Bye Bye Bangkok

When I said I had one last go at the shops in Bangkok I should have included that I really had to restrain myself. It felt like I had one last chance at civilization before heading off into the wilderness. Really you can find most things in Japan, however not everything. Thailand is a little closer to western culture in the shopping sense. Fashion is more similar, there are more familiar brands. Someone explained Japanese products to me by saying that the quality is so good, and as a result consumers are so loyal to their brands, that it is hard for international brands to break into the Japanese market, even well known ones.

The influence seems more British in Thailand, where if in Japan there's another influnce shopping wise it's French. British was fine by me though- Boots, Tesco, and though I didn't think about/confirm it till I was back in Japan Marks & Spencer. It was all I could do to restrain myself from stocking up and making myself a care package of all those things that I missed but didn't realise (like two ply toilet paper among other things). Even the bookstores (which had good selections of books) had a more British selection of books. How do I define this you ask? I can't but there is a subtle difference.

It was all good, and I restrained myself until I got to duty free. Hard alcohol, one of the things you might think of to buy at duty free, is quite cheap in Japan, so I didn't need to stock up on that but there were other things that I knew were very cheap compared to what I'd pay for them in Japan so I did stock up. Really, it just makes economic sense. I'm sure I saved money in the long run.

My other airport adventures were also nothing to sneeze at. I managed to drop my boarding pass and walk away from it. Only to realise, panic, look back and see it on the floor. Whoops, have never done that before. Well that's not quite true. I did lose a Eurostar ticket once and have to pay almost half the original ticket price for a reprinted ticket. Also, I can say that I've been to the Philippines as we had a, albeit brief, layover in Manila.

Then on arriving in Osaka and expressing confusion as to what I should be declaring (I really wasn't sure and furthermore didn't know if there was a monetary limit to what I could bring in but nervous about whether I might be over it.) I was asked to step aside for just a moment. When I further inquired about what I should be declaring I was told cigarettes, alcohol, illegal drugs (Why would I declare them if I had managed to make it that far? Not that the thought had ever even crossed my mind though.). Of course not, nothing to declare but the customs official still asked to search my purse - brave woman - and she did very thoroughly. Anyone else who's ever seen my purse would probably decline the chance to actually delve into it by choice. Yet despite the fact that she looked very closely through my purse she neglected my overstuff suitcase and second bag (in all fairness I had over packed in the first place so it didn't take much to require a second small bag), not that she would have found anything there. Anyhow got the all clear and off I went.

I'm happy to report that I'm safely back at home in Osaka. It is warmer than when I left; hurrah! My apartment actually felt warm when I walked in, without having heat on for 2 weeks. The laundry's half done and though it was clean when I left mhy apartment now looks like it's been hit by a cyclone. And I haven't missed the sakura (cherry blossoms). It's all good.