Singapore to Tokyo: 9-hour Layover in Bangkok, Teppanyaki Ten

Okay so here’s the beginning of Ottie’s and my trip to Tokyo last month. We flew onÂ Thai Airways, which provided an ample 20kg check-in luggage for free. However, Ottie brought up the idea of traveling light, and it’s a concept I’ve been willing to try for a while now, not least because of this particular incident the last time I visited Japan. 😂Â I even got a head start practising light-packing on my recent trip to Perth! Granted, Perth was only four days long while this Tokyo trip was about eleven days… but bringing only carry-on luggage and a haversack got me seriously considering what was truly needed, and just how much stuff we hold on to. I’ve even started planning for future trips in which I travel sparse, soÂ I think it’s here to stay.

Here’s a selfie at Singapore Changi Airport. Mum and her friend T dropped us off, but I’m not sure if T wants to be on the blog so I’ve chosen this picture which, by the way, encapsulates our traitsÂ – I’m vain (is this even news to anyone judging from the fact that I own a blog), Ottie’s happy to derp around, and Mum’s always on the move. Unless she’s not, in which case she can usually be found in a weird sleeping situation. I’ve snapped pictures of her snoozing with an ice cream stick still in her mouth on the living room sofa.

Anyway, I purposely chose a flight with aÂ nine-hour layover in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. Ottie is unable to sleep on planes, and I wanted him rested for Tokyo, so this was the best option withinÂ our budgetÂ – our roundtrip flight tickets cost about SGD$506 inclusive of travel insurance.

We spent the night atÂ Louis’ Tavern Dayrooms Transit Hotel upon arriving. The Agoda listing only offersÂ the 6Â hour stay, but they actually have rooms forÂ 4 hours (THB$3,300), 8Â hours (THB$5,400), 10Â hours (THB$6,400), and 12 hours (THB$7,400), which we found out when we went to enquire about vacancies at the front desk.

The room was small but clean, and the hot shower was just what we both needed before tucking in for the next 8 hours. Another plus point for staying in this hotel was that we’d already cleared customs and could head directly to our boarding gate after checking out.

Complimentary breakfast was available, so we got up just a bit earlier to hit the small spread.

Saying goodbye to the interesting architecture of Suvarnabhumi airport.

And then we arrived at Narita, Japan.

We bought ourselves Narita Express Train tickets which would bring us directly to Shibuya station, where we’d spend the next four nights lodging at.

Look I even dug up an old red beanie I bought more than a decade ago! I had too much fun propping it up pretending to be a Smurf that I forgot to adjust it backÂ down for my quick outfit snaps.

Wearing Forever 21 top, Geb leggings, Firmoo glasses, Stance socks, ALDO bag, Gamiss velvet bomber jacket.

As a treat to ourselves for making it this far on our own without any major mishaps, our first meal in Tokyo was a lavish dinner at Teppanyaki Ten. We ordered the Lobster Course for Â¥7,800 per person, which consisted of the following dishes:

1. Crab Salad 2. Grilled Sea Urchin 3. Today’s Recommendation
I immediately fell in love with the crab salad. It remained my favourite dish out of all the other savoury delicacies. I couldn’t catch what our waiter said when they served up our third dish with ‘Today’s Recommendation’, and Ottie and I weren’t able to discern the exact meat it belonged to, so I’m going to say that it was the restaurant’s ‘catch of the day’. Probably fish, but then again I once completely mistook soy chicken for real chicken at Native Foods.