chanp

Thanks! Making me hungry now.

kimusc

Great Report!

mkjr

OK..so managed to get a little time.

I will give some comments to responses after I get this all done...may take another day or so.

BTW, it is a small world since two people recognized little miss mkjr...although this does not surprise me...

This would be my first time flying out of HND and the new international terminal. I did not take any photos of the lounge since this blog is about as good as that can get.

http://jal-pak.blogspot.ca/2011/10/2...-part-iii.html

The observation deck is great. I loved it but not all lot of birds in the early am departure.









A couple of shots in the terminal.

It is very very nice. Nice shops and very well decorated.

mkjr

Our flight had been swapped back and forth between 74A and 77A and then finally ended up being the 77D...great. Another ride in the mini cabin..probably one of my last given YYZ has dropped F.

CX543 - Equipment 77D - new J
HND-HKG
10:35
14:25
Seats 12D/G/K
Love the fact that you pretty much go out to a runway on piles...









Love the two windows and some cabin shots.















And lunch was great - nice catering ex-HND.







A little backtracking by hey, we are all about the miles...





I think this is Hiroshima.

And a last one...not because I want to post my little one but so others can see how far forward the CX J seat will move for those that can not reach the foot rest.

HangukStyle

Great pictures! You say Hakata station is brand new, but is it really 'new' or is it just the old station renovated? It's been a couple of years since I last was in Fukuoka.

mkjr

Flight was on time into HKG. Hotel rates were through the roof with a big event in HKG...so no LMO for me this time as our corporate rates were sold out and I am not spending 1000US$ a night, even thought it is a very very nice hotel...

Settled on the Park Lane.

We must have had the last floor of non-renovated rooms. This was the 10th floor and in fact, on the last day of our stay last week, we could hear lots of noise outside our room...sure enough, they were gutting it and all rooms - everything from all the rooms being ripped out. I am sure they were just waiting for us to leave. I should have had a party and trashed the room...just kidding of course...well, er not really....and I am a 100% sure they would not have cared..

The location is good in Causeway Bay but if I had to choose, I would stay at the Crowne Plaza over this hotel next time or at another place. There was nothing special that would make me choose this hotel over the other options in Causeway Bay. The crowds around the hotel can be rather annoying at times but at least there is a 24 hour supermarket right next door to buy beer and food and a Watson's wine store in the hotel to buy some vino for the room.

In any case, the room was clearly dated and just average. I had a corporate rate and was surprised to have gotten such a dated room.

Oh well, live and learn. My room looked like some of the photos posted on trip advisor back in 2007/2008!!

At least it was a decent view...



No pot of gold after this rainbow...



Did some shopping...mad house that day but great sales.



Can not go to HKG without going to underbridge for some typhoon shelter crab.



And cuz I am sort of a war buff, went to the HKG Museum of Coastal Defence. They had a specail exhibit on the Canadian involvement in the fall of HKG...no, it was not their fault...

http://hk.coastaldefence.museum/index.php

mkjr

Brand spanking new as far as I can tell although technically might be a reconstruction since the location for the station has been around since the early 1900s as I recall.

mkjr

Time to go home....

CX 826 - Personally, the hardest flight to stay awake on and I feel bad for those that saw logs the whole flight and arrive into YYZ at 8pm all wide awake...
HKG-YYZ - 77G
17:05
20:20
seats 21 D/G/K

Some time in the lounge...just a few shots as others have covered this off before...







First time in the new shower area...still cramped and the rooms are TOO hot...

Very nice to be able to see your gate from the Wing...that is a first for me.





This is rather funny given the flight from HND to HKG the day before...i tried to catch it at exactly the same place...



Great food and I actually LIKE the breakfest on arrival...sorry to the people who want a second dinner...it's breakfest local time so body was expecting something like this.





Love the dragon fruit...





Last meal before arrival...





Another decent flight.

I probably watched 6 movies but it has been so long I have forgotten what I watched....

I will post a few more details in due course and some other photos of a few things...pesky work.

