO City of Design. It has flourished as a seaport and has continually
embraced foreign culture since long ago. We got down at Sannomiya Station and
(after searching for it for 15 minutes) sought directions from the information
office at the JR station. We bought a day-pass for the City Loop Bus and took
it to Kitano Ijinkan-dori where a large number of Western houses are located,
among others the Moegi House, Weathercock House, the Wien Austrian House, the
Denmark House and Rhine House. There is also a tourist information office in
Kitano. We spent close to two hours here. It’s a charming area and there were
some nice souvenirs shops too. We certainly couldn’t find any in Osaka, or
Kyoto for that matter (but then again, we were not particularly looking for
souvenirs as my priority was to cover the heritage sites).
Then we took the City Loop bus to
Nakkatottei Pier for the Kobe Port Tower. We didn’t spend a long time there and
hopped on the next bus to Nankinmachi or Chinatown. It was lunchtime and there
were a lot of people there. While the food prices were reasonable, it wasn’t
anything we could confidently partake so we went back to the stop and back to
the information office at the station to ask for direction to the Kobe Mosque.
We found the mosque and performed
prayers there. A nearby halal restaurant was closed (it was in between lunch
and dinner time) and would reopen for dinner only at 5:30 pm so we left after
buying some food at FamilyMart. We took the bus back to Sannomiya Station and
went to Sogo and Marui before taking the train back to Osaka.
This was our last night in Osaka (and
I still hadn’t bought any souvenirs, not even for myself!) but tried as we did,
we couldn’t find much. We went to Isetan to check out the food hall - even met
the chap who spoke good English; he was leaving as he was done with his shift
for the day - but left empty-handed. I know there are a few departmental stores
in Tokyo which do sell souvenirs but apparently they don’t in Osaka.
We walked back to the shopping arcade
near our hotel and had our dinner in a restaurant which served seafood. No one
spoke much English (one guy gestured to us to order using the touchpad at our
table but we wouldn’t have known how to operate it and the menus shown when we
don’t speak Japanese) so we pointed at pictures of fish and chips on the menu
instead. Oh, and dinner at restaurants attract 5% tax. Thank God tipping is a
foreign concept there (and it should not be encouraged in Malaysia either).
Back to the hotel to pack... How time
flew!
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
We left at a quarter to 8 (wanted to
leave earlier but I’d told el niño that the 08:20 airport limousine bus was the
last possible one we must catch for our 11 am flight). Bought single child
ticket for him (¥750) and boarded the bus promptly at 08:18. We reached Kansai
International Airport at 09:15 and went to drop our bags. It was a good thing
Akak had helped to check us in online so we didn’t have to join the long queue
and got assigned good seats.
Thankfully there were a few stores
that sell souvenirs at pretty reasonable prices at the airport and that was
where I bought my souvenirs (only managed to find myself one fridge magnet!)
and even then, I’m sure I didn’t buy enough. Oh well...
We rode the train to our gate and
boarded our plane. The plane took off on time and I managed to watch two
in-flight movies and read a bit before we landed.
We performed prayers and good thing
too as the bags were still nowhere on the conveyor belt when we were done. We
took the KLIA Transit as I had to drop off el niño at Putrajaya station.
As I’ve told el niño, I’m not sure
when our next trip together would be. It gets harder when they grow up. The
only time we could travel together would be on school holidays and for me, that
means either November or December only. And slowly and surely, they start
growing out of the child category too...
I still have my other niece I
suppose. Whether she will prove to be a good travelling partner remains to be
seen...
Hope you all had a good end-of-year
break too!
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