Day 15: Tokyo-Bangkok in an A380!
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My flight for Bangkok didn’t leave until 17:30, so I had some time to explore Tokyo before heading for the airport. My first stop was the Tsukiji Fish market, it has some of the best sushi in the world. The fish are caught, auctioned off and served up in sushi and sashimi within hours. It be hard to get fresher fish than that.
I chose Dawai Sushi, which has a very good reputation. The lineup to get in was at least 30 people long, so I figured I had an hour wait. However almost as soon as I arrived, 1 seat opened up. Everyone else in line was part of a group, so I skipped ahead and got in! The advantages of being a single traveller….
The place only has 14 seats, and the seating is quite tight – but who cares when your just there for the food anyway. The sushi is freshly prepared right in front of you. I had a set menu for $35, which included a selection of rolls.
I honestly don’t know what some of the sea food I ate was, but hey if you already paid $35 for it you may as well eat it. Everything was excellent in any event. I had a brief look at the Ueno Zoo, than it was time to head for the airport again.
My train for the airport
This was my first ride on an A380, the double decker Airbus plane.
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View of the first class cabin
Another cabin view..
The cabin was nice and spacious. Let’s face it, inside it looks like just another aircraft – but the thing I noticed the most was how quiet the cabin was. Even without noise cancelling headphones on, you barely realize your on a plane. Thai has 12 first class seats, whereas most airlines only have 8 so the service wasn’t quite as good an ANA for example – but overall I’m still quite happy with it.
After departure from Bangkok, dinner was served.
Chicken Yakatori
My main course was a soy glazed pork belly, which was excellent.
Overall it’s a very comfortable aircraft to fly on, and perhaps one of the coolest parts is the camera located on the tail which you can see throughout the flight. I’ll capture a shot of it on my next flight to Frankfurt.
Upon landing in Bangkok, there are buggies to escort you straight to immigration. I got through quickly in the crew lane, picked up my bag and headed into town on the airport train. I’m fairly sure I was the only one travelling in first class who took the train into town. I firmly believe in avoiding taxis wherever possible, since especially in developing countries there is a high likelihood they will try to scam you in someway or another. Since Bangkok traffic can be terrible in any event, the train skips the traffic jams. It took about 45minutes to get from the airport to my hotel, which isn’t too far off what a cab would of taken anyway. I have one day to explore Bangkok before heading off to India!