Getting a Tourist Visa for China from Thailand

You have reached this page because you a Foreigner in Thailand and want to work out how to get a Tourist Visa for China. Personally I found information hard to find and so I have written this post to help others.
The Chinese Embassy web site has some information. I found that it was not complete however.
All Visa Processing is actually done at the Visa Application Service Centre not at the Embassy.
This link leads you to a form where you can select which country you want to apply from and which city, or you can go straight to the Bangkok page.
I strongly recommend that you read their step by step process on that page.
For me it took 3 attempts to get things right. This was because at each stage my paperwork was insufficient, I learned a little bit more each time until I got it right.
Here is the official list of what is required, but  that is not quite complete either. Click on the image to see it larger.

As well as that list you may need a Declaration that you are not intending to work in China. I suggest that you prepare and print one along with the other Documents

• You can apply for the visa up to 90 days in advance.

• !!!!!You can only get a 30 day Tourist Visa in Bangkok!!!!

Preparing your Documents

All documents must be typed, not written in hand. In fact the Visa Application form says typed in Uppercase.

1. Passport

2. Visa application form.

You fill this out online it is a PDF document. Note that it says typed in uppercase.
You can get the form is several locations here is a link but I suggest that you check that it is valid before using it.
Note that before starting this form you need an itinerary, some hotel accomodation booked for at least the first night or an Invitation Letter. You need to put these details in the form.
If you have a laptop or tablet with Acrobat reader you can save the form, otherwise you need to print it out. If you make a mistake you may need to start all over again.

3. Photocopy of Passport ID page

4. Photocopy of Thailand Immigration Stamp

If you are not permanently living in Thailand this is your tourist visa.
If you are permanently living in Thailand this is your Non Imm B, retirement, marriage or whatever Visa you are on.
Your travel plans should show that you are leaving Thailand before this expires

5. Photocopy of Previous Chinese Visa

If you have been to China before, otherwise not needed.

6 . Letter of Certificate Yourself or 7. Work Permit - photocopy

If you have a Work Permit in Thailand you do not need this, show the work permit details instead.
This is a simple statement of who you are, where you live, what work you do and passport details. The following information is required. Remember this is typed and not hand written.

• 1. Your name
  2. Country
  3. Passport Number
  4. What is your job?
  5. What do you do in Thailand?
  6. What is your purpose to go to China?
  7. You stay in China since.…until….
  8. You will pay for you trip
  9. Sign your name

8. Flight Ticket (go and back)

Booked and confirmed flights into and out of China. It says return I didn't want to return so they accepted an onward ticket. (To Hong Kong for me).
You are going to have to pay for these up front. So if you change plans make sure that flights can be altered or refunded.

9. Hotel reservation in China

Or alternately an Invitation Letter plus relevant details. (Look elsewhere for Invitation Letter requirements.)
This part was frustrating, eventually I obtained an Invitation Letter from someone I knew.
The Visa Processing Service Centre seems only to want to have the first night accommodation booked. It seems to be a tick in the box situation. No accom, no Visa.
However your travel itinerary, part of the Visa Application form, wants addresses of hotels in the places you visit. I wanted to freewheel my travel and not have a set itinerary. This did not sit well.
I offer no advice on how to meet both those needs.

10. Photocopy of Bank statement

Ultimately they did not ask me for this. I offered it but it was not required.

11. Wording of the declaration that you will not work.

Something like this will do. You will need to make it look pretty.

Declaration

To whom it may concern.

My name is xxxxxxxx. My nationality is xxxxxxxxx, I hold passport no: xxxxxxxxxx

My  employer is xxxxxxxxx

I am normally employed as an xxxxxxxxx

While in China I will not work as an xxxxxxxxxxx. I will respect the laws and culture of China.

Date: xxxxxxxx

Signed xxxxxxxx

At the Visa Processing Service Center

You can look up the address. I normally went to Petchaburi MRT station and walked the rest of the way. Use Exit 2 and turn left along Phetchaburi Rd when you exit the station. About 7 minutes walk. There are motorcycle taxis if you are lazy or in a hurry.

