Saturday, January 02, 2016

Osaka, here we come! - Welcome to Japan! Let's Shop in Rinku!

Hello! Happy New Year 2016, everyone! So glad that we started off this year with a not-so-planned trip to Japan and here we are, finally in Osaka! Ohaiyo-gozaimase! Haitt!

Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, our flight safely made it to Kansai International Airport at 8am (7am Malaysia time). So happy!

Breathtaking sight of dawn breaking from 10,000 above the sea

... Except for Khayla! She was really mad when we woke her up and told her we'd arrived in Japan, but there's no snow everywhere! She had been told there would be snow, been bribed with snow and bombarded with promises of building a snowman that the moment she saw the clear blue sky and concrete tarmac from the plane's window, she freaked out! 'Tak de snow pun??' Sorry sayang, not this year. Blame it on the El-Nino and global warming, not on mom & dad ya!

The first thing we had to do was to board a shuttle train to go to the main terminal, then queue up for immigration check and stamp. Since Japan is a very efficient country, they had airlines distribute the immigration and customs declaration forms during flight so it would be faster and less congested at the queueing line. So efficient they are that they even put officers to check the forms while people are queuing up to make sure only correctly filled forms reach the immigration counter.

When it was our turn, the officer told us that we had to provide detailed address of my sister's place in Fukui and to write the girls' names in the signature columns. Even the employment column should be filled up with 'student' or 'child', not leave dash '-' or 'n/a'. So we had to leave the line to re-do our form. It's a good thing we managed to get airport wifi connection and call my sister to request for her address!

Hey, at least we know their immigration officers are doing their job!

At customs check, we were not required to open our luggage so that's a huge relief. We went out to find my sister already waiting for us with her friend, Fifi. The first place to go is no other than to fill up our tummy after such a long journey!

There is a halal outlet in Kansai International Airport called 'Sanuki' at level 1. They even had a halal sticker posted on their glass window. Their food is not bad too.

Breakfast at Sanuki - halal Udon food

Food sample - don't they look real? Maybe sebab dieorang tak tau English sangat susah nak explain kat tourist apabenda itu ini so letak gambar makanan siap2 senang habis cerita...

Steps detailing how to place order for udon noodles. Mesti ramai orang Malaysia singgah makan kat sini sampai ada instruction dalam bahasa Melayu! 

Tada!~ healthy and filling breakfast at ¥2000 for two. Yang kat cucuk tu ialah perut lembu direbus dalam sup. Sedap sangat kat tekak aku.

We also bought onagiri for Khadeeja who was still sleeping - onagiri is just like fried rice and chicken wrapped in cling wrap in the shape of a triangle. Easy to carry anywhere, all we had to do is to unwrap it, and eat on the go. 

After breakfast, we went to level 2 to purchase Kansai Thru Pass tickets. This ticket is only sold to foreign tourists, so we had to show our passports to the sales officer before he issued us the tickets and the guide book. The ticket costed  ¥5200 for an adult, while kids below 6 years old ride for free. If you buy the tickets in advanced in Malaysia (JTB counter in KLCC Isetan), the price will be a bit pricey - ¥5500.

Tickets and breakfast settled, time to head to our first destination - Rinku Premium Outlets! Haitt!

Day #1: Rinku Premium Outlets (Rinku)

Since we haven't bought outerwear for Suami Terchenta and Khadeeja, my sister suggested we look for those jackets at Rinku. We reached there to find huge crowds due to New Year hols, which means sales! sales! everywhere!

Seemed like at almost all outlets had 'Happy Box' sale. For Muslims, we are not allowed to buy the happy box due to its nature of transaction, which contains uncertain element similar like gambling. We have to know what we are buying, no? Just for info, Happy Box normally contains items that are more expensive that what we paid for. Imagine paying RM50 and finding an iPad in the box? (Ok, that's a bit exaggerating. Most probably getting items that are worth RM100 for RM50).

Rinku Premium Outlets are really shopping haven for shopaholics!

Khadeeja and Suami Terchenta posing in front of a Ferris Wheel

After going to various outlets and checking out numerous winter wear, we finally decided to get their jackets at Gaps outlets. They are seriously cheap! I got Khayla's jacket in Sogo for RM159 but Khadeeja's jacket only costed me ¥1490 (RM53). Dayyummm! I should have waited until I reached here instead of going on shopping spree in KL!

Khadeeja wearing her spanking brand new Gap jacket and H&M boots. Dah macam anak Jepun aku tengok!

Muslim shopaholics would be glad to know that Rinku also has prayer room in its compound! All you need to do is to inform the staff at the information / service counter to use the prayer room. They will issue a card and a security staff will escort you to the prayer room.

The prayer room is complete with ablution area but the tap water is cold as ice! Brrrr!

After spending the whole day here, it was time to leave for Fukui. The road trip took more or less 5 hours, but we hardly noticed because we were busy catching up on our sleep. We only stopped for fuel (and I cried inward when I swiped my credit card to buy fuel) and toilet break. The impressive thing is, we didn't have to alight from the car to re-fuel since everything from swiping the credit card to re-fueling were done by the petrol station attendants. Siap tunduk2 cakap terima kasih padahal dia yang buat semua!

We finally reached Fukui at 9pm. It was like reaching a ghost town, not a soul can be seen, nor did we pass that many cars on the road. Luckily the sushi restaurant we wanted to go to, Hamazushi, was open. Our dinner costed us ¥1080 (approx. RM40) for the four of us.

Taking order is computerized and the monitor will alert customers once the food is ready to be picked up at the conveyor belt

Although it wasn't snowing, the temperature was hovering just over freezing point. Khayla and Khadeeja were super excited when they could see their breath that they forgot it was freezing outside!

After dinner, it was time to head back to my sister's place. The girls stayed in the same block but due to its very confined space, are renting separately. Monthly rental is approximately RM1000! T_T Japan is definitely not a cheap place.

Next entry, will blog about our trip to Kanazawa. Haitt!