5.00am ... lobby of the Hotel Asia Centre ... still half asleep ... but very excited !!

Errol, me, Erin, Gavin and Michelle headed to the train station and jumped on our train
We are going to the Tsukiji Fish Market ... it is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind
(click here for more information)
(click here to go to the Official Web Site)

While on the train, as we got closer and closer to the markets, we watched people getting on with their eskys on wheels and gumboots
I am not sure whether these people were restuaranteurs or just locals stocking their own fridges

Anyway, we got to the markets and after we tracked our way past hundreds and hundreds of trucks we crossed into the markets and saw some of the craziest stuff ever

The Markets are huge two photos	Hundreds of cartons !! two photos
Tubs and Tubs of Fish #1 four photos	Tubs and Tubs of Fish #2 four photos
Tubs and Tubs of Fish #3 four photos	Tubs and Tubs of Fish #4 four photos

Tubs and tubs of shucked oysters, eels, crabs, puffer fish, the biggest scallops I have ever seen
I didn’t know what most of it was and many of the people were not particularly helpful and mostly we were just probably in their way

Erin with a massive tuna one photo

Tanya with a big one one photo

Tanya practising to be a fish !! two photos

The tuna was enormous and there was so much of it

Preparing tuna for the Sale three photos

The Fish Auctions six photos

We made our way through to the auction rooms and watched that for a bit ... so many people ... so much fish ... so much noise

Anyway we then tried to get some sashimi to try
(click here for more information)
We wanted to get a plate to share but we couldn’t find anywhere to do it
They wanted us to spend about $40.00 each to try some fish
We decided that we wouldn’t do that and we went back into the markets and got a container of about 14 pieces of tuna sashimi for about $6.00 and it was 'fresh from the actual fish'

We took it back to the hotel to eat with our breakfast
Back at the hotel it was probably about 8.30am and the rest of the group who hadn’t wanted the early wake up (though why you wouldn’t I had no idea) were having breakfast and so were Leanne and Ryan

Leanne .. Tanya
one photo

We said hi ... they were leaving that day to head off to see some more of Japan before heading to the snow and I am really glad we got to say meet up

Anyway we cracked the tuna sashimi and it was absolutely to die for, melt in your mouth fresh and just delishous !!
Errol had one bit, said he liked it ... but didn’t have any more the whole trip !!

Even though we felt like we had done a full day’s worth of sightseeing that day already, our plan was to take a train south and see Mt Fuji
(click here for more information)

Erin .. Trev .. Tanya .. 'Thomas Train' one photo

Jane .. Gavin one photo

Errol .. Tanya one photo

We took a couple of trains to Kawaguchiko where we would get the cable car where we would be able to get to a viewing platform to take some shots of the Mountain as long as the clouds hadn’t come over it and blocked our view

Anyway, about 2.5 hours later we got to Kawaguchiko
(click here for more information)
(click here to go to the Official Web Site - in Japanese)

Erin .. Tanya one photo

Trev .. and a Tree one photo

Lake Kawaguchiko two photos

We found an information centre, got a map and wandered off through the town to the cable car that would take us up to the viewing platform

Errol and Tanya on the Gondola one photo

View of Lake Kawaguchiko one photo

The Mountain we came to see !! three photos

The ride up the cable car was gorgeous and we got a great view of Lake Kawaguchiko

x The Mountain with Tanya and Erin 27 seconds video file name = general 2010_0676.flv

Errol .. Trev .. Gavin .. Jane Erin .. Michelle .. Tanya one photo

Tanya and Errol two photos

Errol and Tanya ... Engaged ?? two photos

Tanya one photo	Tanya one photo
Tanya one photo	Tanya one photo

We then walked around the little hill we were on so that we could see the big hill that we had come all this way to see !!
It was amazing !!

x At 3,776 metres (12,388 feet), Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan x x "I loved it !!" Opposite are 21 shots of the hundred or so than Tanya took !! Tanya did not note which was her favourite ???

x four photos four photos     two photos three photos     four photos four photos x

There was a little bit of cloud about half way up and I took about 100 pictures trying to get one that was just right ... I loved it !!

A Bird House one photo

The Gondola Station two photos

We took the cable car back down and got back on the train for the long trip back to Tokyo

We were all pretty exhausted (particularly those of us who had been to the Fish Markets) but decided to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Offices
(click here for more information)
(click here to go to the Official Web Site)

Tokyo at Night Do Tanya's photos look like the one opposite ?? NO !! This was taken professionally Tanya didn't have all the night photography gear, time delay settings, tripod, etc, etc She just saw some great sights ... and snapped away And no matter what they're like, the shots will always 'ring the memory bells' about her time in Tokyo

Tokyo at Night six photos	Tokyo at Night six photos	Tokyo at Night six photos
Errol .. Tanya one photo	Errol one photo	Tanya three photos

It has a free viewing level and we wanted to see the city at night
It was great !!
It went on and on and on and looked very pretty at night

We were getting more tired by the moment so headed back to the hotel

On the way we stopped for dinner I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but it was a vending machine restaurant We looked at the pictures outside, pressed a button and put some money in and took the receipt inside and then our meal was put on the counter and our number called out Very strange ... very efficient ... very yummy !! x x the restaurant could have looked like the one shown opposite

Tanya .. Hugh .. Errol .. Gavin .. Michelle .. Trev .. Jane .. Erin
two photos

Then a short walk back to the hotel to pack and go to bed