Saturday, June 9, 2012

Osaka Day 1 - Shitennoji Temple

I am sorry it took me ages to upload my Japan trip's photos to share as we all shot over 2,000 photos in total! Japan is the best country I have ever visited in my life as their history, environment, people and amazing culture is indeed very rich and truly unique. I will hopefully be visiting again soon as we only spent less than RM2,500 each for entire 8 days trip to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara!! Seeing is Believing!

Yes, that was LESS THAN RM2,500 instead of forking out over RM8,000 to join our specialized "Apple-Orange" Tour Agency! My expenses included return air-ticket, all the hotels, train rides, 3 daily meals and multiple baths at Hot-Springs! We all shopped like crazy women broke loose from Hell and that is additional expenses. Their country's tourism has dipped badly due to the earthquake & Sendai's disaster which drove most hotel operators to offer rock bottom rates at 70-80% discounts which was less than RM200 per night for comfortable 3-4 STAR hotels, not kidding!



Ahem! That's the handsome ME looking excited after touching down at Osaka's Kansai International Airport which is the only floating airport in the world that was built on a huge man-made island! I was truly impressed at the sight of their flood-lit runway in the sea from the aeroplane's window. Upon landing, we all took a high speed train from Kansai airport which raced its way to downtown Osaka and we quickly headed to the famous Ramen noodles stall in Namba, Osaka. We had to pay our orders into the vending machine before the young chefs would serve you. It was a cold Spring night and the hot soupy Ramen was really delicious with generous pieces of sliced pork! I stood by the pavement and ate hungrily like all the Japanese guys did.



That night we all slept at a 3 Star hotel in the happening Shinsaibashi area. The room was cozy and small which is a typical standard size in Japan. Next morning, we walked around the clean and spotless streets, breathing the very cool & refreshing Spring air. All the manhole covers are lovely with individual designs and names of every district. Thousands of folks rode bicycles everywhere along the specially paved cycling lanes where pedestrians walked on too. They have neat rows of parking racks for bicycles all over the country (see photo above). We walked a lot daily to save taxi fares after getting off the trains. I estimated that we walked between 10km to 20km by foot every day until I looked trimmed & burnt off 3kgs! That first day, we headed to the ancient Shitennoji Temple.



This spacious temple has very old statues and paintings inside where photography was strictly forbidden! It was founded by Prince Shotoku in year 593 and the Shintenno-ji is believed to be the oldest Buddhist temple in entire Japan. It is said that the Four Heavenly Kings enshrined in Shintennoji which eventually led Prince Shotoku to a victory against the Monobe who opposed the idea of adopting Buddhism.

 This is the serene looking deity or saint's statue which the Japanese visitors would bow deeply with respect for minutes. Alas, I didn't carry note pad like our seasoned traveling blogger William who never failed to jot down all details and names to share! I should cart him along my future trips!



Look at my honey, jumping like a bird taking flight. She had many crazy photos showing her in 'planking' or jumping poses everywhere, raising the Japanese eyebrows!



The surrounding compound was spaciously clean and neat with their famous patterned lines of pebble stones.



I learnt that the Japanese regarded deep orange as their auspicious colors whereas the Chinese would prefer bright red colors instead.


There were many stalls outside the perimeter of Shitennoji Temple where the folks were selling art wares, paintings and offered services like massages, face paintings as well as snack & beverages.







34 comments:

  1. wah... Japan leh.. wish i can go~

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  2. Ya...I was in Osaka once upon a time...a long long time ago. The sights look familiar but then again, it's more or less all the same throughout Japan - lots of temples and shrines.

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  3. RM2.5K per person??!! That's freaking cheap for a 8 days trip. A trip to Japan, on matta fair is around RM5.5K.

    Wei, next time got this cheapo "lubang" do share it out.

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  4. Cool trip, hearing that you slimmed and lost 3kg due to walking everyday in Japan.

    Usually ppl gain weight during traveling because they tend to over-eat all the delicious food there and they travel via public transports.

    Must walk next time to burn the extra calories we gulped earlier :)

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  5. Anay!!! the first thing i do is to scroll and see the photos.. and what Thambee realised is that, ANAY YOU LOST WEIGHT!!!

