Springing into Singapore and Japan.

[GarrettM]

By the time we finished eating our room was open. Nothing spectacular, and a little on the small side. But this is Golden Week so you get what you pay for. Five nights here, and the first two nights are priced at more than $300, with the following nights about half that. Didn't miss us.
Meh.



Small and busy bathroom.


I like the view though. Going to get up close with that dome soon enough.

 

[GarrettM]

We more or less relaxed for a bit, before heading out for a longish walk. It ended up being a looong walk, because again we had a communication failure. I don't know how we keep doing this. But we do.
At least we get to see more of the city. And so far we're very much liking what we see.
Eventually our feet lead us to Dotonbori. Wow. What a sight.
I'm just going to post lots of pics from here.

 

[GarrettM]

Such a vibrant place.

Takoyaki! We'd be eating a lot of this.


Expert squid ball manipulation.


Enjoying the atmosphere.


The self proclaimed second best melonpan icecream in the world!

 

[GarrettM]

Our dinner consisted of takoyaki, fish cakes, and chicken skewers.
All delicious.


Still hungry so I got a value pack of potato spiral (very salty), wings, sausage, and prawns.

 

[GarrettM]

The wife was very intrigued by the ice cream van, and went off to get some pics.

 

[GarrettM]

And of course having come so far, why not indulge?



Certainly it was tasty. Is it the second best melonpan in the world? I'm afraid I can't say.

 

[BacchusMarsh]

Expert squid ball manipulation.
View attachment 98103

*Octopus* ball manipulation Makes me hungry.

 

[GarrettM]

Appetites sated, time for more explorations. Lonely Planet advises you to look out for certain restaurants with large attractions.
There's a few.

The big blowfish.


A sushi place.


More fugu.


Octo attack!


Big goyza.

 

[GarrettM]

Can't remember what this place was called, but it was popular. Most of them were.

 

[GarrettM]

And it's a neon fortress.



Lord Stow's allegedly famous bakery. Not sure how legitimate that claim is, but they do a fabulous chocolate tart among other treats.

 

[GarrettM]

Friday May 5.
I've got a ticket to a baseball match tonight at Kyocera Dome, but in the meantime it's a beautiful day, and we're keen to explore a couple things.

First up is the Ohatsu Tenjin Shrine, which these days commemorates the doomed love of sex worker Ohatsu and soy sauce shop owner Tokubei. Honestly!
It so happens the shrine is used a a bit of a buy and sell market on the first Friday of each month, so there was a little extra to see today.

 

[GarrettM]

That didn't take too long, and we then had a quick breakfast at Tully's Coffee. It's almost as common in Japan as Starbucks. But I reckon it has better wifi, and certainly better hot mochas.

Next up was the Umeda Sky Building. Again, a lot of photos coming your way.

 

[GarrettM]

 

[drron]

Can't remember what this place was called, but it was popular. Most of them were.
View attachment 98120

That is one very good crab restaurant.crab done in virtually every style.We had crab sashimi ,crab suikiyaki and one other dish I have forgotten.We loved it but went at lunch and it wasn't nearly as busy.

 

[BacchusMarsh]

Can't remember what this place was called, but it was popular. Most of them were.
View attachment 98120

That's Kani Doraku.

https://appetiteforjapan.com/2015/08/22/kani-doraku/

 

[GarrettM]

That is one very good crab restaurant.crab done in virtually every style.We had crab sashimi ,crab suikiyaki and one other dish I have forgotten.We loved it but went at lunch and it wasn't nearly as busy.

If only we'd known. As mentioned previously getting into these places with child was difficult anyway.

 

[GarrettM]

Don't seem to have any photos of it, but there was some sort of emergency services display, fundraising event going on outside the building. It included the opportunity for people to jump into a trailer rigged to simulate a powerful earthquake. There was no shortage of takers, and it looked quite realistic. They had to sit in a cafe type table booth and then get a serious shaking for about 15 seconds. Not sure that's so much fun.

Back to the building!
You go up 35 floors in the lift, and then the final five floors are through an outdoor escalator tube. So the views are good, if somewhat knee trembling. MrsGM was not expecting this, and struggled.
The young'un was unfazed.

 

[GarrettM]

At this point there's a bit of a rotunda, with a restaurant or two on one side, a souvenir shop and a couple other things. We didn't realise but this was not the real viewing area.
That is upstairs where there's a cafe and almost 360 degree views of the city. After that there's an open air walk which offers the same, but with open skies.

I ummed and ahhed about going up, and eventually realised I might not get another chance, so parted with my 1000Y and off we go.
The views are ok.

 

[GarrettM]

 

[GarrettM]

After getting my fill of the views I went back down and joined the wife for a little bit of a shopping splurge.

But we didn't buy these things.


And then back down the escalator, unfortunately for the wife there was no other way.