Chasing Sakura Day 5 - Tsukiji Market

Assalamualaikum. Konnichiwa.

Ok Day 5! Tiba² aku rajin update malam ni. 

Intro. Aku & Ms G bangun super awal. Dari second day di Tokyo lagi aku sudah plan mau pi tempat ni. Nasiblah Ms P bijak bestari google pasal that market di awal Subuh 6 April tu.

"Bie, kau nak buat apa gi pasar tu. Harini tutup ah. Ni tulis kat google kata pasar tu tutup every Sat."

Aigoo! Selama aku research pasal that market, ndak pernah pula aku encounter info macam tu. Jadinya, mari sambung tidur. Sebab the night before aku tidur super lewat; around 2-ish. Habis mendobi & lipat baju semua baru aku belayar. 

We still have few days in Tokyo pasal tu aku berani mati tidur balik. Recharged energy sebab pagi tu kami akan tawaf half of Tokyo.

Makanya, on our last day in Tokyo...plan untuk menjejak that market mesti jadi! I told the ladies the night before; I will go albeit I have to go alone. And Ms G told me she wanted to follow because it's her wish to visit the market as well. Wake me up; she reminded me. Malam tu kami pack barang siap² sebab akan check out after balik dari market.

Route kami hari tu;

Asakusa (Tsukuba) ----> Shin-Okachimachi via Tsukuba Express Local ---> Tsukijishijo via Tokyo Subway Oedo Line ---> walk to Tsukiji Market

Orang lain sibuk lah semua pigi kerja; yang kami sibuk mau tengok orang berjualan di pasar. Aku suka tengok Japanese ni; regardless their position in the office semua pun pakai suit. Tiap kali naik train kami sibuk meneka apa kerja orang ni, orang tu. Hampas kan perangai.

Memang ndak plan untuk tengok tuna auction bagai. Sebab belum mampu untuk bangun seawal 4am. Tahan teksi lagi. Tu pun belum jamin akan dapat tempat dalam auction hall tu kan. The auction is limited to 120 visitors daily. Based on my reading, ada yang datang as early as 3am pun still ndak dapat secure tempat. Jadi aku pun pasang niat; janji dapat menjejak sudah cukup. 

It's not like everyday I got to visit this one of world's largest fish market. Grateful I am for the opportunity given. Although hanya boleh cuci mata outside the main auction area; memadailah kan. 

8 April 2014

Tsukiji Market

Ya kami sedar diri. Sampai pun dekat 630am. Of course auction sudah selamat tinggal. 

For more info about Tsukiji Market...read here. 

There are Do's & Don'ts when visiting this market. Specially the inner market where the wholesale business & the famous tuna auction take place. 

Matahari memancar², tanda yang kami memang triple hours lambat for the auction. Ceh! Padahal memang ndak plan kan untuk join. 

Lucky for us though, the market was still busy when we arrived. Nampaklah pelbagai jenis kenderaan berlimpasan; lifting boxes of different sizes. Kena berhati² masa berjalan as to avoid blocking the traffic. Kena sentiasa alert with the surrounding. Jangan bajet tourist sangat sampai kacau kerja diorang; gitu reminder aku untuk diri sendiri. 

Kenapa perlu se-organized ni. Kemas ok. Kemas. And we smell no bau hanyir while walking along the market. Pelik! Pasar ikan, kan? Mana bau yang selalu aku tercium kalau pigi pasar di KK ni. Please ditch statement lupa diri tu Bie. 

Bersih! Super bersih to be exact. I understand that an Inspector from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government supervise activities in the market to ensure the sellers & buyers abide with the Food Hygiene Law. No wonder!

Spotted! Big tuna! Tercapai lah kan impian untuk tengok tuna besar. Berlimpasan jak pun ndak apa. 

And I thought we were late enough to not have to encounter such long queue? Mau masuk makan sushi jak pun!! 

We wander around only at the outer market. Which is a mixture of wholesale & retail shops. And that include restaurants; especially sushi restaurants. 