I found the staff to be very friendly and very helpful. You go up the lift to Level 5 and the office is easy to find. A person at the front does the initial assessment. If your paperwork is in order you will get a ticket to be processed. If not they will tell you what you need to do.

The guard at the entrance can do minor photocopying e.g. ID page of Passport, but not big jobs. He also had glue to stick pictures to the application form.

On level 2 of the building is a general store with a couple of PCs and a photocopier. If you have overlooked something they can normally help out. But they do get busy and you are requested not to tie up the PCs for too long as others are waiting.

If you find this useful let me know.

the Bludger is all done.

A small(ish) winge

The last few weeks have been difficult for me.
An already busy job became even busier when one of the teachers fell sick, left work, and ultimately decided not to come back. I started picking up some of his classes from the first morning that he didn't show up.
After a couple of weeks I realised that this was going to be a long term option and put some effort into managing some of his classes on a permanent basis. I chose classes that I could fit into my schedule and that I had already been covering. A few days later the school administration came to the same conclusion and ultimately classes were re-arranged and distributed amongst all the teachers.
Unfortunately for me all my extra work was for nothing as I was assigned different classes. I was able to hand over some material, grades and assessments to other teachers, but no one was organised enough to return the favour. That rankled a little bit. These were teachers that claim to be highly experienced and on top of everything, but ultimately, to my eye did a poor job of covering the necessary work beyond turning up to a classroom prepared to keep the class engaged for the required time.
This extra workload came on top of an already busy schedule. I have not completed a full year at the school yet. In my first Semester I was working 70 or more hours per week, just to keep my head above water. This, my second semester, I am more on top of things. However I am still writing training and study guides for work that must be done in the following week. Most weeks I put in between 50 and 60 hours. That seems a bit of a joke when officially I have 18 teaching hours, 20 with the current overload.
For most lessons it takes the equivalent of 1 or 2 lessons to prepare the material and then further time afterwards to do marking, assessment and grading of the students work. Once again it galls me when I see my fellow teachers arriving at or just after the official start time, leaving the second that the clock reaches 4pm and never seem to do any marking or planning. In fact those around me seem to have plenty of time to sit and chat and take life easy.
It makes me wonder about the quality of their teaching and the experience that the students are getting.
To be fair, there are teachers that appear to be very diligent in their work. It is not just me doing long hours.
I just became a machine and just plowed through my work, socialising just about zero, not going away on weekends and trying to avoid any distractions. I thought that I was just keeping on top of things but as I now start to prepare for submitting mid semester grades I can see that I have failed to assess a number of classes adequately.
To top it off we then had 2 Teachers go off Sick at the same time. One was off for a week, the other for 2 days. I could see the grey hairs growing on the course Director's head. I wasn't feeling too good myself while this happened as I had caught a heavy cold and had root canal therapy on a tooth. No way could I take time off, so I just battled on and felt like crap for 3 days.
But I am almost at the end of it now. My cold has abated, the pain from my tooth has abated the two sick teachers are back at work and a replacement teacher starts next week. On top of that we are in mid term exams. I have to do assessments and grading and supervise exams but at least I do not have to prepare and deliver lessons for a week.
On the positive side, I am having some good times with my students. Recently I bumped into one at a counter of a coffee shop. She stepped in close to me and laid her head on my shoulder. That was heart warming.
The Bludger has just stopped whining.

Wat Huay Mongkol

Wat Huay Mongkol is one of the tourist attractions in the vicinity of Hua Hin. It is a rather large temple complex built along the banks of a river and features a large statue of Luang Phor Thuad who is a very famous monk in Thailand.
I approached and parked with rain threatening to fall. I began a walk around the temple complex.
There are a number of temples and pavilions and it had a very quiet atmosphere, at least on the day that I visited.
As I write this large parts of Thailand are under water and flooded. The river next to the Temple was in flood and obviously well above its normal height. Some areas were under water and what I assume were flow control barriers or mini dams were all totally inundated and overflowing.

