SEOULful things to do in Seoul

I knew very little about South Korea; the only things I knew prior to this trip included 1.) Korean food - KFC (Korean Fried Chicken, and how good their fried chicken is, especially Bon Chon), Chapchae (also because of Bonchon, thanks!), Kimchi (which ever since I was a kid I already hated the smell but my dad loves it so our fridge always smelled disgusting!) and Bibimbap, which I have never tried. 2.) KPOP -I first heard about it in mid 2000 when I was still in the Philippines and teenagers loved them so much and apparently it's now a culture? (I really wouldn't know much as I grew up loving Western boy bands like, you know, Nick Carter and the Backstreet Boys). 3.) The two Koreas conflict - I must have been absent when this was discussed in my Asian history class because all I knew was that the two Koreas don't like each other, period. 

South Korea was not even in my top priority of countries to visit but because of an Air Asia sale, we considered going and then ended up booking a return flight for AUD$700. I am glad Air Asia had a sale and I'm even gladder that we booked that flight because South Korea would probably be one of the best Asian countries I have ever visited.

And so here I am writing about my trip and some of the amazing things you can do/visit while in Seoul.

1.) THE WAR MEMORIAL OF KOREA

There's a reason why this attraction is ranked 1 on Trip Advisor and I must say it's a very good one. One of the many reasons someone travels to another country is to experience its culture and know more about its history. Visiting the War Memorial is a perfect way to learn more about South Korea's history and to pay respect to the soldiers/people who fought hard to have what the country has right now. 

Front view of the War Memorial Building |
Flags of the countries who supported South Korea during the Korean War

In this hallway you'd see the list of names of all the soldiers who lost their lives fighting against the North, more than 80% was from US.

Names of Filipino Soldiers in the Korean War

   

Australia and Philippines were among the 21 UN countries who defended South Korea

 
The main building (first picture above) has statuettes of all the personalities in the army that played a big role during the war and in some corridors you'd see snippets of the actual news video in the 1950s and they were all very moving! There's a gallery that shows replica and details of other wars from way way back like the one during Joseon Dynasty - they're all very informative but of course the highlight was the Korean War. As you go outside there's a massive park where you'll find rows of aircraft, tanks and vessels

And as you walk further, there are statues around and they all symbolize the Korean War.

THE TWO BROTHERS STATUE (first statue you will see if you're coming from the train station gate)
Statue is 18m high and 11m wide -the older brother in the statue was a South Korean officer while the younger brother was a North Korean soldier

A Korean War Statue just outside the main building

Address: 29 Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Operating Hours: 0900-1800 except Mondays and Public Holidays 
How to Get There: Take the Seoul Metro Subway (make sure you purchase a T-CARD at any GS25, 711 or other convenience store) and get off at Samkagji Station, take exit 12 (you'll see signs that will direct you to it), walk straight and turn left when you see the sign for the War Memorial (about 300m away from the station, one way fare is approximately 1050 WON-local currency)
Other details: There is no entrance fee, it will take 2-3 hours to go around the whole area (or can be up to 5 hours if you're going to have a close look on all the war memorabilia)

2.) DMZ and JSA TOUR 

If you're doing the War Memorial of Korea visit (which I'm sure you will, it's non negotiable teehee!), you have to do these tours (well you don't have to do both, I'll explain the difference later on so keep reading!). DMZ stands for Demilitarized Zone and the Korea DMZ serves as a border that separates North and South Korea. It is basically a strip of land across the Korean Peninsula and it's a heavily militarized border (soldiers from both countries manning the border at all times). The DMZ tour lets us, tourists, visit the border and learn more about the history of Korea and why there is such thing as DMZ. 
 

image from Wikipedia | Orange line indicates the 4km buffer zone between North and South Korea

The hotel we were staying had a set of brochures of all the Seoul tours/packages available at the reception area. We picked one and asked the receptionist to book the tour for us. We chose the morning tour so we can still do some other things in the arvo after the tour. It was a Sunday when we booked and our tour was scheduled the following Tuesday as it requires at least 24 hours to book it.