Mau beli tapi berfikir panjang, mana aku mau tunaikan hasrat berkungfu di dapur as we will be checking out from the hostel that morning. Hostel seterusnya macam ndak provide kitchen. Jadinya, niat pun terkubur.

Most of the sushi restaurants near the main road had pretty long queues in front of the shops. Siap waitress keluar ambil order dari orang yang berbaris tu. So we decided to look farther inside. 

And found this one restaurant. Still kena queue but not as long as the ones we saw earlier. Restoran ni pun penuh masa ni, so we have to wait a bit. Ndak boleh main terjah masuk ok. Sila bersabar tunggu di luar until anda dipersilakan masuk. We waited for a good 10 minutes or so. Macam tau jak kan perut aku sudah bergurindam.

"Bie, kau gi makan sushi takajak. Kata gi tengok pasar ikan je." 
Ms P psycho-ed comment at the picture of my breakfast menu in instagram. Lor, ingatkan memang ndak mau ikut. Nasib lah kan, kami sudah di sana. Sedang menikmati juadah lagi.

Hasrat hati mau duduk depan Ahjussi Tuna tu. Boleh tengok dia buat sushi live. Padahal di KK ndak heran pun sepa buat sushi kau makan tu kan Bie. Lagi jauh duduk dari open-kitchen tu ada. Ala aku mau tengok fresh tuna dia potong guna pisau panjang super tajam! Tu jak tujuan utama mau duduk depan.

Up-close sikit. Caution gila aku zoomed masa ni. Takut kedapatan, naya jak kan nanti kena halau dari kedai. 

My breakfast! Sampai sekarang masih terasa di lidah; gitu kan drama. Ms G ndak makan raw meat, so aku lah yang baham bahagian dia. Literally, aku makan 2 servings pagi tu because she only ate the 6 pieces at the bottom. This plate of sushi cost us 800 Yen. Kami pilih yang paling murah sebab yang lain semua mahal gila. Sob. And miso soup they served was super sedap! Seriously sedap! 

They said; once u get to taste the raw sushi in Japan...u will never stop comparing them with the ones serve here. True enough! Sushi di Jepang fresh & sedap! Totally lain with the sushi yang aku selalu telan di KK ni. Tabahlah hati, bukan senang mau pegi Jepang ni. Mau ndak mau, settle jugalah sama Sushi King. 

After makan...kami tinjau sikit lagi area outer market. Memang banyak retail shops. Even jual telur dadar pun boleh jadi bisnes di sana. Different types of omelette diorang jual; creative gila ndak tau mana jak idea diorang dapat untuk deco telur dadar tu. My greatest regret was I didn't bother to take any pictures of the omelette to show here. Terlampau fokus wow-wee menengok I forgot to take out my camera. Perangai.

"Bie, kata nak gerak kul 9am wei. Ni dah kul 9am korang takbalik lagi."

Tettttttt too carried away with the omelette we forgot its time to go back to the hostel. Nasiblah kan yang lain menunggu penuh tensi di hostel. Sayonara Tsukiji Market, till next time. Manatau tergerak hati untuk join tuna auction pula kan. God knows when. 

On the way back to the hostel, jumpa lori sampah. Terus macam, eh kenapa ndak da bau? Kami selamba jalan tepi lori. Ketawa & bercerita. Ndak da kejadian tutup hidung or u-turn 360' bila nampak lori ni. Malas sudah mau compare nanti terus kena buang negara. Erm, apa barang pekerja tu pakai mask? Oh ok, hygiene katanya. 

Sampai hostel, budak lain belum habis breakfast. Hampas tau kasi paniks aku jak. Siap naik bilik & packing last minute lagi. Settled semua, kami pun check-out. Since beban beg makin berdouble triple berat, I decided to take the train from the Tsukuba Express Station. Dekat sikit jalan kaki. Although the station is 3 levels down, it provides lift. The Asakusa Tokyo Metro station doesn't have this facility.

It's time for another shinkansen ride that morning. We're heading to the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon. Which the bombing marked the end of World War II. 

