Stop us if you think that you've heard this one before: We got up at 4:30 this morning, dressed, and made our way to the Shiodome train station, en route to the Tsukiji Fish Market. This time, however, we both purchased Metro tickets, made it all the way to Tsukijishijo, and it was open!
All the guidebooks and first-hand accounts from others who have been there (including this one) cannot accurately describe or prepare you for this experience. To stroll around a busy, vibrant commercial fish market at 5:30 in the morning, passing by everything from tuna the size of small cars to live octopi staring up at you from the confines of styrofoam coolers, is a surreal happening that is not fully appreciated with all the photos and video clips in the World. Capping the experience with "extra special quality" sushi, most of which was still swimming just hours before, from an on-site sushi bar only made it more surreal. With that said, here are just a few of the mementos we captured:
We returned to the hotel and packed for the final time on our VacAsian. A shuttle bus picked us up from the hotel and took us directly to the airport, where, although our bags were overweight, the customer service rep who checked us in advised that he would let it go "this time." (Arigato, Lucky Buddha! (See VacAsian Day Twenty Seven)) We put ourselves on the list for business class upgrades, and though we didn't get them, just before boarding, we got free upgrades to Economy Plus. (Arigato gozai mas, LB!)
The 9 hour flight back to The States seemed to fly by. (Get it? "Fly" by? Where does Robin come UP with these zingers?) Robin slept most of the way, while Huey read and watched movies. Per usual, we were fed well, and we landed in Los Angeles at 11:30 AM, two hours BEFORE we left our Tokyo hotel to head to the airport that very morning, courtesy of the International Date Line. We grabbed our bags and cleared customs in no time, picked up our rental car, and drove in to Downtown Los Angeles to run errands.
To say it was bizarre being back in the US after four weeks abroad would be a gross understatement. One thing was for sure, though: We aren't in Asia anymore. The VacAsian was over.
We checked in to our hotel, the same Radisson next to LAX where we stayed on VacAsian Day Two, and slept for a few hours, while the 14th Annual Salsa Congress (the dance, not the condiment) shook the hotel from three levels below us. We met Huey's childhood friend Dr. Roberto B. Vargas III, a clinical instructor at UCLA Medical School and the man who first coined the nickname "Huey" back in 1982, along with Huey's friend and client Andre Meadows (see VacAsian Days Three and Four), for dinner at one of Huey's favorite LA haunts, Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills. Unimpressed by Kate's dessert selection and "jonesing" for some good ol' American CAKE, we drove to Westwood and gorged ourselves on slices of CAKE the size of our heads at Cafe Elysee.
From Westwood, we went back to our hotel, where we were serenaded to sleep by the "peaceful" sounds of Salsa until 3 AM.
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