Day 10: HK To Narita

Today started at 3am, for a 4:10 bus to the airport. I didn’t think there would be many on the bus, but it was pretty full by the end of the stops in Kowloon, and quite a few people got off at the airport. Upon walking in, there were many people sleeping on the benches, and a few Falun Gong practitioners in the arrival area. We met the tour guide & other tour members. The flight to Tokyo was with Dragonair, and I had some reservations about flying with them, especially with the competition flying the route (JAL, ANA, Cathay etc). Breakfast was served, and it was a choice of scrambled eggs or dim sum. I chose the dim sum, and wished I hadn’t, as the breakfast was finished in 6 bites (1 for each of the dim sum, and 2 for the BBQ pork bun). After breakfast, I pretty much fell asleep and slept until the descent to Tokyo. We arrived at a remote gate, and had a tour of the freight area on the way to the terminal. Immigration was quick, with the person directing the queues having a laugh with me when I mentioned we were Australians, and we were on our way to the hotel at Narita pretty quickly. After settling in, we walked to the temple at Narita, which involved passing a lot of different traditional shops, which sold items such as mochi, dried fish, miso & preserved vegetables. After having a look around the temple, it was free time, so we had a look at the shops before heading back to the hotel. After a while, we decided to walk to Jusco, which was around 10 min away. There wasn’t much there, but there were half price items at the supermarket, so those items were dinner.
We also watched TV. Under Siege 2 was the only English program on TV, so we watched that, followed by Winter Olympics coverage, mainly on Curling, but short track skating was also shown. After a long day, we were exhausted & fell asleep. Tomorrow, off to Mt Fuji.