book01

Chapter 2
Welcome to Bang Cock!

Key points

1. A visa is not required if you stay less than 30 days.
2. You must purchase your visa (if you plan to stay more than 30 days) at a Thai Consulate before you enter the country. You cannot purchase a visa once you enter Thailand.
3. Do not stay more than the allotted time (stamped on your passport) or you will pay a 200 baht per day penalty.

Bangkok Airport

Once you arrive at the Bangkok airport, you will need to clear immigration and customs. On the plane, the stewardess should hand you a customs and immigration form to fill out. With this in mind, always have a pen handy when you travel. When you exit the plane, just follow the crowd and signs pointing to immigration. Travel tip: try to walk as fast as possible, ahead of the crowds to get to immigration ASAP. The lines can get rather long. Last time I waited almost 45 minutes in line:

At immigration, you will be asked to see your passport and your filled out immigration form (you can fill it out while waiting in line. It's just basic information). When you approach an immigration officer, he will take your passport and stamp it. The stamp will have the date of arrival into Thailand and the date you must depart, 30 days later (unless you have a visa, then you can stay 59 days). From immigration, you walk down the stairs to the luggage department and then on through customs.

Unless you are bringing in things like a TV, full size computer (lap tops are no problem), furniture odd ball items like plants, illegal drugs (yeah, right!), animals or other weird stuff, you need not declare your goods. Therefore, as you exit, look for the green sign which reads, NOTHING TO DECLARE. That's where you exit from the airport to paradise.

Once you pass the customs section, you will be in the last section of the airport. Here you will find crowds of people waiting to greet their arriving friends, taxi drivers hustling you for a ride, and people who are so bored with their lives they just like to hang out at