Askartus

Did you saw some of the new Kyushu Shinkansen or even rode with one of them?
I am very interesed in any informations about these since I saw only the ad when being in Japan in 2010 ...

Hakata-eki (Hakata Station) is in the same place as the station opened in 1889, it was only torn down, rebuild and opened right before the opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen.

(more info at Wikipedia)

mkjr

Yes, we did go on the brand new Sakura train on the JR Kyushu Shinkansen. They are basically nicely decorated trains using lots of wood accents and entirely in a 2:2 configuration - versus the typical non Green 2:3 on most Shinkansen's. Why I have no pictures is beyond me...we took it from Hiroshima to Hakata...JR Pass is OK on the same but for a longer trip, it runs between all the way to Shin-Osaka and down to Kagoshima...very nice indeed.

Thankfully you can see some photos on the intenets...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sh...000_stand).JPG

mkjr

Many thanks for all your nice comments. I had not originally planned to do a TR which is why there are some photos missing in some places for flights etc. and airports…but there was enough to cobble together something that I think works.

The trouble with Japan is that 13 days takes several months of planning although I think it is required since the language barrier is very evident and my Japanese skills are very limited. That said, google translate gets about 60 percent of things and also with the pocket wifi, searching trains on hyperdia while actually on the station when things run south, really work well. That said, it was my 4th time to Japan and finally I did not feel intimidated with restaurants – i.e. knowing they would not speak English or have English menu’s and just going with the flow…although the irony is that I was a very picky eater as a kid.

As to getting around, you need to plan and using hyperdia http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ along with having good maps although with pocked wifi, google maps on an iphone without a sim and GPS sort of replaced that need.

Unfortunately not since our daughter was too young and we already had our meals planned out. We had to go back to Ten Ich since to this day, I have not had Tempura as good as it comes there.

I think the Ramen place is going for the experiment theme. As far as I could tell, broth was pork based but with a special soy based seasoning. http://www.kyoto-raken.jp/index.html Sort of just stumbled on the place and decided to try it out..no English really either.

I think my favorite place for department store food halls was in Hakata and the new station. I do not recall the place but the sushi that you could get along with all the other stuff is outstanding...personally, it is all good.

In Hakata we went to the following.

Shofukuji - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4804.html A few of my pics are of here…lots more that are not posted, first zen temple in Japan. Was not sure about the first green tea production. Also went to Kushida – where the annual festival starts…where I am trying to lift the rock… - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4808.html

We also went to Tochoji, the place with the very recently built Buddha that I think you refer to. This seems to be much more modern - http://yokanavi.com/eg/theme/detail/204 There is a little store that sells some famous cookies right there.

The one regret about my trip to Hakata was that I did not get a chance to see a ball game there and was there on a Sunday night versus a Saturday night so could not check out the Yatai culture…[BTW, I am not a foodie, and in fact sort of hate the term, we just love food and try to eat as much of it as we can, whether 10 cents or 300 per person…]

The scaffolding is down and was down in June last year…it is not a very long term thing. Just bad timing again. Name of the sushi and other restaurants are below.

For those that are interested, we bought our sumo tickets from Jeff at http://www.buysumotickets.com/ This was my second time using his services and it was great. We have purchased boxes both times but this time a family box since it worked out to about the same as a 3 person box. You should read up on this as an option since there are some rules about the same. I 100% endorse Jeff’s services. I have a vague recollection that you could buy tickets directly through the English link to http://t.pia.jp/ (BTW, if you use google translate you can pretty much find out when games etc. go on sale for baseball) but it appears as though they go on sale a week or so after Jeff can get them and I did not want to risk not getting them.

As to baseball tickets, a friend in Tokyo gets me the swallows tickets (and Giants although not this time) and my friend in Hiroshima got the carp tickets. Not sure if you can now buy them as a foreigner via ticket pia if you can navigate your way through the site….ticket pia is the equivalent of ticketmaster in NA.

