Asia in 2010 - Flying to Far East
Thailand |
|
| Capital | Bangkok |
| Language(s) | Thai, English is understood fairly well. |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Electricity | European / American - 50 Hz / 220 V |
| People | Extremely friendly |
| Traffic | Chaotic, on left side |
| Prices | Extremely low |
| Currency | Thai baht |
| Visa | On arrival for most people. 30/15 days. |
| Hiking | Not tested |
The original picture page is no longer available, but all the pictures from our trip to Asia can be found here. From the home page you can read the news I posted during the trip.
Our trip to Asia started with a flight from Kiev to Bangkok, Thailand. Also this time I was travelling with my girlfriend Inna and the plan was to visit at least Thailand and Malaysia and maybe some other countries as well. We left from Kiev on 28th of July and we had flight tickets back from Bangkok on 3rd of September. I was able to leave some of my hiking gear at Inna's place so our backpacks weren't as heavy and big as they usually are when we travel. We figured that we'd survive with only one sleeping bag and without the hiking stove, for example.
The flight left at around 2 pm and we aren't good sleepers during the day and Inna is even worse than me when it comes to sleeping in vehicles. Luckily our flight was without any stops and the sky was pretty clear, making it possible for us to admire the sceneries. We saw some huge deserts but no one knew (not even the flight crew) what the countries below were. We were guessing Iran and Iraq. At some point the flight crew told everyone to lower the shades on the windows so people could sleep. We didn't feel like sleeping at all and we wanted to see outside so we didn't obey. We are bad, I know. After sitting in the plane for almost ten hours we finally landed in Bangkok in the middle of the night.
The first exciting thing in Asia was entering Thailand. I was quite sure that I wouldn't have any problems with the visa on arrival, but the regulations for Ukrainian citizens were a lot tighter. I had read that sometimes the customs officers force people to buy a flight ticket out from Thailand if they don't already have it. On the walls we saw a lot of posters with information about visa on arrival and all of them stated that you have to have a ticket out from Thailand within the next fifteen days and that you have to have the visa fee ready. We had tickets from Bangkok to Kiev but they were only in five weeks!
Inna quickly filled the visa on arrival form and went to the desk with it. The officer asked her about the ticket and she explained that we're going to Malaysia by bus, and it worked! Inna got her visa and she didn't even have to pay for it. Now it was my turn. I was going to get a visa for thirty days, but I also should have had the ticket back within those thirty days. I had to wait for a long time before getting to the desk because most of the Ukrainians and also some Asian people were queueing in the wrong line and it created a mess. Finally it was my turn and I got the stamp without any questions or problems.
Clouds and dark mountains
One of the travellers.
The new Suvarnabhumi airport is big but not as huge as I had expected. We got our luggage without any hassle and grabbed some free maps before seaching for the brand new Airport Link between the airport and the center of the city. The link was easy to find and our timing couldn't have been better: the link opened less than thirty minutes after we found it and the link had started operating less than a week before! And that's not all, it was free too! Let the journey to Asia begin!
The Suvarnabhumi airport
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