We were picked up at exactly 8am on Tuesday by the driver of Seoul City Tour and left Seoul at half past 8 because we had to wait for all the other tourists to be picked up. Sunny is the name of our tour guide and she spoke pretty good English. It took us an hour and a half to get to the DMZ site but it wasn't boring at all because Sunny did a lot of explaining - she explained the history of Korean War and I was really amazed as I did not know much of these prior to this tour. Even after the ceasefire agreement between the two Korea (as initiated by UN), North Korea still did not stop as the South later on discovered tunnels dug by the North as an attempt to invade them. Rules and regulation (no cameras in highly secured area, no military outfit, etc.) were also explained as the vicinity is heavily militarized. In this part I also found out the difference between the DMZ and JSA Tour and I felt a bit of regret that I didn't research enough to know that as I would have really wanted to do the JSA Tour.


DMZ is the entire border area, it's said to be 250km long and 4km wide so the DMZ tour can be anywhere within the DMZ area and not necessarily on the actual borderline. Panmunjeom/JSA (Joint Security Area) is inside the DMZ and is the most forward location in the area that can be visited by civilians. It used to be the only connection between North and South and from there you can see the actual border, which is said to be the most secured area in the DMZ. I really enjoyed the DMZ tour but doing the JSA would have been so much better! The DMZ tour consists of the following:

Pick up from the Hotel - Imjingak Park (50km NW of Seoul and was built for about 5million people who lost their home during the war, North Korea can be viewed from here) - Freedom Bridge (the only path that connects North and South Korea around Imjin river) - DMZ Theater/Exhibition Hall (a short presentation of the history of Korean War and the 3rd infiltration Tunnel) - The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel ( the third tunnel that was discovered by the South in 1978. It's 1.95m high, 2.1m wide & 1635 m long. It's such a riveting experience to walk through this tunnel! The best part is I didn't have to bend down to get inside, I fit perfectly inside the tunnel!!) - Dora Observatory (it's in a higher area of DMZ and tourists can have a glimpse of North Korea through the binoculars for KRW 500/2minutes, although North Korea can be seen fine if you have 20/20 vision) - Dorasan Station (the northern most station built in the hopes that if and when the two countries will be united again, there would be a chance to get to Europe from South Korea through North via the Siberian Railway) - Unification Village Pass By (Sunny explained that this is the closest civilian village to DMZ, after the war no one wanted to relocate to this area but they had to make use of the land because it's perfect for agriculture. Eventually they were able to convince families to settle by giving them extra benefits; families of soldiers also live here so they can be close to their loved ones) - Ginseng Center (not at all related to DMZ but nevertheless part of the tour to introduce to tourists the benefits of drinking/taking Ginseng. Ginseng is apparently one of Korean's local perennial plants and is contributing to the country's economic success - Drop off at Itaewon or City Hall (main subway stations in Seoul, just few minutes away from your hotel if you're staying close to the main area of Seoul)

The JSA Tour includes all of the stops at DMZ Tour plus the Camp Bonifas (base camp for the United Nations) and the actual JSA tour (visible borderline that separates the two countries, each side owns six guard posts and more than 35 armed guards can be present on each side)

The lone DMZ photo I have - I was so engrossed, didn't have the chance to take photos on non restricted areas

Other Tour Details

DMZ Tour Cost: KRW46,000 per person/morning tour (Seoul City Tour has a special promo for 40,000 if reserved online), KRW55,000 per person if with Traditional Korean Lunch (50,000 if online), KRW48,000 afternoon tour (no promo indicated online)

Time of Tours: Morning is 0800-1430, Morning with Lunch is 0800-1500, Afternoon is 1200-1800. Tours not available during Mondays and National Holidays

DMZ + JSA Tour Cost and Time: KRW 135,000 with lunch, 0800-1730

JSA Tour Cost and Time: KRW 87,000 with lunch, 0900-1730, JSA Tour not available on Sundays, Mondays and National Holidays

Reminder: All tourists need to bring their passport during the tour day as military will need them at check point.



3.)SEOUL SPORTS AND SPORTING VENUES

As tourists we all want to do something accustomed to locals, be it experiencing a night at a Hanok (a traditional Korean house) or eating pork intestines and fish cakes in skewers (street food) at a stall in Namdaemun Market. Our version of "doing something locals do" for this trip is watch a local baseball game (Did you know Koreans go gaga over baseball?)

Since the baseball games are either late afternoon or early evening, we decided to start the day by doing something related to sports and that is visiting the World Cup Stadium.Korea and Japan hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup and after its successful completion, the stadium continued to be a venue for soccer matches and other big sporting and cultural events. There is a stadium tour for KRW 1,000 but there is no tour guide; the tourists would just follow the signs/arrows to take them to each gallery. 

