Tokyo in November

To celebrate my birthday, Geoff and I decided to take a short break all by ourselves (i.e. no kids!). I had originally wanted to go some where exotic, like Shangri-la in Yunan Province but its seems November is not the best time to go. So, I had to settle for the next best thing, Tokyo!

Tsukiji Fish Market

As we have been to Tokyo before, we had no real itinerary, except to visit the fish market, something we won't ever do with kids. So, one early morning, we got up at 4.30am (note AM) and got to the fish market in time for the tuna auction which is on every morning between 5am and 6.30am. With a not-very-detailed map, we managed to find it. It was interesting but the auction took a long time to start. The novelty of watching the buyers checked out the tuna by poking, rubbing and tasting the poor fishes quickly wore out.

Tsukiji Market

Tuna auction - they lined them up

Labeled them

Examined them

Examined some more

And again

Flash photography is not allowed - distracting to the fish buyers (as if having groups of tourists by the sideline is not distracting) - they have a guy walked up and down the line with a notice....what a job!

By around 6am, the place came alive with buyers

Finally, the auction begun!

The winners wheeled the tuna away

This is the amount of polyform they go through each day!!! I hope these are recyclable...

As soon as the auction finished, we took off in search of breakfast. As recommended by the guide book, we went to one of the little sushi restaurants inside the fish market. When we got there, the queue was soooo long! But, we'd do anything for good food, so we queued up with the locals and tourists. After almost an hour later, we got in. Sushi was fresh, the experience unique. But once is enough. Stomach filled, we trekked back to the hotel for a nap.

Asakusa

We stayed in Asakusa when we first visited Tokyo back in 1996. For nostalgia reasons, we visited Asakusa again. The subway exit led to the food section of one of the departmental store, naturally, we began our visit there.

We took this photo for Tasha who is mushroom fan

Can't resist not taking a photo of this HK$1,000 melon

We walked the streets in Asakusa which is very old Japan. We also visited the famous Sensoji Temple before having lunch at a famous tempura restaurant.

A local beef store

Geoff has a thing for kitchen knives..hmmm

The entrance to Sensoji Temple


Famous "cookie" store

Of course Geoff had to have some

These were the testimonies of this tempura restaurant

Starter......yummy

Our lunch.....not as good as we hoped

The rest of the times, we just wondered around Tokyo. We shopped at Odaiba.....

At Ginza....

Had very expensive tea at Laduree.....

Can you guess what this is? A sound device to drown out your peeing sound!

A circular lift thingy at Shiseido museum:

Although the Yen was at its all time high during our visit, I didn't feel that things in Japan is too expensive except for food. A bowl of noodle is on average 900. But one has got to eat. We tried to sample as much as we can but my favourite remained Japanese Bento boxes!