As to the pocket WIFI, I used

Global Advanced Communications LLC
Headquarter: 3-9-3 Shinmachi Setagaya-ku Tokyo Japan Zip 154-0014
ServiceCenter: E-mail [email protected] Web site: www.globaladvancedcomm.com
TEL +81 3-5843-7636 (M to F 9:00-17:00JST) 　

Great service. Worked out to 10,300Yen for 13 days. Ready for pick up at NRT on arrival and then just dropped in the mail at HND on departure. There is no longer any need to pay for hotel internet while travelling and its works great on the trains. We had no issues with speed and could stream movies on XBMC on our ipad as well as US net flix, provided have a hidemyass VPM, which you can do for the month.

More details on where we ate for those interested:

Tokyo:

Sushisen – various locations We went to the one at 5-9-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, - VERY good value sushi/sashimi and beer and sake…and not a single tourist.
コティビル2 2 Kotibiru
TEL03-5537-2878 TEL03-5537-2878
http://sakanaya-group.com/01sushisen/00top/main.html

YAKINIKU TORAJI PARAM カレッタ汐留店 - 03-6215-8555 – great grill your own Waygu.
(Caretta Shiodome 46F, 1-8-1 Higashi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 〒 105-0021 (Very close to Park Hotel).

HIBIKI 6215-8051 – Amazing high end Izakaya.
Shiodome / Izakaya
Higashi-Shimbashi 1-8-1, Caretta Shiodome 46F. No English menu’s that we could see but just order one of the set menu’s…was around 6000Y per person.

Steak House Satou (サトウ) (one stop before Mitaka) – BEST PLACE that I could find for Waygu from Hida and at a very good price.
1-1-8 Kichijoji-honcho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo (東京都武蔵野市吉祥寺本町1-1-8)

Kyoto/Osaka:

Nenohi – WOW…no English menu, very limited english spoken, but select from one of the set menus depending on how much you want to spend and ask for a reasonable sake selection…I did not take pictures since I did not want to long for the same…well, I was pretty tired and hungry also. Probably in my top 10 meals ever.
06-6442-8190
Osaka: Umeda 2-chome / Izakaya (near Osaka Station – not shin Osaka…osaka)..
Umeda 2-4-9, Breeze Breeze 5F.

Ten-ichi: Kyoto Station
Phone: 075-352-5371

BTW, www.bento.com is a great site for reviews of places in Japan…best to arrange for reservations at the bar.

Hakata:

Yakitori Hachibei - http://www.hachibei.com/en/?page_id=107 (English Menu’s)
焼とりの八兵衛 天神店 / Yakitori-Hachibei Tenjin
〒810-0021
2-5-28 Imaizumi Chuo-ku Fukuoka
Access 10 min. walk from Subway Tenjin station
Phone & Fax 092-716-2778

Ichiran Ramen…Flagship store… 2-1-57 Daimyo Chuo-ku Fukuoka-shi Fukuoka-ken 810-0041
http://www.ichiran.co.jp/english/index.html
http://www.ichiran.co.jp/english/html/q_nishidori.html

As to the parental upgrade. Normally, I might not like it but the J cabin was pretty light and I was on vacation and on points and ended up with outstanding service given the FA was in the cabin basically the whole time. So even though she went to check on her child, she always came over and asked my daughter if she wanted anything etc. and topped up my champagne etc. It was very funny since the FA’s mother, po po to the child, spoke to my wife initially when we boarded and said to be very cross and firm with the little one if she gets out of hand…(all in Cantonese of course…)…although the child pretty much slept as much as my daughter.

allset2travel

mkjr,
Thanks for the list of eateries.

CanucksHKG

Awesome report!

Crampedin13A

Great TR. The food looks fantastic but here is my embarrassing question. Is it possible to get knives and forks in any of the restaurants? I'm absolutely useless with chopsticks and it is one of the things that has stopped me going to Japan which is a place I really want to see.

peachy3

Fantastic report. When are you going next? My wife and I have a list of favourite restaurants around Japan too. (although she is Japanese and I can understand moderate amounts...). Our best couple of meals from our lasts trip are in Koryu in Osaka, and Sushi Kanesaka in Tokyo. =)