As I was with a football fanatic, we spent a longer time than all the other tourists in our group (which was fine, staff didn't tell us to leave after everyone has left). As we entered the tour hallway, we saw a collection of facts and drawings about the history of the World football (on the right wall) and Korean football (on the left wall). And as we moved on to the next hallway, it presented the World Cup details of the years South Korea qualified in.

Took a selfie outside the stadium with our monopod/selfie stick/selfie pole

Years in which South Korea qualified in World Cup | 2014 not yet included in the gallery

ME with the South Korea National Team =)

...and HIM taking my spot in the National Team!

Seoul World Cup Stadium Field

 

After the field tour, the other side of the hall (towards the exit) has another gallery of images and facts about all the countries that qualified in the World Cup history.

This is a real treat for football supporters and a good experience for people like me who are just starting to learn about the sport (because they have partners who watch and talk about them everyday). World Cup is such a big deal in the sporting space and to have been to one of the stadiums where it was previously held is so enthralling - it gave me that immersed feeling that I was part of this football history (weird, hey?)

 

Watching Baseball the Korean Way

After spending a good 2-3 hours at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Mapo-gu, which is west of Seoul/northwest of the Han River, our next stop was the Jamsil area where the baseball game will have been held (southeast of Han River). As you can see from the map below, Jamsil is so close to the famous Gangnam area and so we decided to check out what this Gangnam style is about since we still had some hours to kill before the game. Gangnam is an affluent suburb and Koreans living in this district are all considered wealthy. Aside from doing a Gangnam Style dance pose (but I won't be posting pictures here as it might start a fight, wink!), all we did in this area is had lunch. We found a very nice and small rice burger place (not so posh but who cares it was yummy!) and I'll talk more about it in my future posts.

We arrived at Jamsil Stadium quarter past six and the game started 15 minutes later. We noticed that all supporters were full on - each one had at least an item (shirt, cap, jumper) of the team they support and they all knew the chants. What I enjoyed the most was watching the crowd and the cheerleaders (no pompoms and pigtails, just girls who look like those in the all female KPOP groups) leading a group of energetic fans with very catchy cheering lines and slightly provocative dance moves.The match was between LG Twins and NC Dinos and since it was LG's home game, fans were twice as many as NC Dinos'.

NC Dinos' Pitcher

In every game, there's always an injury - LG batter ran to the second base after hitting the ball, attempted to run to the next base but ran back after he saw the ball was being thrown to the middle infielder and the two bumped against each other

Details:

How to get to World Cup Stadium: World Cup Stadium Station is on Line 6 so if you're not on the same line or if you're at Seoul Station, you have to change at Digital Media City (Geoman bound) to get to WCS Station (19mins if coming from Seoul, 2 mins if from Digital Media City) and costs KRW1050 from Seoul Station. Exit on Gate 1 or 2 from World Cup Stadium Station

Operating Hours: 0900-1800
Stadium Tour entrance fee: KRW 1,000

How to get to Jamsil Stadium: Take Line 2 to Sports Complex Station then take exit 5. Stadium is right in front of the exit.

Tickets: As we only wanted to experience the game, we chose the cheapest ticket for KRW 7,000. The expensive tickets (closer to the field) range between 17000-20000


4.) NANTA

I'll start by saying no matter how tight your itinerary will be in Seoul, you just cannot miss this show. Nanta is a 100 minute non verbal comedy show that makes use of Samul Nori (four object percussion rhythm). The story is simple - it's about 3 chefs in the kitchen organizing their stuff when their manager arrives and orders them to prepare a banquet for a wedding at 6PM on the same day.They only have less than 2 hours to prepare and to make things worse, the manager brings in his nephew -who is so uncoordinated and has zero kitchen experience - to "help". What happens in the next 100 minutes is brilliant and hilarious! There are no dialogues albeit there are a couple of mumbles. These together with their facial expressions, well coordinated movements and the amazing sounds they make from all the objects around them (Samul Nori, Samul means four objects, Nori means play) makes this show a really popular entertainment not just for the tourists but even the locals. There is also an audience participation so you'd surely enjoy every minute of it! 

