Have sufficiently recovered from the Chinese bug to at least start on my trip report from the Mariner Tokyo to Hong Kong journey. (For those of you still suffering from the bug, note that it responds well to antibiotics.)

Arriving in Tokyo: Flight was about an hour late, which put us into the midst of a large number of arriving flights. Which meant a looooong line at immigration. But the line moved relatively quickly; I cleared in a little over 30 minutes.

To get into Tokyo, the limousine bus service is definitely the way to go. Walk up, buy a ticket, go out the door, and there it is. Their system for tagging baggage and putting people on the right bus looks like chaos at first, but turns out to be highly efficient. The bus took me straight to my hotel, with only two other stops beforehand.

Stayed at the Palace Hotel the first night; a lovely view of the gardens of the Imperial Palace, and a nice, large, well-equipped room. My rate was for 24 hours, so by checking in at around 7:00 pm, I had until that time the next day to check out. Which meant I could use the hotel as my base of exploration for the next day.

Monday morning, up with the sun. Took an early morning stroll through the park that circles the Imperial Palace. Clean and nicely-kept. But the big surprise was the number of people sleeping on the park benches. One doesn't usually associate Tokyo with homelessness, but by the time I'd finished the circle I'd probably seen a good dozen people sleeping on those benches.

About halfway through the circle, rush hour was starting to come alive. In Tokyo, bicycles travel on the sidewalk. I'd assumed that, because people drive on the left side in Tokyo, bikes would travel to the left as well. Not necessarily the case: they travel wherever they can. Though the sidewalks are wide, the mix of walkers, runners/joggers, and bikers made for a bit of chaos at times.

On return to the hotel, discovered a Citibank branch a block away, so getting yen from the ATM was a cinch. There was a subway stop right behind the hotel, where I purchased an all-day ticket: definitely the way to go.

Took the subway to the Asakusa district, exploring the Temple Senso-Ji. Lots of shops and little stands in the area. Surprisingly delicious rice crackers sold at many of them. Nothing like what you get in the U.S. Bought a couple of bags for gifts. The best find was a shop that sells hand-printed hand towels of beautiful, limited edition, designs. Average price equal to about $12, so this was a good source of gifts. The shop is in the alleyway to the far left as you leave the temple.

Then took the subway to the Tsujiki fish market for lunch. I'd been told that you can no longer watch the auction, so I hadn't bothered to go early in the morning. Mid afternoon was wild enough--lots of bustle and movement. The truly amazing thing was the complete lack of fish odor. Got my lunch by walking up to one of the 3-stool stalls next to the market house. There was nothing in English there, so a bit of a language barrier, but the chef knew the term "combination platter", so I got an assortment of the best sushi I've ever eaten for about $12.

Back to the hotel to check out and go to the ship. The taxi driver spoke no English, but the bellman explained to him exactly where to go, so off I headed to the ship--about a 15-minute cab ride away. The fascinating thing to me, and a sight I'd soon grow accustomed to, was all the terraces on the high-rise apartment buildings that were filled with laundry hanging out to dry.

Arrived at the dock to learn that the ship had only just docked--a typhoon had delayed its arrival, and it wasn't ready to take passengers. So, they took my luggage and put me on a bus to the Hotel Imperial, where other Mariner passengers were in a holding cell--er, I mean hospitality suite--waiting for the ship to be ready.

Met Jody and Kathy immediately upon arrival there. A real benefit of putting your picture on the avatar--you can actually recognize one another. No sooner settled in than we were on a bus back to the ship. By this time, the previous 15-minute trip was closer to an hour, thanks to rush hour traffic.

Check in was smooth and quick, and the bags were waiting in my room. So far so good.

To be continued....