Golden Week #2 : Osaka Part 1

After we were done with Kyoto, we took a train to Osaka in the morning.  We had lunch at the station and then headed off to our hotel, Hotel Raizan South, and then went to Shinsaibashi and Dohtonburi. Both of these places are famous for being the place to shop, eat and entertain. At Shinsaibashi, we saw so many cool and quirky store fronts unlike any I've seen in Tokyo. There were so many people too. It was just like a sea of heads, stylish heads, I might add.

Our lunch at the 駅, Omrice with Crab Croquet.

In front of the Glico building, no idea why this spot is so famous

Shinsaibashi, it's about 3km long, I think

My dinner, Unagi(eel) bento and Hot Soba 

A famous crab place

Osaka is famous for its Takoyaki(squid fried batter) and Okonomiyaki(mixed pancake)

Takoyaki stall

Ramen restaurant, there was a really long line in front of it so I assume the food there is delicious

Cool store front #1

Cool store front #2

Rows and rows of bicycles, the main from of transportation in these areas

       A truly traumatic thing happened to me while shopping at Shinsaibashi, which is I lost my wallet. I was about to pay for an awesome leather jacket and I reached into my handbag to get my wallet when my hand met with air. Goddamn nothing! 

       Obviously, I started freaking out. I told the sales clerk that I couldn't quite locate my wallet and that I'll be back later. I rushed to Angela and asked her if I might have dropped my wallet into one of the shopping bags she was holding. No such luck. 

      We then started retracing our steps and walked back into all the stores that I'd shopped at before. My tears started pouring out drop by drop. Here I am, a foreigner, on a distant land and I had absolutely no identification on me. I could be thrown in jail, for crying out loud!

      I asked Angela to find the nearest Koban, which is a police booth, so that I could report my missing wallet and we walked in the direction that Google maps told us to. Just before we were about to make a turn towards the Koban, I noticed a shoe store that I'd entered and had bought a pair of gladiator flats and decided to ask the store clerk about my wallet.

"I've lost my wallet. Did you find one in the store about an hour ago?" I said(all this happened is Japanese).
"What does your wallet look like?"
"It's a pink Coach wallet, it's kind of rectangular-shaped."
"Then yes, we do have your wallet. Here you go."

I felt like kissing her and giving her the biggest bear hug on this side of the equator. I've found it! *happy dance

Because I was feeling kind of tired due to the crying and wallet-searching, we went to YogurtLand and had ourselves a nice big cup delicious dessert.

Having a bite at YogurtLand, notice the puffy eyes?

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