It’s that time of the year again: I need to do a visa run. It’s been three months since I’ve been in Penang, but here I am once more, waiting for my visa. One of the pains about working for a smaller company outside of Bangkok is that the visa situation is a little different. When I was in Bangkok, I got my three-month, non-immigrant B visa and then the company I worked for arranged my work permit and my one-year extension to stay without me having to leave the country again.

In Phuket, after getting my three-month visa, my company arranged my work permit, but then I’ve had to leave Thailand once more to get a multiple-entry, one-year non-immigrant B. Such a bind! And so expensive.

The only airline I know of that flies Phuket to Penang is Flireflyz. I had never heard of the airline before, but I had no choice but to use it. The airline has one flight a day to Penang and the ticket cost me the equivalent of about 2,600 baht. Although I did eventually make it to Penang, the flight was more than four hours delayed. I became quite ill at Phuket Airport and passed out shivering on a row of chairs for the majority of those four hours.

The plane was the smallest I’ve ever been on, and it had actual propellers as opposed to engines. But still, we made it. To my disgust, the taxi from the airport to Chulia Street cost me RM57 (about 570 baht). It was about 1 am, so I may have been paying a nighttime fee, but considering the fee has been about RM40 in the past, I was a little annoyed. I was too tired and too sick to argue about the matter and just fell into the taxi and took a nap.

I’m staying at Banana guesthouse. My room is little more than a box, but at RM18 a night I don’t care. They have wireless Internet too, and so I have my laptop along with me.

A one-year, multiple-entry non-immigrant B visa costs RM550 (about 5,500 baht). As of July 2, the visa prices went up 10%. A three-month non-im B is now RM220. I arranged for the agent at Banana to deal with my visa because I didn’t think I was going to be able to wake up in time to go to the consulate myself. The fee was RM40, which is actually the same as a taxi to the consulate and back twice (once to take your application and once to pick the passport up the next day); not a bad deal.

As it is, I’m now broke, sick, tired and have nothing to do until I go home on Saturday. I have nothing against Penang – it’s a great place – but I’ve been here twice already and have seen all I want to see of it.

What’s a boy to do?

Techno’ tags: Malaysia, Penang, Thai visa

If you’re travelling to Thailand, or anywhere else for that matter, then one of the first things you will need to purchase before you get to your destination is a backpack. Your backpack is your life source, so if you’ve chosen the life of a backpacker, you ought to get a decent bit of kit.

The more you can spend on your backpack the better, but you also want something that isn’t going to weigh you down too much. I’m a big fan of travelling light and so I would recommend you don’t go overboard with the size of your backpack, because there will be days when you really don’t want to lug your pack around when you are travelling.

For added convenience, there are a number of places on the web where you can order a cheap backpack and have it delivered to your door. US Outdoor is one such online store that stocks a variety of backpacks, ideal for travelling. US Outdoor delivers internationally and stocks various bit of travelling gear.

For a proper backpack, the prices typically range from about $250 up to about $650. You get what you pay for, and when you’re travelling around Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia, the last thing you want if for your backpack to start falling apart. The quality of backpacks you can buy out in Southeast Asia is often quite low, with plenty of cheap imitation packs available in markets and malls. A decent pack should last for years.

You can pick up smaller backpacks from about $50. These are ideal for using as day bags when you’re out touring the sights. You will need a day bag of some sort, but it’s best to keep it as small as possible.

Techno’ tags: Thailand, Southeast Asia, Travelling, Backpacks

This is a sponsored post, but one that I’d hope people would find useful.

Fancy a trip to your own private island? Who wouldn’t?! Phuket has a reputation for being overdeveloped and too touristy, but the only people who say that are the people who only visit the tourist areas. There are plenty of hidden gems dotted around Thailand’s biggest island.

One such gem is Rang Yai island, a tiny patch of land off Phuket’s east coast. It’s accessible via speed boat from Sapam Bay. I went there yesterday to see what was up and had a great time. The speed boat ride to the island took about 20 minutes and me and two friends were greeted at the island by the island manager and given a coconut each.

Rang Yai island has its own pearl farm (there are lots of pearl farms in Phuket) and we were given an informative talk about pearls, oysters and the farm itself. I wasn’t all that interested in the talk, but if you’re big on pearls or on holiday then this is a nice touch.

As you’d expect, after the pearl talk we were taken to a shop selling all manner of pearl products. Again, if you love pearls, or if you’re after some presents, you can buy or just have a look. There was no pressure to make a purchase, but pearls aren’t exactly my thing.

The island itself is tiny. There are bikes for hire and you can follow a trail around the island. It took about 20 minutes. If we’d had more time there were a few secluded spots that would have been worth stopping at.