NANTA Show started in 1997 and these are the actors who played the role of the chefs/nephew/manager

The actors at Myeongdong Theather

ME at the NANTA Kitchen!

Details:

How to get there: There are several NANTA Theatres around Seoul; we went to the one at Myeong Dong. For other locations, check the NANTA website 

Ticket: The ticket prices are also on the website but our ticket was the cheapest one; it's called "A" (for admission, I think), we paid KRW50,000 but if you book it online it's only KRW 40,000

PABLO | Japan's Best Cheese Tartlet

Who says only steak can be rare or medium? Our trip to Shinsaibashi wasn't for sartorial purchases but for errrr ...a serious degustation. From the delectable Japanese dishes to yummy lollies with anime designed wrappers, the place, while it's mostly famous for its shopping arcade, is definitely a food haven. Despite the crowd, people seemed to know where they were going and being the tourists that we were, we just went with the flow. We wanted to be where people were as cows flock where the grasses are. And true enough we followed a crowd that led us to a line snaking on the side of a bright store that continued up on the side of the street. In a heartbeat I told my travel buddy (and boyfriend, best friend, among others) we have to try whatever it was. The sign said PABLO and from afar we can tell that it's a pastry looking shop. I rushed to the end of the snaky line and asked the lady in front of me if she's already tried it. She smiled, nodded, did a hand gesture and muttered something I can't understand all at the same time. Then she did a thumbs up sign so I took it as she was telling me Pablo is a must try.



As we were nearing the entrance of the shop, we could see from the glass window a pâtissier (pastry chef) with a round pan that already had the base and the side crusts. That seemed to be the first stage of this so-called tartlet, I thought. Another pâtissier with a big pot poured a liquid cheese onto the round pan that looked like it solidified as soon it was poured. And as the line progressed, we can see each stage of the best tartlet in the making. 

Pâtissiers making sure the cheese is layered evenly on the crust

 

 

 

 

Another pâtissier brushing a yellow (lemon) coat onto the tarlet that  serves as its top layer

After 15 minutes of waiting and watching them make the reason we all lined up for, I finally got to the counter. I was asked if I wanted rare or medium. "I wasn't ordering steak, was I?" I joked then asked what the difference is. A rare cheese tartlet has a soft, light texture and the inside is almost melting. The medium is described as the "exquisite roast" as it has a crispy flaky dough and the inside is solid. The best seller is the rare one so I went for it. We later on tried the medium one when we were already at Shibuya in Tokyo.

A rare cheese tartlet courtesy of the Pablo website |

cheese is light and "melty"

 

The "exquisite roast" - crispy crust with cheese in solid texture

Several curious souls wondering what the line is all about

Rare cheese tartlet with the brand symbol painted using a glossy apricot jam

I am no cheese connoisseur but this cheese tartlet is definitely the best that I've tried in Japan. There are other different cheese tart shops around Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo but they just don't compare to Pablo. Both tartlets are good but I prefer the rare; I don't like the hard, crispy flaky dough of the medium one but the cheese part was just as good. For 741 YEN (800 with tax) this is definitely a good dessert for sharing...or not!

Stores: PABLO has stores in Shinsaibashi, JR Osaka Station, Dotonbori, Umeda and Namba in OSAKA (basically all the touristy area) and Shibuya and Shinjuku in TOKYO

Rambling in Osaka-Shi (Japan)

The first stop of our 17 day trip is Osaka. We planned a 4 day stay in the 3^rd largest city (by population) in Japan and it was an amazing four days. From Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, we took another Air Asia flight to Kansai International Airport (KIX). It was a cold and wet Friday morning when we got there; our decision to only exchange what we needed for the train card (IC OCA) and look for a money changer when we get to the place was, unbeknownst to us, the worst decision we’ve ever had during the trip. In our previous trips, exchanging money is always better in the country destination than in Sydney but it was a dismay to find out that it wasn’t the case in Japan. One Australian dollar was 95 Yen (Japan currency) in Sydney and it was only 86.42 at the airport that time. We thought the rate was just low because it is normal to have a lower rate (and expensive purchases) at the airport but we were apoplectic that rates were even lower outside. I wouldn’t go into so much detail on how we spent half day looking for a money changer after we got to our hotel in Tenmabashi/ Temmabashi (I didn’t want to ruin your blog reading with my complaint but I promise this is the only not so good part of our Japan trip!). Our long walk along the main road of Tenmabashi led us to only one bank (MUFG) but they don’t do foreign exchange hence we were directed to Osaka. Osaka Station City is a 12 minute ride from Tenmabashi station, which is just 2 minutes away from our hotel.

