Budget accomodations in Osaka, Japan: Dobutsuen-mae

During a recent trip around Osaka over Christmas 2009, I had a couple of days to myself and decided to find afforable lodgings (so that I can have more money for shopping). I found Hotel Toyo from the web and booked myself into a single tatami mat room for four days. I think it costs me 1800 yen (US$20) a day. It looked like a great bargain but I kept my reservations (no puns intended) till I experienced the room first hand. And I was not disappointed in the least.

The room was clean and spacious for a single person, and I had no trouble sleeping on the mattress on the tatami matted floor. It was not the newest room in the world, but it did not stink of cigarette smoke. The toilets smelled a little of urine (but the seat was heated), and the shared shower room on the ground floor can be a freezing obstacle during winter. But I have no complaints for the room itself, to find something at this price range in the notoriously expensive Japanese cities is a real bargain. Free WiFi seems to be a standard. It was in the neighbourhood of Dobutsuen-mae 動物園前駅.

The major benefit of Dobutsuen-mae is its convenient subway connections. It is on the Midosuji line, which any traveler of Osaka will tell you is the most important subway line in the city. It runs north-south and cuts through Umeda in the north: the major rail connection point to the rest of Japan, as well as having many shopping malls, Namba in the south: the rail link to the Kansai Airport among southerly destinations. Namba is also the hub of large shopping malls and many unique shopping streets. And it runs between Umeda and Namba through Shinsaibashi, THE shopping street of Osaka, and its sidestreets filled with food and unique shopping experiences. Midosuji line also connects to the Chuo line which leads to the Osaka Palace on the east and the aquarium in the west.

Dobutsuen-mae is an interesting neighbourhood. It is the border of commerical Osaka and residential Osaka. A real blast from the past with its 70s style building materials and styles. Across the street from the famed Shinsekai neighbourhood of Osaka, built in the 1912 to model cities in the West such as New York and Paris. It was largely undeveloped post-World War II and gained a bit of a nasty reputation. However, it remains a tourist attraction. Dobutsuen-mae literally means Gate of the Zoo. The Tennoji Zoo lies just to the east of Shinsekai and Spa World, and traditionally, the subway station was located to serve the zoo.

We read a lot about the problems of an aging population in Japan, but if you only hang out in the bustling town area of Osaka, the skyscrapers in Umeda, the high end malls of Namba and the hectic Shinsaibashi, you would think “what aging population? everyone here is young and beautiful.” Dobutsuen-mae reveals the other side of Japan, perhaps even the real unglossed side of Japan. While sitting at a little cafe having 350 yen (US$3.90) breakfast (tea, buttered toast and a hard boiled egg) I saw nothing but the elderly in and around the neighbourhood, it was a stark contrast with what you see down town. I thoroughly appreciated having a glimpse of this unseen side of Japanese life, a normal life like the rest of us leads.

Around the single block by the Dobutsuen-mae subway station there is quite a number of budget hotels. They offer single rooms from as little as 1800 yen (US$20) to 2300 yen (US$26). All of which are affordable. I have only stayed at Hotel Toyo and can only vouch for its quality, but I suspect that the rest are also of similar standards. Check out and read online reviews of the hotels below. Around the block there is a 24hr convenience store and a few eateries (like my 350 yen breakfast place). There is a food street across the road and more eats if you enter Shinsekai.

Below are photos of some of the entrances and price lists, and links to the various hotels in that area. Check out the website prices and read any online reviews you can get your hands on. Have fun in Osaka.

Hotel Toyo

Hotel Sunplaza II

Hotel Chuo

Hotel Raizan

Hotel Taiyo

Hotel Shinbashi (Tripadvisor)

Scuba diving in Ambon, Maluku Islands, Indonesia

I went on this dive trip to Ambon from 19 to 26 September 2009 with Maluku Divers. Their Laha Resorts was not completed and we were put up in a hotel in town.

Ambon is an island at the heart of the Maluku Islands archipelago in eastern Indonesia. The archipelago may be more familiar in other names used over the centuries. The Moluccas, Moluccan Islands, or The Spice Islands during the colonial times. These islands, together with India, was the source of the spice trade that attracted Europeans to Asia in the first place, and Ambon rests in its centre.

Majority of diving in Ambon is in the bay by Ambon City. The city pretty much hugs the edges of the bay and forms a crescent of urban life around the inner side of the bay. The two banks of the bay offer slightly different types of diving. Outside of the bay, there are beautiful wall diving as well. Waters went down to 24 celcius while we were there, brrr.

Getting to Ambon from Singapore involves a flight to Jakarta, and domestic to Ambon via a stop over at Surabaya. It was a really long and tiring overnight flight for us, with a hectic transfer in Jakarta near midnight. Travel concerns about Ambon is possible Malaria infection and its history of fatal inter-religious conflict in the community.

Ambon City bay is good for critter watching. I would not personally grade the muck diving here as better than Lembeh Straits in Manado, but it is rewarding for critter lovers and photographers. The dive sites Laha II, and Rhino City are great to see rhinopias, flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin shrimps, frogfish, and octopus. There is a price to pay, however, most of these critters enjoy staying under the fishing boats. So you would be diving in rubbish strewn waters. You can see some of Goh Siang’s photos.

On the opposite bank is a dive site called Pantai Nama, a wall dive similar to many you can see in the region, but rare as it is in a bay. Barramundi Cod can be found at this sight among all the usual reef dwellers in Indonesian waters. We even caught sight of Devil Rays and even a single Hammerhead shark at 23m, which totally made the trip for two of my dive buddies who spotted it.

Weather permitting, try to go out of the bay to the sites Pintu Kota and Hukurilla. They offer beautiful swimthroughs teaming with fish life, the underwater-scape is beautiful out there. A trip out to Pulau Tiga will also yield sights typical of Indonesian reef diving, you can find Napoleon Wrasse out in the island. Asilulu Point is a dive site that has gigantic barrel sponges the size of small cars. Definitely something wonderful to see after spending days diving with the rubbish.

Ambon City bay is full of rubbish. It was a stark reminder that the developed world has sold its first world products (with first world packaging) to the third world, without providing first world rubbish disposal. So all that fancy wrappers and plastic bags goes into the sea, the traditional rubbish bin, which was fine when for generations upon generations, only organic wastes were thrown in them. Environmentalists groups should look at providing rubbish collection and disposal services to the third world, and make importers of first world packaged products pay for it.

One awesome thing about Ambon City is that the 24 hours no fly time can be amply taken up. Take a 30km drive to the village of Waai where you can play with 1.5 to 2 metre long freshwater eels that are sacred and native to the cold spring water river. Local fruits are also available fresh from smallholder stalls by the roadside.

I rather enjoyed my time in Ambon but I felt that the dive destination lacks a certain focal point to get my adrenalin pumping (this may explain why it took me 5 months to get off my arse and write this). However, I think photographers of critters would truly appreciate the ease of finding species almost impossible to see elsewhere. Relaxing easy diving if a little on the cold side.