A Photo Canvas

With the Boy having a long-time dream to travel to Japan, imagine our excitement when we finally got ourselves to the airport. We thought that since it was his first time there, we might just join a tour group to get to know the place better before heading off on our own in future.

As with most check-ins, we had a lot of time to kill on our hands, especially when we already had dinner before making our way to the airport. Hence, we decided to plonk ourselves at Starbucks while waiting, as well as fill up any forms required for Japan customs.


Our happy and excited faces when we finally boarded the plane. (Do note how my face turned from happy to fatigue as the days go by…)


Japan Airlines was the company that we were flying with. Truthfully speaking, I do not expect much with regards to the food onboard from other airlines apart from SIA, but I have to say that our breakfast on board was really nice! Crab meat porridge with cold salad of prawn, fruits and green tea. Yummy!!


After a long flight, we finally landed at Kansai International Airport in Osaka. But because of our night flight, we ended up reaching Osaka at 6 plus in the morning!



Thankfully our local tour guide, Ogawa, have already arrived, as we slowly made our way to the bus after twittering around the airport for a short while.


Our first stop was Nara Deer Park, where deers are allowed to roam freely within its enclosure. While there were really many deers, I’m not sure why my picture did not feature one!


Nestled in the park is the sightseeing attraction, Todaiji Temple of Daibutsu.



With some time on hand, we decided to explore more of the place. That's when we chanced upon this scene...


Such lovely red and yellow leaves! Our tour guide actually mentioned to us that Autumn was late this season. But while our Earth is going through turmoil, I guess it was nice though to still be able to catch view of the Autumn leaves...

Anyway, while we were there, there were actually lots of Japanese students, and they came by the mass! Our tour guide said that it was because their school trips around Japan was pushed back from the Summer season to Winter due to the H1N1 outbreak previously. Thankfully, we managed to get there and leave before they really thronged in by the hundreds!

Moving on from Nara, our next stop was back to Osaka, where we had our lunch in the vicinity of Osaka Castle.


There, we had our one and only group tour photo, where I was mistaken to be the wife of the Boy... Hmm...


Our first local meal from the tour. I was telling the Boy not to be too excited with our meals as I have had experience before with Japan tours. But the food wasn’t that bad, as we had a simple fair of soba and hot pot.

And then, it was back to photo taking...



I am actually very pleased with this trip, because this time round, I was able to capture more scenic photos as compared to my previous Japan trip with my family. The skies were nicer, and we had slightly more time to take pictures too.


Surrounded by the yellow Autumn leaves... Oh I so love Japan...


And who knew that we would be so lucky to witness a wedding photography session going on as well during our trip. Check out their cool costumes! (I can so imagine how pretty their pictures would turn out, with the red against the yellow leaves).


More scenes of the lovely Japan in Autumn/Winter...

After Osaka Castle, we made our way to Shinsaibashi, the shopping paradise. But… Our time there was quite short! Plus, shopping during the Winter season isn't the best time for me, as most shops were selling winter wear, which isn’t what I can don often back in Singapore. And when I did find something I like, it was too small for me!! *Cries* =(

As for the boy, given that Shinsaibashi is right next to Dotombori, famous for its neon lights, we were there a tad too early to see any lights… This I would say is quite a bummer for not only him, but also me, for I would have loved to see what he could conjure up with his DSLR. Sigh… What a pity…

When it was time to move on to our next stop, the skies began to darken (dang!), as we made our way to Kobe, where the reknown Kobe beef is supposedly from (all because their beef drinks beer!).



Truthfully, there isn’t much things there except for food. And because dinner was still waiting for us, we did not eat much except for some snacks, as I was already starving by then.


The highlight of the place however was this shop! It’s a desert stall which sells extremely nice Almond Jelly. And a person like me, who does not fancy almond essence that much, actually liked it too!


Unlike the usual almond puddings that we usually eat, this one is much denser, and it has more of a milky taste. I like it! Apart from the nice desert, this shop also sells cheongsams! Now, a cheongsam fan like me would definitely love it, but as luck would have it, we did not have enough time to make our way up to the second floor for a peek.

Moving on, we headed off to Kobe Harbourland.


Harbourland is actually a shopping area, and its entrance actually reminds me a bit of Rhodes back in Sydney.


There, we got to see the majestic Kobe Tower. Mount Rokko is suppose to be somewhere at the back, but I guess the sky was too dark to spot it =S But the moon is surely huge…


Although Harbourland is a shopping venue, I guess the both of us were more interested in taking photos than purchasing items. (Now I would think that is an amazing feat for me because I’m such a shopping queen!)


With not much time left (again), we quickly made our way to a Cheesecake Shop as recommended by our tour guide, Ogawa.


When we got there, practically most of our tour group peers were there. It seems like Ogawa is really good at discovering good food, that all of us would definitely walk in to any shop/restaurant to try out what she has recommended. But what's really great about this cheesecake that it is not like our usual sweet desert! It’s actually savoury, and tastes of real cheese!! Extremely nice that it is definitely worth your money!


I think our happy faces are evidence of a great food find =)

And what better way to end our first day than great photos, nice weather and delicious food, as we made our way back to our hotel (finally), for our long-awaited dinner.


With that, I end this entry of us with the very lovely Christmas Tree at Harbourland. Somehow, I like this picture a lot =)