            

         Our ramble began as soon as were cashed up. Osaka Station City is a newly renovated station with a large glass roof spanning over the railway tracks so it gives the station a massive looking open space. There are several buildings that surround the station; the north side has Isetan Mitsukoshi Department Store and Lucua which is home to around 200 stores scattered on eleven floors of the shopping complex. There's also an entertainment section and strips of restaurants, support plaza and offices.

Osaka Station City, Osaka Prefecture

The south gate offers the same sort of attraction on a different layout - there's Daimaru Department Store and Taiyo no Hiroba – a 3 floor terrace that has a perfect spot for sunlight during the day. It has benches and offers a good view of the Umeda skyline. Umeda Sky Building is another attraction in the area, just 900 metres away from the Osaka Station City, the spectacular high rise offers a magnificent view of the Osaka city. The building is 173m tall and is consists of two towers connected to each other by a Floating Garden Observatory. You can have a great view of the city for 700 yen (AUD$7.3; PHP300). We only spent a day in this area; we weren't too keen on shopping because we were saving that for Tokyo, our last stop. We didn't want to be carrying all the shopping bags while moving to places via Shinkansen (Japan's bullet train). For other things that you can do around this area (northern district of Osaka or "Kita"), you may check  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4020.html and http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4009.html

Our second day was spent appreciating the architectural splendour and riveting history of the Osaka Castle and wandering around the southern downtown of Osaka. The Castle can be seen from where we were staying. Hotel Keihan is 1.5km away from the Castle and took us about 18 minutes to get there by foot (if you're not staying in the area, the nearest train station to the Castle is the Tenmabashi station, 180m away from Hotel Keihan and 1.7km away from the Castle). Outside the Castle grounds on a Saturday morning, there were several health enthusiasts jogging and riding a bike along the path. The Castle is so massive the whole ground covers 15 acres. Sloped stone walls make up the foundation of the castle and it is overlooking a moat. It's a classic architectural piece with a park that covers 2 square km of green space and a garden (Nishinomaru Garden) home to about 600 cherry trees. It was unfortunate that we were a little too late for the Cherry Blossoms season though we still caught a glimpse of some cherry trees still in bloom.

Osaka Castle: Moat and Stone walls in the background

Some of the cherry trees left for us to see!

Osaka Castle

               

Some more cherry blossoms for us to experience!

On the grounds of the Central Tower there's a number of stalls that sell snacks and drinks. It's definitely exhausting to go around the massive park and having a 300-400 yen hotdog or chicken tenders after the tour isn't too bad. 

After spending half of the day at the Castle, we took the train from Tenmabashi to Shinsaibashi via the Keihan main line, we got off at Yodobashi station and changed platform to get to Shinsaibashi station. This journey cost us 330 yen. Most of the reviews we've read prior to this trip said it would be better to get a JR unlimited pass for a week for AUD$300 but trips like this are not within the JR line and they'd end up to be more expensive if you get the JR pass then pay extra for trips within the non JR line, later on I'll explain why we opted not to get the JR pass.

Shinsaibashi is Osaka's premier shopping centre. It's approximately 600m long, this shopping arcade has a hundred of retail stores with a mix of mid to high end fashion ranging from local to international brands like Samantha Thavasa (Japanese fashion company), Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Fendi, amongst others.

Some of the international brands at Shinsaibashi

Whilst we spent an enormous amount of time looking and going around the shops, we didn't buy anything sartorial. All of our purchases were for our palate's satiation like snacks from a cheap snack and lollies shop and Japan's best cheese tart PABLO. Two reasons why we weren't too keen to engage in a major shopping spree in Osaka's primary shopping area: The first reason I already mentioned earlier; Osaka was our first stop and we didn't want extra kilos on our shoulders travelling to Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo. Second is I was a bit disappointed with the prices. A friend, who went to Japan months before me, said shopping in Osaka was the best, way better than Hong Kong (which I found really cheap because of Forever 21 at Causeway Bay, she knew I liked the shopping in Hong Kong the best) and Manila (because of the weekend/night market and bazaars called "tiangge") but it wasn't as cheap as I expected it to be. Shirts and blouses from a non branded shop would still cost around AUD$30-50 and the very plain ones were still AUD$15-20. You'll also won't be able to haggle because of the language barrier and, moreover, most of them have fixed price already. 

