Week 51: First Impression of Bangkok

I am in bangkok today!

Preparation

If you are from mainland China, from Sep. 25th 2023, it will be free VISA period for 5 months, everyone can have a 30 days stay in Thailand. However, believe me, it will be difficult to leave China. Nearly every officer will check you preparations, like return ticket, hotel booking and at least 20 thousand Baht in cash.

Anyway, As you all know, I applied E-VISA, which costs 240 RMB. I can stay in Thailand for 60 days to 90 days. I need to prepare a return ticket, hotel booking and at least 5000 RMB in bank and employment certificate. I planned a long and touchable article to show how I love Thailand and I can totally afford the trip (with GPT support for sure). Finally, I was approved in a week. This E-VISA is like a golden ticket. I was with two elder travel groups on the plane, which made me super outstanding, that I was the only young man. So every officer asked my preparation, and the only thing I need to do is to show my E-VISA.

About return ticket, most ticket in 3 months are not refundable and expensive. I fond emirates airline supply a refundable ticket. Although, there are not enough flights from Thailand to Mainland China, I found many flights to Hong Kong. Almost an hour a flight.

A trip itinerary is required. No one can be sure about all the details, 穷游网 provide a tool to make trip plans and export into PDF in English. Be sure to check the file, the translation is not perfect.

Bank proof can apply on mobile app, it was the simplest thing in the preparations.

Network, I have a Hong Kong SIM card, which provides unlimited amount network in Thailand package(limited speed). Network was an important thing, I met a guy, who don’t understand English nor Thai, he was lost in the airport, can not find his hotel.

English, English and English. Yes, many signs in Thailand are Thai-English-Chinese, but most people here can only communicate with simple English.

First Impression

Dynamic, I have to say. As I was checking in at the airport, the line I was in was full of different people with different languages. The trip from the airport to bangkok downtown, I was a three public transports, airport line which is Thai-English-Chinese, BTS which is Thai-English(some are Germany), MTR which is Thai-English-Japanese.

Payment, not all merchants support Alipay or WeChat pay. I tried 7-11 and Starbucks, many stores in airport they only accept cash.

As far as I can see, bangkok is like Hong Kong, but a lot cheaper.