day 3 osaka- universal studios and some food updates

it was a freaking cold day today!!!! it was unbelievably cold and there was very slight drizzle too sob sob sob! i think the mercury did not go higher than 10 degree celcius and tonight after the sun had set, it was around 6 to 7 degree. brrr......plus, there was no sound at all. all clouds. miserable miserable!

and the worst thing is- i have a cold. i caught the cold last night when i sat uncovered, without my blanket checking mails and the whole night, i was busy waking up blowing my runny nose and not catching a wink at all. when i woke up in the morning, i realised the pieces of tissue with my mucus were pinkish in colour. ewww....blood!

so i tried my best to stay composed and not spoil everyone's day. i kept my mouth shut, not say anything when i was not spoken to because i couldn't inhale too much of the cold air. i also zipped up my down jacket all the way till my neck and kept myself covered against the wind. phew....i survived.

so what was the itinerary for the day? universal studios in a very open and windy area.

the day started at around 9.30a.m.

the special train to universal city.

osaka's hard rock cafe is here.

before the ticket counters, you will see this arch.

near the entrance, the unmistakeable globe.

i guess this is sort of like the main street akin to the one in disneyland. they were many ppl too but i guess it was not the peak since all the lines for the ride were not filled up.

i only went for a few rides due to the cold and impatience to wait in one or two super long queues.
the rides i went on were hollywood dream the ride and jurassic park. how pathetic. we were in the queue for backdrop, but quit 1/3 because the queue did not seem to be moving at all.

jurassic park ride got me wet because it was similar to water rapid ride. i was right smack in the front row and in the last fall, my scarf was also blown away by the rush of wind and my hair was wet. that did not help to keep me warm right? my hands were icy cold after that.

the queue for amazing spiderman ride was more than 1 hour, so no way.

had pizza for lunch.....what do you expect at this kind of place??

oh, we also met hello kitty!!! wakakakaka......crazy women.

this place was more like the kids section but i had so much fun here taking photo with hello kitty!!! we had to buy the photo but i guess you couldn't escape from spending a few thousands extra yen to have a photo taken with your favourite cartoon character from japan.

sakura blooming in the park.

hello kitty ribbon collection attraction. we got hello kitty stickers here, met with kitty in a special room, gosh and her voice was super kawaiii des kah!!! we also couldn't help ourselves and acted cute too. you would squirm if you saw how i was inside.

one of the pictures on the wall of the attraction.

a showcase of kitty dresses and accessories.

face painting anyone???

the park that got me wet and freezing!

come here you beast!

spring is here and easter is around the corner.

mr woody woodpecker posing for the camera.

oh, i forgot, we also went to watch the muppets in 4D. hahaha...don't bother if you don't understand japanese, you will be wasting your time and it is not even that interesting.

we ended our day in universal studios around 4pm and headed back to dotonbori area.  i wanted to get my pair of evisu jeans.

but i guess it was fated, i could keep my yen. although there was a sale of 50% on women jeans, the sizes were all limited and there were none for me at all. dang!! the salesgirl was not that helpful as well. what is it with all these japanese sales ppl at stores that i entered. first at comme des garcons, and now evisu.
i know there is another evisu store in umeda area, but i don't have the time to check it out anymore. hmmh....their service put me off dy.

and we went hunting for the famour ichiran ramen in that area after that. it was a very very cold hunt, practically freezing.

finally found it under the ferris wheel building along the canal. see the big red signboard? that is the one and there was a queue outside. you have to queue to eat at most places here if the place is popular due to the small size of the establishment.

after about 15 minutes, we were admitted and had to sit separately because there are only 20 cubicles in the shop. you sit in a row like this:

you have already ticked the things you wanted for your ramen before you enter the shop and paid for it on the machine, once you enter, you just gave them the receipt and your order and your meal is very fast on its way.
my first time taking sake....dunno that it is murky white. well, it is ichiran's special sake. strong smell of fermented rice.
what makes the ramen so special is its tonkatsu broth, pork broth. it was rich and really slurpingly appetising. it was great to warm up the cold body. i ordered the one with 2 pieces of pork and thin onions. it cost me 790 yen. that bottle of sake was 680 yen.

then it was trudging back all the way to the hotel. gonna take a paracetamol before i sleep. i don't think i have a fever, but it is a precaution. i also downed the strawberries i bought the day before. well, my source of vitamin since i did not bring vitamin c pills.

this is the only thing i bought today for my brother-in-law, as requested. no white although i would have loved to ge the white one. hahahha....too late now.

ok, this post is not over yet.....i want to backdate it a bit to my meals yesterday due to the rush posting up the second post in osaka.

i had had the best sushi so far......well, i did not have the raw stuff, but i had the one with eel.
this was at takashimaya's food maison. most well-known department stores have their own dining floors. this takashimaya is at namba area.

 the udon and the soup that came with it was great.

that was our lunch yesterday before we went to the nipponbashi anime festa.

after the festa i went to search for my comme des garcons stuff and ended up at minami-senba area. saw this dessert shop as soon as we got out of the subway station.

 we decided to buy a few pieces and get the salesperson there to help us cut the pieces into four.
surprisingly, she put them on  nice serving plates and even served us sakura tea!!! awwww......that is japan hospitality for you.

 the tea is sourish with a few flowers in it.

at night, it was tokoyaki at dotonbori. woohoo....finally i had good tokoyakis!!!!

 this is the shop behind the big glico running man sign.

 a beer to go with our orders.

 super big octopus in this special tokoyaki. perfect.
i am happy. one food cut from the must try list.

as dinner was light, we had supper.....of western food.

 i shared this cream sauce with scallop rice.

 hamburger with omelette rice.

ok, i am done with today's post.
just checked the weather in kyoto, it is going to be even colder than today ranging from 12 to 4 degree celcius. waaaaa!!!!! why??!!!!

gonna sleep now......paracetamol first then set the alarm to ring at 530a.m. ;(

 wish me luck.