Yang tu kita continue next entry. Aku ngantuk, mau rest. Esok kerja. Boleh bikin muntah statement.

eryantierdabdulkarim

Chasing Sakura Day 4 - Tokyo Disneyland / Saray Kebab, Asakusa

Assalamualaikum. Konnichiwa.

Wah baru Day 4. Memang al-selow gila. Jarang dapat enough free time to scribble. Plus aku sudah telan pil M sedozen. Tambah lagi macam malas pilih gambar. Motif sangat kan entry kena bergambar. Sob.

So as the title says. We paid Tokyo Disneyland a visit on our last day in Tokyo. A whole day visit it was. My initial plan for the last day was to visit Kawaguchiko. Prior asking the other members' place they wish(es) to go, I drafted the itinerary that includes overnight at Kawaguchiko. I even booked 2 rooms at Kawaguchiko Station Inn; merely a minute walking from the train station. 

Though I didn't put too much hope to see Fuji-san, but staying near the lake where the best views of the mountain can be enjoyed definitely something I wouldn't want to missed. I read somewhere that the lake is also breathtakingly beautiful during the cherry blossom season. Apart from the chasing sakura mission, I was so looking forward for the Kawaguchiko visit to be honest. 

Alas, I had to cancelled the plan. Third-fifth of the ahli rombongan wanted to go to Disneyland. 

"Ok, kita split last day tu. Korang gi Disneyland, aku & Ms G gi Kawaguchiko. Aku just cancelled jelah accom kat sana. Balik hari. Doable gak."

"Alaaa taknak lah Bie. Kitorang bukan tau selok belok Tokyo. Kang sesat takjumpa jalan pulang? Erm, cancel lah Disneyland. Kita gi tengok Fuji."

Immediately aku rasa diri adalah super kejam. Simply because I know exactly how the three wanted so badly to go to Disneyland. It's like a must-go place for them. Jadinya, mari cancel Kawaguchiko walau hati adalah super berat & berdarah. Pasrah. Then masa berbalas email with Azra, she told me she's going there. Maka besarlah hati aku upon knowing her plan. Bukan sebab mau join dia tapi untuk sedapkan hati.

"Nevermind lah, for now...I will cuci mata only. I've seen Kawaguchiko in winter from Deqna's. Autumn from Chawanna's. And spring, akan bertandang at Azra's." 

Gitu cara untuk tenangkan hati. We bought the tickets for Disneyland few days before (here). To avoid the long queue at the ticket booth in Disneyland, I advice u to purchase the ticket at any Disney store in Japan. We got ours at Aqua City Odaiba. 

Jadi kenapa intro berperenggan panjang? Thought u have swallowed the M pills. Baiklah oleh sebab gambar adalah super berlambak in this entry, I decided to lessen the bebelan in the caption(s). Tengok gambar jaklah kan. Disneyland jak pun after all, apa sangat ulasan mau dibuat kan. 

Left the hostel quite early. Limpas Sensoji Temple yang masih sunyi dari orang. Even Nakamise-dori pun belum buka. Kami ikut laluan belakang kedai. Saja ambil feel.

Sempat snap sakura pink. 

Our route from Asakusa to Tokyo Disneyland.

Asakusa (via Tokyo Metro Ginza Line) ---> Ueno Station (via JR Yamanote Line Outer Loop) ---> Tokyo Station (via JR Keiyo Line)---> Maihama Station  ----> walk to Disneyland!

Eh selalu tengok entrance ni di blog orang. Sampai juga aku akhirnya. Walau mula tu ndak da plan untuk masuk sini, but since sudah sampai...sila manfaat masa sebaiknya. Tiket bukan murah setakat untuk been-there-done-that Bie!

Antara yang paling happy dapat realisasi impian masuk Tokyo Disneyland. Yet the most devastated when she found out all the extreme rides are actually in Osaka Universal Studio. I gave them option between TD & USJ. And they chose the first. Blame me not ladies. 

