A Japanese Christmas and a Thai New year.

[drron]

Walking to our table. Again at the furthest point from the entrance.




And the coughtail menu.












I started with the Trader Vic's sling. Twice as good as Raffles and half the price,


Our son just had to have the Tokyo Sour as this place was opened in the year of his birth. It is the 6th Trader Vics he has been to.

 

[drron]

The menu minus the mains.








We shared starters - 3 plates of the ribs and 2 of the calamari. my shares.




For mains I had the grilled seafood platter.


With the mains a couple of sides. Mushrooms and fried rice.

 

[drron]

Two of the other mains. Our eldest Granddaughter had the fire roasted half chicken and our son the fillet steak.




My second coughtail the Suffering B**tard.


Some of the decor.






Then as we left.






And why wasn't this on the menu.


We all enjoyed the night. Then it was back to the hotel in 2 taxis. Mixed sexes this time. Once again the cab that I was in left second and arrived first and a lower fare.

 

[drron]

Next morning after breakfast Mrsdrron and I went for a walk around the waterfront behind the hotel. A water taxi coming in. The sun was out and the temperature was 10C so everyone out on the top enjoying the sun.


You can walk along an elevated path along the whole distance of the docks. These wharves are used for large ferries to the islands to the south of Japan so take passengers and cargo. At the end of the pathway you can see up the Sumida River.


And look over the Hamarikyu Gardens. Some autumn colours there as well.



And another water taxi/ferry.



A Bavarian beer and BBQ restaurant there. With all this talk of Christmas in Europe this almost made me want to eat there.


Inn the Afternoon I caught the Yurikamome train to Odaiba Island. There is a station very close to the IC. It is a fully automated train and everyone on board is a passenger. It is an elevated line so some good views from the train.

 

[drron]

Lots of parking spaces for cars and busses. Plus a lot of construction still going on on Odaiba Island.





A tunel over to the island as well. Road traffic plus a subway line.


The Maritime Museum which is next to the Tokyo Cruise Terminal.









I got off on the far side of the Island. Lots of cargo facilities.

 

[drron]

It was also a good spot to see planes on approach to HND.



There was also this.


Turns out it is for go carts.




Seeing this fellow I thought there may be something on.


But nothing was happening. Some of the construction is next door.

 

[drron]

As I was about to leave I noticed movement in the control room.


The green lights were on but only 2 go Karts came out. They lined up and were flagged off. One had obviously done a bit of this.


But the other looked like it was his first time.




My mission today was to find the Daiso shops here to bring Mrsdrron back tomorrow. So I set off for the Diver Mall.






Outside the Mall there was a show for kids.

 

[craven morehead]

That evening our son and his family arrived on QF from SYD. The Haneda airport website had a glitch. They were saying that the QF flight was going to be 3 hours late when in fact it was 20 minutes late only. So a bit of a surprise when they rang from the lobby ready to go out to dinner. We last saw them 11 weeks ago when I was just taller than the 2 eldest grandchildren. Now I am 2 inches shorter.

We walked a short distance to a soba/udon noodle restaurant.
View attachment 358503

View attachment 358504

You ordered and paid at a machine and gave the piece of paper with your order to the cook.
View attachment 358506

View attachment 358507

View attachment 358508

Google translalator didn't work perfectly. Our son ordered what google said was mystery Udon. Turned out to be curry.View attachment 358509

I ordered what was said to be soba with fried oysters. it turned up as fried chicken. Maybe though they had run out of oysters.View attachment 358502

Pretty cheap meal `$34 for 7 of us. Pretty tasty as well.
The night scenery over the road.
View attachment 358510

We went to a couple of convenience stores where snacks were bought. Mine were the wierdest.
View attachment 358505

You certainly do like the hot & spicy type of food

 

[drron]

Well back on the road again. I had read about buying used cameras in Japan some time ago and the reviews were good. There is only 2 problems.
First only a Japanese warranty.
Second all the programs are in Japanese. No biggie as I got another Sony so know what the basics are. In a pinch will use Google translate. When back home will print out the relevant parts of the users guide.

The current reviews are still very good. I went to 3 of the numerous used camera stores in Shinjuku. I went only to those who also sold new cameras. I went to Kitamura, Map cameras and Lemon.
The biggest choice and more modern place was Kitamura. Though it did have the Sony DSLR range the choice wasn't as extensive. They seem to have lots more of the high end cameras.
I next went to Map cameras. Easier to browse as the signs at the lift tell you the brands on each floor. A much larger range of Sony Models. Prices much the same as Kitamura.
Next I went to Lemon to make a further comparison. Much smaller place so no Sony DSLRs and a lot of their cameras sold as is. Not for me. To me it lived up to it's name.
So I made my purchase at Map. Really good agent as there were 6 Sony RX100s ranging in price from 350 to 900 dollars. They sell on consignment which explains a lot of th difference. The one priced at 350 he said was not in as good condition. He advised on the one at $450 as it's condition was the same as the next 3 higher priced ones. On top of that I didn't have my passport as I did not do the QR customs application. I did have a photo of my passport. he said there were ways of getting around that. He gave me the sales tax amount off the amount probably I guess from his cut. Anyway I was happy.