Shinsaibashi Shoppers on a Spring Saturday Arvo

Meiji Almonds and Macadamia cost 88 yen in this shop while they cost 214 yen at Family Mart

There's also heaps of eateries and restaurants around Shinsaibashi and they were all good - well at least the ones that we went to. I wouldn't talk about the food in Japan and how great it was because I feel it deserves its own blog but all I can say is once you've tried the authentic Japanese cuisine it would be very hard to eat Japanese elsewhere again.

Our third day was spent in Universal Studio . The second most popular theme park in the country (next to Tokyo's DisneyLand/Sea of course) is located at Osaka Bay Area (a collection of city districts on a man-made waterfront islands) in Sakurajima Island and is 18 minutes away from the Osaka City Station by train (station is Universal City Station). We knew we would have needed one whole day if we wanted to experience all the rides but we were too exhausted from the previous days' activities hence we couldn't be bothered getting up early. We got to the theme park around 1130 am, there was no line at the ticketing as we expected; we knew lines would be at the rides already by that time. It was a pretty busy Sunday at Universal - it was a mistake to go on a weekend but it was the only full day we had. The park is massive, occupying an area of 39 hectares with several souvenir and food shops and a lot of room for photo op. Going around the park we saw several characters doing a meet and greet with the tourists - Shrek and Fiona, Snoopy and Friends, Sesame Street gang and Hello Kitty and Daniel - if you wanted a photo with them you'd have to wait for approximately one hour in line and again, we couldn't be bothered.

We enjoyed all the ride attractions like The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, 
Jurassic Park (with a 26m drop to escape the dinosaur!!), Back to the Future and the Jaws. But our favourite ride is the Space Fantasy - which we rode 5 times (the ride is in an enclosed area so you'd have no idea if it was a roller coaster with a loop or what). The lines were ridiculously long with an average wait time of 60 minutes all afternoon, we only started enjoying it after 5 or 6pm when wait time was down to 15-20 minutes. We weren't able to experience the main ride attraction - The Hollywood Dream: BACKDROP - as it was the busiest ride with 80-120 minute wait time. We got it compensated though by repeating Jurassic Park and Space Fantasy rides several times.  

Harry Potter coming to Universal Studio Osaka on 15th July

White Cherry Blossom at Universal

While we enjoyed the rides, we couldn't say the same for the the show attractions. There are several interesting shows like Backdraft, Shrek, Terminator and Water World but they don't cater to foreign tourists. I've seen the Water World in Universal Studio in Singapore and I really enjoyed it but watching it again in Japanese (Nihongo) made it quite uninteresting. It would have been better if they have at least some shows in English, but then again 80% of the theme park's visitors is Japanese so I guess it works out well for the majority.

At Hello Kitty Fashion Avenue

Hello Kitty Bun at Hello Kitty's Corner Cafe for 450 yen

The park closes at 9PM however they put everything at stop around 730 for the Magical Starlight Parade - it's a full hour of bright lights, dancing and characters like Cinderella smiling and waving at you - such a pompous show! The end of parade is a sign that the park is about to close and so we got our stuff off the locker, dropped by Hard Rock Cafe to get my dad a shirt (he collects them so whenever I go to a country that has HRC, I make sure I get him one), went to TGI Friday's to have a break from the Japanese cuisine (not that we're sick of it, I just love my Jack Daniel's steak so much!) and caught the next train back to Hotel Keihan.

Our fourth and final day was spent on the other parts of southern downtown. When we went there on our second day, we only got to explore the Shinsaibashi area. One full day would have been enough to see Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori, Amerikamura and Den Den Town but because we went to Osaka Castle first, we didn't have a full day for a complete southern downtown experience. Dotonbori is one of Osaka's popular place for shopping and entertainment but it's the most famous for its food. I reckon the best takoyaki in Japan is here in Dotonbori. Takoyaki, for those who don't know it, is a Japanese snack that's ball shaped and is made of a wheat flour based batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan. It's usually filled with a minced octopus, tempura scraps and onions. The place that I'm talking about has prawns and other flavours and it's just amazing! 

