Off to a Great Start

 

Last night our ANA flight to Tokyo  left on time at 0855 hrs. To our great surprise, we were greeted at the airport by wonderful service. There was no queue at the ANA check in, we breezed through immigration with all of the automated check in gates working and there was next to no wait at security. I was held up briefly for a visual inspection of my carry on baggage due to all of the charging wires for phones, watches ipads etc raising suspicion by the scanner operator, but we were soon on the other side in record time.

We had a light meal before boarding our flight and the surprises continued. The flight was less than half full and we both had a full row of 3 seats that we could lie down on to try to get some rest.

The plane was less than half full

The plane was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which had great legroom in economy and it was a good flight all of the way, arriving on time at Haneda Airport at 5.45 am.

Clearance through immigration was not quite as smooth at the Japanese end, but we were not in a hurry and were through the process in around 20 minutes. Immigration, Customs and Quarantine paperwork had been prefilled on a web site prior to leaving, so it was a matter of scanning QR codes but the time saving at Immigration was minimal as there was still a fair bit of manual intervention. 

All clear and through Customs with our baggage by around 6.20 am, we bought some bus tickets to take us to Yokohama, but the first bus doesn't leave until 8.40 am, so we found a coffee shop ( the only food and drink outlet open in the whole of Terminal 3 at this time of morning), and joined the considerable queue to get a cuppa.

Eventually 8.40 am came around, catching the bus was very straight forward and we were in Yokohama 20 minutes later after picking up passengers at Terminals 1 and 2. We disembarked at the Yamashita Park stop and had a short 10 minute walk to the Hyatt Regency where we are spending the night.

Of course at 9.30 am, there is no chance of checking in (official checkin is 3 pm), so we left our luggage, and wandered off to explore our neighbourhood. We are close to the harbour, as we anticipate walking down to board the Viking Orion tomorrow.

The weather today is perfect, mid 20's and clear skies. The International Cruise Terminal is only a short walk down the road, so that is our first stop.

Osenbashi International Cruise Terminal

There is no sign of the Viking Orion at the terminal, so we wander inside to have a look around and see a sign the the Viking Orion is not berthed at this terminal, but at a newly constructed terminal about a km away called the Shinko Terminal. We have all day, so we continued our walk along the harbour side in search of the Shinko Terminal.

A few city views along the way

We found Shinko Pier, a bit further along the harbour front, and sure enough, Viking Orion was alongside. A large restaurant, appropriately named Hammerhead, is a feature of the new terminal.

It is a fair way from our hotel, so plans may change tomorrow to get a cab rather than tow our bags around there. On our way back towards the hotel we noted a lonely wind generator looking over Yokohama Harbour doing its bit to save the World.

Lunch time is approaching and we decide we might walk to Chinatown to see if we can find something interesting. We have been overwhelmed by the number of school children on the streets (with teachers) and are not sure what is going on, other than there are a few spring garden festivals on in Yokohama at the moment.

Chinatown is bedlam, the streets are packed with school kids eating their hearts out. It is so busy it is difficult to walk down the main streets.

Lots of delicacies seem popular, but these toffee strawberries on a stick and whole crumbed fried squid on a stick seem the most popular.

Eventually we retreat to the backstreets, looking for restaurant that is away from the crowd and serves traditional Chinese food. We ended up finding one, and it the end had a relaxing and very filling lunch of good authentic food. The surprising thing was how cheap it was. Already we are noticing that Japan is now a lot cheaper than Australia for many things.

After lunch, it is still too early to check in to the hotel and we have walked around 12 km, so we head back to Yamashita Park, to see if we can find a seat in the shade to relax for a while. There is currently a Rose Festival on in the park, and it is part of a bigger Spring Flower Festival called the Necklace of Yokohama.

Yamashita Park

Rose Garden in the Park

Rather than falling asleep on a park bench, at 2 pm we took a short walk back to the hotel to see if our room was ready. Fortunately it was, so we checked in, had a shower and got a few hours sleep.

Dinner time came around and we decided to head back along the waterfront to an area called the Red Brick Warehouses, where we noticed this afternoon, they were setting up for a beer festival, with proper German accents. 

It was getting dark by the time we got there and the festival was in full swing complete with German sausages, pretzels, lots of different beers and many thirsty people. 

The warehouses themselves have been converted into commercial space with many restaurants and specialty shops. We chose to dine at one of the restaurants inside rather than fight the crowds at the beer festival. Aussie Chef Bill Grainger has a restaurant, Bill's, in the complex.

Lovely old buildings very well preserved

As part of the festival, the organisers thought of everything, including those who may want a place to have a cigarette, rather than out in the open air. A special tent was erected to meet their needs.