After spending less than 12 hours in Bangkok, I was on my way back to the airport this morning.
Up at 8:00 and checked out and hopping in my Bolt by 8:30.
Bolt, Thailand’s version of Uber, gives you a choice of car style and, again, I opted for the comfort price and an EV car with air conditioning.
Oh my God, the a/c is so worth the extra money and the car was pretty sleek too.
My driver asked if I wanted to take the highway.
I asked him what the difference was and he said the highway would get me to the airport twice as fast at 40 minutes instead of 80.
The catch was I would have to pay him for the 90baht and 50baht tolls.
Doing some quick math, I figured for an extra 5 bucks it was worth it.
DMK airport
Unlike the craziness of the airport in Kathmandu yesterday, it was back to normal at the DMK airport here in Bangkok.
No crowds outside, no line to get in, and no forced visit to the checkin counter.
In fact from the time I entered the airport to the time I was through immigration and security, only 10 minutes had passed.
Two hours til departure…
First things first – refill my water bottle.
And then, breakfast.
The DMK airport has no shortage of restaurants. Honestly I can’t think of another airport I’ve visited that had so many places to get some food.
Even though it was technically breakfast time, I wanted me some good ol Thai food.
Gotta maximize my ultra short time here in Thailand, right?
Luckily, among the McDonalds and the Dairy Queen were a bunch of places that offered Thai and Asian dishes.
I sat down and ordered some pad thai.
Yeah, yeah, I know I just had pad thai literally 9 hours ago but, damn, I just can’t resist the alure of this amazing dish.
I arrived at the gate to find a woman holding up a sample paper ticket and going around the room.
I told her I only had an online QR code and she directed me to go to the boarding desk to get them to print one for me.
Strange that this has happened to me on back to back days where basically the online checkin meant absolutely nothing.
This time, however, I could get the paper ticket at the boarding desk which meant I didn’t have to pay to check in my overweight bag.
So, I guess the online checkin was good for something after all.
Bangkok to Osaka
At 11:30am we were taking off on our 6 hour flight to Osaka.
With a time zone change of 2 hours, we wouldn’t be arriving there until 7:30 tonight.
I was in one of the last boarding groups and sat in the aisle seat I had paid extra for.
Turns out I could have saved that money because, as they finished their boarding, I couldn’t help but notice there was row after row of empty seats.
Naturally I asked the flight attendant if I could move to one of them and, just like that, I had an entire 4 seat row all to myself.
Shame this wasn’t an overnight flight cause I think I could have really got some decent sleep with this setup.
Sadly I have to take marks off for Air Asia because, despite this being a 6 hour flight, no meal was included.
Instead they had a “pay as you go” menu but sadly all the meals had either gluten or soy in them.
Damn. And I had just literally eaten the last of my granola bars I had packed for this trip on yesterday’s flight.
Oh well, live and learn I guess. At least I had some pad thai in my belly.
Osaka
Our flight actually arrived a half hour early and, after going through immigration, I met my brother Ben waiting for me on the other side.
Ben has lived in Osaka for over 20 years and while he’s come back to visit Vancouver a few times, I’ve only come to visit him here one other time back on my Asia Trip in 2014.
It was only 19c here and no humidity. Such a nice change from the warmer temperatures I’ve had the last few days.
After an hour long bus ride we had arrived at his apartment.
It had been almost 10 hours since I had eaten as I was hankering for some nice authentic Japanese food.
Ben’s friend Ai joined us as and, to my surprise, she welcomed me with a nice gift bag of different gluten free snacks.
Wow, what a sweet gesture. I was genuinely moved that someone had gone out of their way to locate gluten free items here in Osaka for me.
At 8:30 the three of us went out into the dark Osaka streets in search of a gluten free place I had marked on my map.
OKO Okonomiyaki
The place was OKO Okonomiyaki which is one of the most rated places I’ve ever seen on the Find Me GF app.
The app, by the way, shows a list of gluten free places around your location and is totally community driven.
The reviews are from fellow celiacs who have visited these places. In fact, I just left a bunch of reviews on it during my time in Kathmandu.
Anyway, like I said, this place had a ton of reviews so it was a must visit for me.
It’s a small little shop run by one woman. She takes the orders and makes the food.
You grab your own drinks, put money in the jar, and squeeze the rubber chicken hanging from the ceiling to let her know you’re taking drinks.
You pick up the food, bring it to the small dining area on the upper floor, eat, and then clean up after yourselves.
As for food, the place specializes in Okonomiyaki which is a pancake filled with cabbage and various other ingredients.
We chose to share the “Addictive Beef” and “Shrimp and Asparagus” ones along with a side of gluten free gyoza.
And holy cow! What a great meal!
So filling and a beautiful introduction to all the amazing Japanese food I’m going to be able to enjoy over the next couple of days.
After dinner we stopped my a huge 6 floor department store to pick up yet another plug adapter so I can plug my laptop into an adapter which now fits in this new adapter.
One stop for ice cream, a quick cab ride home, and a walk through the park and we said our goodbyes to Ai.
At just before midnight we were back at Ben’s place.
What a day!
Great to be here in Japan again and, of course, it’s great to be reunited with my brother again.
Tomorrow is a full day with a day trip to Nara to see a bunch of deer and then a Japanese baseball game at night.
Yes, the Tibet/Nepal trip is on it’s final days but, boy, is there gonna be alot of fun here in Japan…