Sempena Easter Day katanya. 

Lepas scanned ticket, I was approached by one of the staff to do some survey about the theme park. Aku pun melayan jak lah bukan kena suruh bayar/beli anything pun. Didn't expect I was then given a Disney postcard as a token. Aku senyum lebar since I have extra stamps in the bag; jadi bolehlah nanti kirim postcard untuk diri sendiri dari Disneyland. Yeah!

Lucky the weather was super bright. Clear blue skies. But do not for once think that the sun emitted heat. It was cold, still. And we were only grateful it didn't rain. 

Queuing for the Star Tours. Nampak panjang, tapi ndak lama pun kami queued. Unlike what I experienced back in USS. Dekat 2 jam ah queued untuk naik Star Wars ship tu jak. 

Naik ship in for less than 10 minutes. Experience so-so. Personally, I enjoyed the USS' Star Wars tour more. 

Japan is a VERY family-oriented country. Everywhere I went, ndak missed nampak diorang spend time with family. Unlike di 'kampung', yang penuhi scene semasa adalah orang bercouple. Sana sini, pasangan perchentaan.

Respect toing². Even strollers were in queue. Ni lah kalau citizen memang dilatih berdisiplin. Unlike here in KK. Baru mau beratur naik bas pun, semua jadi kepala hangin ah. Ndak faham aku.

Why must so kawaii lei? No, di sana orang yang buat fesyen rambut gini ndak dipanggil buang tabiat ka apa. Even yang buat style tu sudah tua bangka. 

I didn't captured the ship right. Else, boleh nampak Daisy Duck's red lips. Muncung ndak hengat. Marah kali orang invade her ship.

When I was a kid, I didn't really watched cartoon. Not saying I didn't watched at all though. Chips & Dale is one of the tv programme I loved. Apart from Jem (yang boleh tukar identiti diri tu) & Care Bears. Aku banyak layan cerita macam Miss Komet gitu.

The MOST GEDIK character we met that day. Siap lentikkan bontot ok!

Forgot whose house is this. We didn't bother to enter as the queue was quite long. Little did we know queuing to meet Mickey would take twice times longer. Aigoo.

Lucky banyak benda boleh entertained kami while queueing at Mickey's house. Ndka pernah lah terlintas dalam kepala aku untuk terjah rumah Mickey ni ah. But yeah, I watched Mickey Mouse back then. Cuma ndak lah masuk dalam senarai paling-terminati. 

We joined the other visitors; duduk sambil tunggu parade mula. 

Gila teratur! Ndak da aku tengok orang berebut or bertolak. They even seated in row although ndak da garis panduan atas ground tu. An hour before the parade starts, staffs pun busy explained sama kami pasal rules & showed us the spot to sit, spot to stand etc. Aku interpret gitulah sebab they spoke in Japanese; haruslah sepatah hampas aku ndak faham. 

What I respected the most was masa tengah duduk lepak tu; ada macam space kosong depan kami. Staff tu tanya punyalah lemah gemalai...if it's ok for us to have the standing crowd behind us. And slowly dia suggest kami untuk move a little forward. Crowd yang berdiri belakang kami pun, ndak dah tolak menolak. No such things happened. 

Kami duduk & enjoyed the parade tanpa ada setitik rasa annoyed or irritated. Siap menikmati lunch! Bawa bekal ok. Nasi himpit berlaukkan daging dendeng + serunding pucuk paku. Super sedap! Motif untuk hurai menu lunch? 

Few of the characters we met that day. Only yang famous amos jak ndak keluar (Mickey is one of them). Stay dalam rumah, tunggu fans datang lawat. Queued like we did, berjam². 

Dari jauh, dalam kesejukan angin menampar...I saw them pink tulips. At first, I seriously thought they were just plastics. Accessory. But once I got to touch them...hati terus cawir. Ouh, I am literally in love with the gardens in Disneyland! Over kan drama.