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  6. Do you pray at Shitennoji Temple? Japan is full of temples and each is very unique with its own "specialty" :)

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  7. must be all the running here and there for work in the muddy construction site that make Anay lost weight.. why Letchumi never cook nice food for Anay to replenish all the energy (and fats)??!!

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  8. You not only visited one temple and called your day off, right?

    Show me more photos!!!

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  9. wow, seriously??!! only RM2.500 for that entire 8-day trip all-inclusive??!! wow, that's freaking cheap lah.. i always thought at least RM4,500 for this.. Anay why never bring Thambee there??

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  10. errr, are you sure it's the only floating airport in the world?? many other airports are also built on man made island especially those from reclamation projects..

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  11. wow..Japan is really a beauty..too bad I'm not going this time..will go some other time.

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  12. wow, look at Anay looking so excited in the photo, hahaha!! woot, a bowl of nice piping hot ramen is just great for a chilly night huh?? i like that, pay at vending machine and get your things served, nice idea!!

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  13. Thambee has never been to Japan before, and definitely Japan is 9000 times cleaner than our motherland.. they have spotless streets, we have spotful streets hahaha!!

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  14. amazing temple!! let's do the maths, 2012 - 593 = 1409 years!! wow, unbelievable!! and see how good they are at preserving historical heritage.. unlike our motherland, haiz!!

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  15. hahaha, no need to bring along notepad lah, just snap the photos and that could even remind Anay better about places Anay went..

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  16. wow, Anay and Letchumi not chasing around bushes anymore, but jumping here and there?? that's so not bollywood, Anay has already forgotten the heritage culture~~

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  17. wow, so Anay is going to post one post for each day in Japan?? Thambee will be happy to drop by and see all the photos~~ go go Anay!!

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  18. Fabulous photos.. I enjoyed seeing your pictures from Japan. That poor country has had a rough time.. Glad the tourists are beginning to go back there.

    Loved seeing your picture and also your honey's.... Hope you show many more to us.
    Betsy

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  19. Yo bro.. It is really cheap...
    I m planning to go jpn this year.. Can share ur super cheap plan.?

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  20. Jpn is really amazing country...
    Just talk abt food.. It is simply delicious..
    Coz I believe that if they need to survive in the business it must be Plc concept or expensive with the best quality....

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  21. I remember once I bought some apples back..and it cost abt jpy1k.... But it is all worth it...
    Super delicious.....

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  22. So cheap! I like the photo of the rows of little monks

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  23. Osaka for me = food.

    Like Penang to Malaysia.

    Gah! Need to visit Osaka again.

    RM2,500 for 8 days visit. Nice amount. How you plan your holida ah? xD

    Me & my family : 14 days vacation = RM12,000. Also not bad lah right? Some more can travel whole Japan if we want to. ^^

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  24. Looking forward to see more photos and make myself miss Japan more! LOL

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  25. U only want kopi o kau? Or is it u meant Guinness stout...kaka..
    No prob I can belanja u .. Then can throw in a roti kosong for u also.....
    Post it in ur blog Le... I m sure all ppl will benefit...
    Good things must share....

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  26. When mention the pork, my tummy had some reaction!! LOL! XD

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  27. that you? :p

    your honey so cute! haha. excited semacam jak. :-)

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  28. guess what? with 2.6k, i managed to go to 10 cities and more than 25 hotspots in japan! crazy huh? good that u travel on your own, not taking any agency. frankly speaking, it ain't that difficult to walk around the cities right?

    btw, i love photo-jumping :D ur honey is cute leh!

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  29. Do you mind sharing your itinerary, accommodation and places to eat during your 8 days trip?
    Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. Please give me your details and email. Thanks!!

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  30. glad you had a wonderful time in Japan. the manhole cover looks very wonderfully designed unlike ours, so dull and boring.

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  31. u visit korea before? probably if I wanna go vacation with awesome budget, I will choose korea! :D

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  32. hi there,
    do you mind sharing your itinerary with me?
    would like to visit japan again but thinking about the budget, need to think twice..
    you visited 8 days with only 2.5k... that's really good :)
    thanks..

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  33. Hi Jessie. Please email me and I will reply you.... twilightzone518@gmail.com

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