Passion is Thy Name!

Tomorrow, my parents are heading out to Medan for a 5-day vacation. *jealous*
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Talking to them about their vacation kinda reminded me of the post I was supposed to share here that got delayed. My Tsukiji story. Sorry folks, for taking so long to blog about it. *sheepish grin*
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So, here goes. Bear in mind that it’s gonna be fairly long, ok?
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The original plan was to wake up early (as in 5am early), have my breakfast at the hotel, then head out to the world’s largest wholesale fish & seafood market. I was told that it’s sacrilege to leave Tokyo without a visit to this place.
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As like alot of things in Life, actual event did not happen as planned. I woke up at 7am and by the time I was done with breakfast and on the train to Tsukiji, it was about 8-ish already.
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A little bit of background info. Read here for its origin. And here for some important tips when visiting Tsukiji.
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Since I got there late, I missed the auction.
However, what I did see upon reaching Tsukiji left one of the deepest imprints in my mind and automatically got categorised as one of my never-to-be-forgotten travel experiences.
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First, it was the motorcycle porters that had me transfixed.
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I was totally fascinated watching them zoom all around the huge marketplace. In fact, they were zooming by so fast that it was hard to take pictures of them.
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Then, I saw the seafood. The super-duper fresh seafood. It was my wildest sashimi dream come true!
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My favourite sushi ingredient - Salmon. *droooool*
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Huge-ass scallops. Yummieee~~
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And giant prawns.
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…and ‘Sand Crabs’.
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Sweetheart will wrinkle his nose at the below picture. Something he won’t touch with a long, long pole. Not the bottom box, but the ones with the tentacles. Yup, my man is anti-sotong (literally, not figuratively :p).
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And the key player at the entire marketplace - tuna. The freshest tuna I’ve ever set eyes on.
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Needless to say, the tools used to cut the fishes were industrial-sized machines that had me gawking at them. They must be used to silly facial expressions from tourists considering it’s marked as one of the most popular tourist spot in Tokyo.
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This friendly old man actually posed for a shot with his oroshi hocho. And yes, that is a tuna head.
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Go here to see some more great pictures of Tsukiji.
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I kept a lookout but I could not find any Fugu Fishes. Just lots and lots of tuna everywhere. Darn. I was kinda looking forward to having my first Fugu experience, more like scary anticipation. :\
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Other than the fresh seafood, there are also other sorts of things to check out in that fascinating place.
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I got excited when I saw my all-time favourite Jap food - UNAGI!
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And I was told that the ULTIMATEST sushi experience would be to eat at one of the tiny sushi bars just in front of the marketplace.
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I wanted to try it reeeeallly bad. Then, I saw this.
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And it was moving half an inch every 10 minutes. Honest! I peeked into one of those sushi bars and to my disbelief, counted 6 to 8 seats per sushi bar! No wonder the lines were moving super slowly. Yet, folks were patiently waiting in line for their turn at the freshest sushi in the whole friggin’ world!
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I decided that it’ll be one experience I’m willing to forgo.
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I must say I felt mighty glad with my decision when I found out much, much later that folks are expected to stand in line for at least one full hour before they get seats at those sushi bars. I love my sushi but no, I am not willing to stand for an entire hour just to watch others stuff their faces with my fav food while clutching my growling tummy. :\
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So, I walked around and found some noodle shops.
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Then, I saw this.
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It’s gotta be the yummiest looking Japanese curry I’ve ever seen!
*sluuuuurrrrrrrrppppppppppppp*
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Since I am more a noodle rather than a rice person, I opted for a bowl of tasty-looking noodles. It was more delicious than it looked.
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And I had to stand up the whole time eating the noodles. No tables and chairs. Just bar-like counters to put the bowls and devour the delish noodles. Best I’ve had ever!
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My Tsukiji adventure ended shortly after coz I had a date at Shibuya.

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There you go. My super delayed sharing on the best fishmarketing experience I’ve ever had in my entire life. And I am mighty glad I dragged my ass out of bed early that beautiful Saturday morning.