Wrap up

It was a great trip -- the trip of a lifetime. We learned a LOT and are glad to experience Asia!

Observations about Tokyo

Public transit stations have some of the best and cheapest food!

Tokyo is so clean! So much so that it is sometimes difficult to find a trashcan.
Google Translate doesn't do a good job with Japanese.
Public toilets in Tokyo are super-clean too.
Everywhere we went people were so nice and helpful.

Observations about Hong Kong

Hong Kong is very accommodating to visitors. People were very helpful.
Not all toilets are Western, some are just a hole in the ground. It makes for easier cleaning, I suppose.
Not all toilets have paper. Bring your own.
Some retail businesses do not open until noon or later. Some places in Mong Kok did not open til 4pm!
Asian people are beautiful.
Men dominate business transactions. I was completely ignored in some situations.
The Temple night market is the BEST!
Buildings are industry-specific. There will be dozens of electronics vendors all in one building. The next building will be fashion. The next will be shoes - and so on.
Parking etiquette is different. We saw a line of cars waiting for a spot in front of a public lot. One car would pull into the lot and wait until a spot became available. All the other cars would wait in the street until it was their turn to pull into the lot.
There are no napkins on the tables. Bring your own.

Things I ate from a cart in Bangkok

Mango
Pineapple
Orange juice
Lime juice
Pomegranate juice
Cuttlefish
Hot dog
Corn
Pad thai with shrimp
Green curry with chicken

Popsicle

Last night

Ah, our last night in Tokyo. We bid farewell to our good friend Gundam, and had some pizza in his shopping mall. It was a beautiful night, and several hotels had their trees lit up. We will miss Tokyo.

Aquarium

We went to the Sumida Aquarium at Tokyo Skytree. Cool place! We saw some very friendly penguins and I was about 4 inches away from a seal. 

Kasai Rinkai park

We visited the park, saw Tokyo Bay and hung out on the beach. It was a beautiful day for it. No cherry blossoms on the trees yet, though.

With Bunny

In Toyko, most apartments do not allow pets. If you want animal companionship, you can go to a place like With Bunny, where you pay for time with a bunny. Cool idea!

I smiled at the girls inside playing with the bunnies. It looked like loads of fun, expecially the bunny rooftop garden!

AnimeJapan2014

The big anime convention is AnimeJapan2014.  I couldn't believe how many people were there! They had professional models helping to advertise all the latest offerings. We ran out the battery on the camera taking pictures.

Asakusa

We visited the neighborhood of Asakusa,  which is best known for its temple and touristy spots. We saw a few ladies dressed in kimonos and I tried to snap a few photos without them noticing.

Deep Fried Dinner

In the mall, we saw a place where you would select morsels of food on a skewer, take them back to your table where you dipped them in batter and then in panko breadcrumbs, then deep-fried them right there at your table!

I kind of like the idea of cooking your own food at the table, but sometimes you need a little skill. Some things take a little longer in a deep fryer, you know? I doubt this kind of restaurant could survive in the U S. Could you imagine the liability insurance?

Anyway, we had all kinds of yummy bits. Potato, broccoli, zucchini, chicken, salmon, octopus, bread dumpling, squid, steak, red bean dumpling, tater tot, onion, fish, fish ball...   We were hungry! Good thing it was all-you-eat.

Akihabara

We went to the anime neighborhood of Akihabara. See that huge Sega building? I think it is 7 stories and it is nothing but arcade games inside. There are 2 more buildings like it in Akihabara.  These people are really into arcades.

The new Death Star

We saw where the Japanese are executing plans to build a new Death Star. The prototype is right here in Ariake.

We hum the Star Wars Theme to each other every time we pass it.

Tsukiji - again!

We liked the sushi at the Tsukiji fish market so much we decided to go back again! This time we had a better handle on the bus system and didn't get lost.

The restaurant we chose had it's main dish on display out front. How many places can do that?!

I ordered a sampler plate of raw and smoked sushi. After I finished I discovered I had eaten horse. It was pretty good actually.

Laundry in Japanese

Hmmmm... which one do I choose?

Tsukiji fish market

Our adventure to the Tsukiji fish market started with us trying to navigate the Tokyo bus system. It worked out very well. We got to Tsukiji, and immediately smelled the fish. Not a bad rotting fish smell, but rather a wonderful cooking fish smell. We found the source, and had a great time walking around  the market. We ate lunch at a great sushi place - the kind with a conveyor belt around the center bar where you can choose anything you want off the belt. Everything was absolutely delicious!
Getting back to the hotel was a bit adventurous. The bus that got us to the market did not have the same route home, so we got a little lost for while, but another bus and a metro train eventually got us back ok.

Biggest half - pipe in Tokyo

Oh wait. It's a tunnel.

Ramen from a machine

How do you order ramen in a Tokyo subway station? Go to this machine, touch the picture of what you want, and then swipe your subway card so it will deduct the amount of your meal. Sit down, and in a few minutes, yummy ramen is delivered to your table!