It's impressing how quick their hands are in using a chopsticks-like utensil to "seal" the Takoyaki ball

Takoyaki was first popularized in Osaka -that explains why the best Takoyaki is in Osaka!

We didn't spend much time at Amerikamura and Den Den Town. At the most we only spent an hour to have a look around. Amerikamura, as the name suggests ("Amerika"), is a shopping area, also at the Minami area where Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori are, that has retail outlets for Western fashion. The place also caters to teenage fashion just like Harijuku in Tokyo. We only noticed the area because of the big clown face statue with a red and white stripes and stars hat, similar to a US flag and the small replica of the Statue of Liberty. There's also a small crepe place that was very busy at that time. I wish we tried it but we were so full from all the good food places at Dotonburi.Den Den Town is known as the electronics district and you can either walk 2 kilometers from Shinsaibashi or catch the train and get off at Nipponbashi station. Since we all know that majority of the popular brands of electronics that we enjoy today are Japanese, you can expect that electronics here are cheaper compared to anywhere else (although if like us, Osaka is your first stop, you can probably wait until you get to Akihabara in Tokyo before you purchase your gadget).

courtesy of www.japan-guide.com

After exploring Namba and its shopping hub, we went back to our hotel in Tenmabashi to get our stuff then head back to Osaka Station City for the train to our next destination - KYOTO.

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FOR THINGS THAT (I THINK) A TOURIST MUST KNOW WHEN VISITING JAPAN: PLEASE CHECK MY BLOG AGAIN COS IT'S COMING SOON!

Osaka Expenses (per person)

¥6000 – Train Card(IC OCA) - 500 is the deposit so the load was only 5500, you can refund the 500 after your trip if you're also flying out of Osaka or just use the 500 at Family Mart and other convenience stores and even some stores at Haneda Airport (e.g. Hello Kitty Store). One way trip is about ¥120-240 | Tenmabashi to Osaka City is ¥120, Osaka City to Shinsaibashi is ¥240, Osaka City to Universal City is ¥180 and the Osaka to Kyoto is ¥560. We got a deal at Kansai Airport to have the IC OCA for 3000 (2500 load and 500 deposit) and an express train to Osaka City.

Hello Kitty ICOCA

 ¥700 - Umeda Sky Building - Floating Garden Observatory

 

 ¥600 - Osaka Castle entrance fee (we didn't pay this cos we didn't go inside, most of the reviews said it was so much better outside the Castle Park)

 ¥200 - Nishinomaru Garden at Osaka Castle Park (we also didn't go here cos we were a bit late for the Cherry Blossoms)

¥9790 - 4 day meal (lunch/dinner) if you go to an average Japanese place, a set meal (e.g Ramen and rice toppings, Tonkatsu with rice and miso soup) would cost between 700-800, and an appetizer or side like Gyoza is 200-400. Most of our days our meal cost this much but our day in Universal Studio cost us 1580 for a bacon cheeseburger meal and 2235 for a TGI Friday's meal. A very nice Ebi tempura meal with miso soup at Dotonbori cost 735 and the Takoyaki is 650.  

¥6980 - Universal Studio Osaka entrance (adult)

¥1500 - snacks; I was addicted to Meiji almonds and Macadamia and I was buying them for 214 at Family Mart (and later on 88 at the snack shop in Shinsaibashi). This also included some potato chips, Japanese lollies and bottled water - gotta stay hydrated while walking in the heat!

¥800 - PABLO CHEESE TART, it's worth it! divided 2 because both of us ate =) so only ¥400 

¥842 - Starbucks drinks | When we're so tired from all the walking, the nearest Starbucks would come to aid. It's where we rest our sore feet while enjoying the free wifi and our Vanilla frappe and Fresh Banana and Chocolate frappe 

TOTAL: ¥26,212 or PHP11305 or AUD275/ 304 for the crappy exchange rate that we got (could be lower for you if you omit the snack and Starbucks part and if you eat first before going to Universal Studio)  

Some guides to help you around Osaka:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Tourism-g298566-Osaka_Osaka_Prefecture_Kinki-Vacations.html 

http://www.usj.co.jp/e/

http://www.usj.co.jp/e/common/studiomap.pdf

Hotel Keihan (booked through Expedia)

Address: 1-2-10 TanimachiChuo-ku Osaka Osaka-fu 540-0012 Japan 13 38 10

180m away from the Tenmabashi Station