The highlight of the day (as with so many of my days) was lunch. The food was fab, with plenty of fish and various Thai dishes. There wasn’t anybody else at the island because it’s currently green season (low season) in Phuket, and there has been some maintenance work being done on the bungalows.

If you want to stay in one of the bungalows, it’ll set you back 1,000 baht a night, which I think is reasonable. On the island there are a bunch of activities to keep you occupied. I saw outdoor dartboards, petonque, a volleyball net, snorkeling gear, kayaks and a mini-golf course. I was quite keen to play golf but we didn’t have enough time.

The beach was clean and the water warm, although not 100% clear. We were warned about jelly fish which had me a bit worried, but luckily there were no dramas.

Most people visit the island as part of a day trip from Phuket. There are a number of full-day and half-day packages available, from 1,200 to 2,200 baht (600 up to 1,100 for children under 12 years old). The island people will pick you up from your hotel and take care of everything. There’s also the option to camp at the island if you’re into sleeping in a tent.

If you’re looking for a romantic place to get married, Rang Yai wouldn’t be a bad choice. They also promote “team building” events.

For further information email info@rangyaiisland-phuket.com or call 076-239893-4, 076-238565-6.

Techno’ tags: Thailand, Phuket, Island, Beach

Thailand’s government’s latest campaign to boost tourism in Thailand is the unveiling of the country’s “Seven Amazing Wonders”. What are those wonders? you might ask. Wat Pho? Jatujak weekend market? Vensus Flytrap, Thailand’s all-ladyboy pop group? Not quite. Thailand’s Seven Amazing Wonders, according to the Bangkok Post today, are:

• Thai hospitality
• Historical sites
• Beaches
• Natural attractions
• Health services
• “Trendy” spots such as boutique hotels
• Festivals

Those guys at TAT aren’t exactly the most creative bunch. After previous campaigns like “Amazing Thailand” and “Visit Thailand Year 1988” tourist will now be told of the wonders that await them in Thailand, like spas… and hotels… and nice people. Sounds like a blast.

I was thinking of ways to spruce up TAT’s campaign and its lack of pizzaz. My Seven Amazing Wonders of Thailand would be:

• Spooky Hello Kitty pendant dolls hanging off the rear bumpers of pickup trucks
• Mum Jokmok – star of every Thai movie in history and owner of a great face
• Scraggly street cats with no tails
• Five-baht packs of dried cuttle fish from 7-Eleven
• Farang beggars making 30,000 baht a month on the streets of Bangkok
• The man with no legs who amazingly drags himself around Jatujak market every weekend
• A national army that “does not encourage their men to act like hooligans”. (Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont)

I think my campaign would draw a few more people to Thailand than TAT’s ideas. What would your seven wonders be? What would attract new tourists to come to Thailand for their vacations?

Techno’ tags: Thailand, Bangkok, Tourism, Holiday

Will they have roads made of mud? Do they really put amphetamines in the buckets? Will I have to wash my clothes in the shower every day?

These were among questions I asked myself before I came to Thailand. Aside from a route penciled on a map in a Lonely Planet book, I arrived in this country unprepared. With no idea what to expect I bought my plane ticket almost on a whim. I was certain that I wanted to go somewhere and do something, but where and what were secondary thoughts.

My earliest idea about Thailand, when I was still in primary school, was that it was the place where all ties were made. I imagined a country consisting of nothing but grass where individual ties grew as strange fruits from little trees. After that revelation I didn’t give Thailand much thought until I was at university.

Everybody seemed to have been there, but all I could get out of people were that the parties were hedonistic and went on all night. Could that really be it? Just parties?

A friend of mine went to Thailand on vacation and almost didn’t come back he loved it so much. His stories about his trip around Southeast Asia were something I’d never heard before, but would come to hear countless versions of over the coming years.

I really wanted to go to Japan, but it looked too expensive to even consider. I settled for Southeast Asia and bought the Lonely Planet book. Thailand looked to be the cheapest place to live so I made that my first stop.

Before I arrived I imagined Bangkok to be made mostly of dirt tracks. I thought people would primarily live in huts and that restaurants would be in shacks. I had this romantic vision that I could be entertained for days on end just sitting on a bench. I would go on to try the whole sitting on a bench thing but found it uninspiring.

What I was not prepared for when I arrived were the heat, the enormous billboards on the drive from the airport, the vast, interwoven network of roads sprawling out in all directions, the tall buildings, the sheer density of traffic, and the immediate feeling of uselessness.

On first impressions Bangkok wasn’t the faraway land I had imagined. Ironically, it only reveals its true self once you persevere and peal back the layers. So what did you think it would be like?

Techno’ tags: Thailand, Bangkok