The Southeast Asia Trip Begins!

A 19 hour layover in Tokyo gives us a bonus destination, in addition to SE Asia. We arrived in Tokyo at 4:50 Tuesday morning. Having left LAX just after midnight Sunday night on a 12 hour flight, Daniel and I both got some half-decent sleep on the plane, over perhaps a 7 hour period – although half-decent is the correct term for it!

There are a number of high vantage points to overlook Tokyo, one gives a nod to the French: Tokyo Tower. A light rain was falling around 4 or 5 pm when we ascended it, but it still gave great views over Tokyo. It’s only after seeing the city from above that size of Tokyo really sinks in. Or at least so it was for me.



Going back to our first adventure in the city Tuesday morning, we took the Tokyo Monorail in from Haneda Airport, connectied to the Metro system (subway), and arrived at our first destination: the Tsujiki Fish Market, where the restaurant owners go to buy their seafood for the day. The place is VAST. Narrow aisle after narrow aisle of sellers displaying every kind of thing that lives in the sea. The place was just incredible.
From there we aimed for the Imperial Palace, but had a bit of an awkward situation on the way. Boarding the metro with a crowd of others, a metro employee on the platform was excitedly calling out what Daniel and I both distinctly heard as “Uma oni! Uma oni!” She came to the door where we had just entered, repeating this line, but we had managed to crowd in, had no clue what her excitement was about, and the doors closed. As one does in a crowded metro car, I glanced around at the faces around me . . . and noticed that there were precious few men there. Next I realized that every single person I could see – besides Daniel – was female. Then I remembered reading a few weeks ago that at rush hour, there are a few cars that are “women only,” a shelter from the groping in crowded metro cars (it has been a problem in this society where women were viewed with less honor). The employee, in a VERY poor attempt at English, had been telling us “Women only! Women only!” Until we switched cars at the next stop, I tried very hard not to touch anyone around me . . . which wasn’t easy as we were crammed in like sardines.

With that comic episode behind us we made our way to the grounds of the Imperial Palace – a preserve in the middle of the city with moats and gardens covering a huge area. A few structures from several hundred years ago remain, but the palace itself is more modern, the old palace having been destroyed.



We left the palace grounds in the direction of Akihabara, an area where nearly every shop sells electric and electronic products and supplies, from circuit boards and light bulbs to laptops and camera pens. We needed and found an alarm clock.

Then at lunch time we found a rustic place and ordered mackerel, butter fish, and chicken. All were good, but the chicken was the best. Great flavor and seasoning. And one of the employees working there was particularly friendly and helpful to us - friendly in a way that seemed more real than how some others seemed (see next post for further thoughts).

Next was Senso-ji, a Buddhist temple, and the market areas around it. A pedestrian avenue leads straight up to the temple, passing through two gates and of similar old Japanese architecture as the temple, lined with little shops of food items, leather goods, etc. At the temple, visitors could pull out drawers with fortunes in them, or waft smoke from a burning altar over themselves for healing. There was the occasional older person who bowed and put hands together as if in prayer, but mostly I got the sense that this site is merely a tourist spot to most everyone – and most were Japanese rather than international tourists. There was the kind of levity and activity that you see anywhere else tourists go rather than any evidence of awe or devotion.



Next was the Tokyo Tower, and then visits to Shinjuku and Shibuya, a couple of spots surrounded by lights and giant video screens, where crowds of shoppers fill the streets. Ate a rather skimpy and overpriced supper at a restaurant overlooking Shibuya, and then made it back to the airport for our midnight flight to Bangkok.

We're having a great time. :)

Next up: Upon arrival in Bangkok tomorrow morning, we’ll immediately travel to Myanmar where we’ll meet up with Pho Kyaw aka Alex, who will guide us through the countryside and tribal villages of his area. I highly doubt I’ll be able to post for the next few days. Look for more on Sunday or Monday.