Well, it is really possible to enter Thailand and make it through ASQ (unless this current spike in cases changes anything...). Here's a partial update/partial personal diary entry now that I've been out for about 48 hours now.
End to End Process
- Overall, the process was quite straightforward and pretty easy throughout. Just keep your patience for the couple of times things don't go as fast as you'd like or a hiccup occurs and everything is fine.
- The big picture quarantine (from getting approval to enter to COVID testing and all the way through to leaving ASQ hotel) is far more structured than HK, but TH has the process well organized so that structure was absolutely fine.
- The most difficult aspect was figuring out the COE requirements. Those requirements aren't difficult once you find the right information, but finding the right information isn't always straight forward (especially if you happen to be doing this when the rules are changing).
- I've included a bunch of info in previous posts so won't repeat, but feel free to reach out if any questions. Odds are I had to figure out the same thing.
Checkout and Subsequent Move In
- When you check out of ASQ, you get a full receipt for your stay, including the embedded charge from the local hospital for your two COVID tests. These are a significant % of the costs, so the hotels are getting less than you might be thinking.
- Just the COVID costs were 9,500THB (~2,400HKD) for 2 tests. This is one area where HK is actually much cheaper than TH. The test in HK at the community center was 240 HKD. The ones in TH were ~1200 HKD each.
------ Side note, if coming from HK I highly recommend the community center approach. It's much cheaper than alternatives, fast, well organized and not very invasive.
- Checkout was a snap. You get a bunch of paperwork, including negative COVID tests, proof of ASQ completion and similar forms. I took a picture and have them on my phone should I get asked for them anywhere.
- Tip: ASQ hotels are allowed to store your luggage after you leave. I can't say all hotels will do this, but they are allowed to. I was able to leave my luggage at the hotel for a night while I grabbed a hotel and looked at a few different condo options in person - this was super helpful.
- For condos, vacancy rates are really high - pretty easy to get a bidding war started to get lower rental costs. They will further discount if you are comfortable enough booking directly with them and avoiding websites (airbnb, vrbo, etc.)
- Hotels are also discounting LT stays, but not as much.
- Unless you already know where you want to stay, I'd recommend the approach I used. All the hotels and condos will show you the rooms and there are plenty of really nice hotels you can book cheaply for a night. This way you don't need to book anything sight unseen ... and you can negotiate lower prices. Use quarantine time to narrow down a handful you want to look at and use the first day out to visit. A good time investment.
First Impressions
- The weather is quite warm
- From my interactions, morale is pretty low right now - the combination of this recent spike in cases and Songkran largely being cancelled has people concerned/down
- I walked around a bit, including to Chinatown - while still busy, clearly not the mass of activity I remember from my short visit years ago. Partially driven by holiday down-time, but more than that
- The food is stunningly gorgeous
- I've only here once before for a very short stay, but I am still amazed that even in this down period how quickly this place can get its hooks into you and makes you want to stay
- The weather is not cold
[ Last edited by jk45_89 at 17-4-2021 13:09 ] | |