And it works well. So I have already downloaded the old SD card so transmission will resume soon.

 

[rbjhan]

That evening our son and his family arrived on QF from SYD. The Haneda airport website had a glitch. They were saying that the QF flight was going to be 3 hours late when in fact it was 20 minutes late only. So a bit of a surprise when they rang from the lobby ready to go out to dinner. We last saw them 11 weeks ago when I was just taller than the 2 eldest grandchildren. Now I am 2 inches shorter.

We walked a short distance to a soba/udon noodle restaurant.
View attachment 358503

View attachment 358504

You ordered and paid at a machine and gave the piece of paper with your order to the cook.
View attachment 358506

View attachment 358507

View attachment 358508

Google translalator didn't work perfectly. Our son ordered what google said was mystery Udon. Turned out to be curry.View attachment 358509

I ordered what was said to be soba with fried oysters. it turned up as fried chicken. Maybe though they had run out of oysters.View attachment 358502

Pretty cheap meal `$34 for 7 of us. Pretty tasty as well.
The night scenery over the road.
View attachment 358510

We went to a couple of convenience stores where snacks were bought. Mine were the wierdest.
View attachment 358505

Now I see the picture that totally said fried oysters　かき揚げ。。。
I reckon something happened in the kitchen and they decided explaining was too hard...
Not sure about the mystery though?　カレー南蛮　is the only one I saw?

 

[drron]

The Diver Mall was jumping. Very crowded. Checked out the Daiso and OK but not the best. Just a few photos since I didn't want to stay long.








So the food court is the Tokyo Gourmet Stadium. Then outside.




Then walked back to the train station.


Was good for plane spotting was also good.

 

[drron]

This was a couple of minutes after 4pm.




I was in the rear compartment, Note no rails.

 

[drron]

That night we walked to a BBQ Lamb/mutton place. On the way we saw the Tokyo Tower.




This is the place.




First the drinks menu.










Mrsdrron was a little worried that there was going to be nothing she could drink. She hadn't looked at the last page where there was an Alan scott sauvignon blanc from Marlborough. Now on our visit there it was one of the wineries we visited and their SB she thought was the best. Her frown turned to a smile.


I had the beer.

 

[drron]

Now I see the picture that totally said fried oysters　かき揚げ。。。
I reckon something happened in the kitchen and they decided explaining was too hard...
Not sure about the mystery though?　カレー南蛮　is the only one I saw?

I finally got my fried oysters tonight.

 

[drron]

Here is the menu.

 

[drron]

A different sort of fitout but it worked. Not smoky at all.






So we shared 4 plates lamb cutlets though not called that.


And 3 bowls of marinated lamb shoulder in a pot. This was the best on the night.




We also had 2 servings of noodles.




Plus large plates of green onion (spring) and capsicum. The cooking starts.


At the end there were 3 servings of melon ice cream which was yummy.

 

[drron]

Wvhen we thought we were finished the owner brought us all a complimentary bowl of soup. It was quite tasty.


The restaurant is in Shiba Shinmae shopping street.
After we left we had noticed the long lines at a Taiyaki place. So we went over and lined up. The other 6 each had a taiyaki filled with custard. I had one with custard and one with sweet potato. No one had the red bean variety. So here is Naruto Taiyaki Honpo.








A red bean one being made.








And the finished product. Lost it's head though. My sweet potato one.


They are really nice.

 

[drron]

The next morning I took Mrsdrron over to Odaiba Island on the train t go to a 100 yen shop. Just before we left I noticed the reflections on the buildings we saw out of our window were good.


The original plan was to take her to the one I hadn't visited first and then go to the one I had visited. Fortunately though the first Daiso was much larger and Mrsdrron found everything she wanted and then some.
As we walked into the mall there was a familiar name.


There was a large group waiting to go in.


In there food court there was an ad for something I have no desire to taste.


So we walked back to the station. I believe there are a few AFFers that want go find this place.

 

[drron]

After that I went for a walk to the Rainbow bridge. Nothing much on the walk there as all port or Industrial areas. But you do get glimpses of Tokyo Bay.




Crossing a small river quite large flood gates. There were 2 of them.








New warehouses.


Still greenery lining the road with quite a few camellias.

 

[drron]

So now I arrived at the Bridge.








In the building on the mainland side you can get a lift to "the Promenade". Walkways on the lower traffic level of the Bridge I went on the South side and had a view down Tokyo Bay towards Yokohama. If you go on the North side it is views back to the IC and Sumida river.










And the car park view.