Aku siap bertiarap tepi those bunch of tulips. Ada few pictures aku posing over bersantai ala macam-taman-di-rumah-sendiri but decided to not post it here. Speku sangat those pics. Cukuplah sekeping ditempek dalam IG. 

Ahli rombongan. Selca dengan half of the castle. Why not full? Gagal!

Dawn. Castle sudah liplap penuh warnawarni lampu. Super mewah. If only boleh stay semalam dalam castle. Budget jak lah kau banyak duit Bie. 

I roamed around while waiting for the final parade to start. Masa ni memang temperature dropped gila. Single digit ok. The rest ndak larat berjalan so they decided to sit. Lepak with other visitors yang menunggu juga. 

And sudah puas meronda, I joined them. 

"Bie, kau nak jalan gi mana pun takpe. Kitorang takkisah. Tapi modem wifi sila tinggal ngan kitorang. Takheran kau takde, kitorang heran bila duduk lepak takbuat apa. Nak online pun takdapat."

Tetttt!! Aku lupa modem was with me. Sudahlah lama juga aku meronda masa tu. 

Dalam sejuk gigil, bila ingat balik...tabahnya hati untuk tunggu parade ni. Lagi sakit hati ingatakan ada firework, nan hado. Tapi ndak apa lah, parade pun sudah cukup best. Ndak pernah plan pun untuk witness all these things. 

And aku sempat tulis postcard untuk diri sendiri di sini. Handwriting pun seriously macam kena panah petir sebab tangan gigil tahap tiada ampun. Sejuk wei! Syahdu bila baca balik apa aku tulis. Love-hate relationship between si Bibie & Err. 

Conclusion? Best! Aku siaplah beli headband Minnie tu untuk dapat feeling Disney. Kenangan. Even Bunda was surprised when she saw my pictures in Disneyland. Dapat tengok tulips pink in real life, aku rasa itu highlight for me on that day. 

Back from Disneyland. Kami turun di Asakusa Station. On the way naik escalator, aku nampak the famous Asahi Beer landmark a.k.a Dungot (Taik Hidung) Emas. Background adalah Sky Tree. Ntah kenapa hati adalah muram untuk tarik keluarkan kamera & snap picture with the dungot. So berjalan lah kami melintas jalan untuk balik hostel. Then suddenly...

"Wei kedai kebab!!!"

Huhu rupanya kelaparan. Nasi himpit 3 biji plus sandwich tuna yang aku baham di Disneyland sudah habis tukar jadi energy. I did read somewhere memang ada kebab shop di area Asakusa ni. But according to that blog, kedai tu a bit complicated & susah untuk locate. Hence I didn't bother to search for the shop then. Sekalinya, terbuntang depan mata. Al-senang sekali lokasi dia! Depan jalan. Only few metres from the Kaminarimon Gate (Sensoji Temple). 

Happy tummies! 

Tapi Abang Kebab cakap only ayam jak dia yakin halal. As for the beef, he is a bit unsure. So he suggested us to buy only the chicken kebab. Kalau yang menjual pun ragu, apatah lagi kami yang beli kan. Chicken pun chicken lah abang, janji portion besar. Harga pun berbaloi 500Yen. I opted for the medium size. 

Memang aku ndak da simpan note pasal Saray Kebab ni. Jumpa pun coincident gila kan. But I decided to share the direction here. Mana tau ada orang tengah survey halal kedai di Asakusa. Thanks Mia for ur entry. 

We took Exit 4 of Asakusa Station (Tokyo Ginza Line). It is not far from the exit actually. And Saray Kebab can be easily seen from the road. It is located opposite the Burger King; the first shop we saw upon exiting the station. Else u can take Exit 2 & make a u-turn to reach the kebab shop. 

End of Day 4. Wihuuu! Selamat destinasi cumalah Disneyland kan. Boleh wrapped up aktiviti sepanjang hari in just one entry. 

The next day...aku bangun super awal. Ada misi perlu dilaksanakan. And haritu juga kami bergerak keluar Tokyo. Goodbye Tokyo till we meet again gitu.

eryantierdadulkarim