[Thailand Travel Diary / Part 1] From Departure to the Book Expo

Hi, it’s Namaniku here!

As the title says, I recently went to Thailand to attend a signing event at the Book Expo held in Bangkok! Besides the signing, I enjoyed a lot of delicious Thai food and explored unique places in Thailand, so I'll be sharing tons of photos in this travel diary!

I had Tohgoh and Sayama go to Thailand as well! (It’s unrelated to the main story, though.) Feel free to take a look if you’d like!

[Day 1 (Departure Day)]

So, on day one, I headed to Narita Airport to fly to Bangkok. Our flight was at noon, and it takes about 7 hours to get from Japan to Bangkok, so we expected to arrive by the evening. (Bangkok is 2 hours behind Japan, so we got there around 5 PM). Since this was practically my first time going abroad, I was feeling pretty nervous. Luckily, I had the company of Ayumi-sensei and Y-chan from YURI HUB, who traveled with me from departure until our return. Thank you, YURI HUB team, for everything!

I flew with Thai Airways, and here’s what the in-flight meal looked like! For the main course, I could choose between chicken or fish, and I went with fish. It came with tofu, carrots, broccoli, and other vegetables, seasoned almost like a hot pot. It was delicious! (I’d heard Thai Airways is known for good in-flight meals.) It even came with chocolate cake for dessert, so I was totally satisfied. In fact, the portion was so generous that I had to save the bread for later...haha.

Then, about three hours later, they served us a snack, which surprised me! It was like a pizza stick, and the dough was soft like bread—also really tasty. I didn’t know international flights included snacks too...so impressive!

And here’s a shot I took because I was shocked—the lighting in the plane looked like a love hotel. It’s way too suggestive...

Before I knew it, after doing this and that, we arrived in Bangkok! I was a bit worried that they’d ask me a lot of questions at immigration, but they didn’t ask me anything, and it was over in no time. I was so relieved! ( (Especially since my English isn’t great)

Once we reached the airport, Thai language signs were everywhere, and all the conversations around me were in different languages. That’s when I started to feel, “Wow, I’m really overseas!”

After meeting up with the team from lily house., who invited me to the signing event, we headed out for some Thai food! I don’t remember the names of the dishes, so I can’t tell you exactly what I loved, but everything was really tasty! I love Khao Man Gai, but every time I tried other Thai dishes, I was amazed by the different spices and flavors that we don’t have in Japan. There seemed to be a lot of shrimp and crab dishes too (maybe it was just this place?), and everything was so delicious!

It was also a great time talking with the team from lily house.! Thinking about it now, it’s really amazing that I could talk with people in Thailand through our shared love of yuri. Also, the image is of Tohgoh and Sayama, which I drew for the signing event in Thailand. Since I was going all the way to Thailand, I made an acrylic stand of them just for personal use. Having an acrylic stand is great—you can take photos together in all kinds of places!

After dinner, we headed to the hotel where we’d be staying during our time in Thailand. The lobby was decorated for Halloween and looked so cute—with fake bugs scattered everywhere, which was oddly realistic...haha. I stayed with two people from YURI HUB, and the place was so spacious with a kitchen, a washing machine, and separate rooms that it felt more like a home than a hotel! It was really comfortable to stay there!

After that, we decided to pick up a few things and went to the nearby 7-Eleven. I always get so excited when I see familiar stores from Japan abroad! However, it was quite different from Japanese 7-Elevens; there were so many types of cosmetics, and they even sold burgers in bags, which was fun to see! I didn't try the bagged burgers, but they looked delicious!

That night, I slept deeply—probably from the travel exhaustion.

[Day 2 (Book Expo)]

Day two in Bangkok!

Today, we went to the Book Expo, where I’d be signing the following day! It seems like a huge event that combines the corporate version of Comiket and a game show, running for ten days. What an amazing event...

The first pic is of the big building where the Book Expo is happening, taken from my hotel. It was super close, so we could just walk there easily!

The second photo is our breakfast—congee ordered through the delivery app. It was so comforting and delicious!

So, we made it to the Book Expo! There were so many people—it was just as lively as Comiket! I felt a strange sense of comfort in the familiar atmosphere of a doujin event. At the same time, I met up with B-san and M-san, who love Thai GL and happened to be in Thailand around the same time, as well as O-san, who was there for work. We were a group of six exploring everything together. It’s kind of funny and amazing to meet so many Japanese friends abroad!

By the way, I was informed by lily house. that there might be promotional images of the works displayed on the venue's LED screen, and they featured my work from Original Yuri Compilation Book（5）! How amazing! Natsuka-chan is making her debut in Thailand...

They even had a stage at the venue where actors and actresses gave interviews and signed autographs. I’m not very familiar with Thai actresses, but they were all stunning—long legs and incredibly cute. It was truly a feast for the eyes. Thailand’s sense of beauty is amazing…

And finally, we made it to the lily house. booth!

Yes, it’s here!! I was really grateful for the huge display!

They had various shikishi and previous publications displayed like this! While I was snapping this picture, I even saw someone picking up Love Only the Body and realized that people in Thailand were reading it too…!! Seeing people actually holding my work in their hands was so heartwarming! (And having it close to Inui’s work was also nice!)

After browsing the other booths, I noticed that many of them had elaborate displays—super impressive! On the upper floor, there was something like a game show happening, so there were a lot of cosplayers, which was fun to see! There seemed to be a lot of people cosplaying as characters from Genshin and Oshi no Ko, which are popular worldwide. It was neat to see that!

After the Book Expo, we went to another Thai restaurant! I tried LEO, a Thai beer, which was very refreshing with ice in it and easy to drink. It's the kind of drink that makes you want to keep having more!

This dish is called Mu Kratha. It was like a combination of Genghis Khan and hot pot. You cook the meat on top and mix the flowing fat into the pot below as you eat. It was incredibly delicious! The way the fat drips down and changes the flavor of the broth below, increasing its umami, was revolutionary and interesting. It was also great to have instant noodles as a finishing touch!

After that, we moved to a bar and had a few drinks. They accidentally forgot to add rum to my cocktail, and this incredibly beautiful staff came over to apologize and make me another one. She was so gorgeous that I barely registered what she was saying. When I told her it was okay, she looked so dejected and said, 'I’m sorry,' which was incredibly cute. Honestly, all I remember is how adorable she was!

We also practiced using different pens for the signing the next day, though I accidentally messed up a few signatures…fingers crossed I won’t mess up tomorrow!

This got a bit long, but that wraps up part one! I’ll share the signing event and our return trip in part two, which I’ll post tomorrow at 8 PM. I would be really happy if you could read it again tomorrow!

Thank you so much for reading this far!

Namaniku