Flooded Pavillion

Overflowing dam

At one stage I walked across a floating bridge and had to leap across a gap at the far end to make it to the temple at the end.

Floating bridge

The prayer area once safely across

This was a nice quiet spot and I spent some time there sheltering from the rain. While there I was attended to by a friendly dog who seemed to like licking the salty sweat from my arms and legs. Did I mention it was a hot humid day?
After the rain eased I made my way via a pathway back to the main temple complex and so to the Statue itself.

Luang Phor Thuad - statue

I am suffering from "yet another Wat" complex, but I have to admit that this statue was pretty awesome. The large carved Elephants at the bottom were hollow and you could poke your head inside the belly, carefully avoiding its anatomically correct carved "woody", and leave a small donation. Trojan Elephants maybe?

Taksin at the charge

I then wandered around the remaining area, checked out another temple, saw the statue of King Taksin the Great on horseback and basically called it a day.

Guardhouse

The Bludger was hot sweaty and has pretty much had enough of Temples.

Floating Markets near Hua Hin. Part 2

Hua Hin Sam Phan Nam floating Market

Hua Hin Sam Phan Nam Floating Market

After the Hua Hin Floating Market I rode to the nearby Hua Hin Sam Phan Nam floating Market. To me it seems crazy to have 2 floating markets in such close proximity, but that is commercial interest for you.
Sam Phan is considerably bigger than Hua Hin and was also much busier with several busloads of tourists there and a large school group just turning up as I did. There were also more open shops and a busy series of restaurants.

Superman was not in sight

Generic view of decking and shops

Keeping the floating theme intact

It is a large complex with a central eating area built onto the lake and what turned out to be a stage also built onto the lake. I managed to miss the main performances but did catch some glimpses of dancers in beautiful costumes as I wandered around.

Dancers on a floating platform

There is also a passenger train that runs from one end of the complex to another.

I found this much more exciting than the first market that I had been to. This is a place where you can take the family for a day out and do some shopping, watch the shows and have a nice lunch overlooking the lake. It caters for both locals and tourists.

and my heart went "boom boom boom"

Once again though it is a clothing, trinket and souvenir market and is built around the lake. You can take boat rides around the lake also.

Huay Mongkol Floating Market

This market is so new that it has not hit many of the guide books and online travel guides yet.
Not a lot further on, maybe 10 km from the previous markets it is about 1km from Wat Huay Mongkol (see next post).

When I went there the place was almost deserted. Most shops were closed and still looked vacant, only a handful were open. I spoke with one lady and if I understood her correctly the market does not officially open until November 2013. I was 2 or 3 weeks too early!.

Still it is a pleasant spot and I can see the potential for growth. It is so close to the Wat that it makes a good day trip from Hua Hin you can knock off a temple and market in one go. There are also other attractions in the area that could make a full days outing.

However there is not a lot to report. A large complex with bridges linking sections together and providing shortcuts from one section to another. I saw a bored person using a sling shot and ball bearings to try and shoot fish in the lake. Not the most clever way of using time.
The Bludger was finished with markets for the day.

Floating Markets near Hua Hin. Part 1

The original Thai floating markets were literally boats filled with groceries, market goods, fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, vendors selling cooked food and a plethora of other things. There are still some of these markets operating in Thailand, with a large market on the outskirts of Bangkok which is a huge tourist attraction nowadays.

The more modern floating markets are designed as both retail and entertainment areas for the Thai people. They also attract many tourists. Rather than boats filled with goods they tend to be clusters of shops built around a small lake, often man made. These are not grocery markets, these are places to pick up your clothes, shoes, souvenir items, hand made goods and find a spot to have lunch. They tend to be family friendly and while alcohol is readily available I have not seen the traditional group of Thai's getting drunk around a bottle of Whiskey.
As I had hired a motorbike for the day I decided to take a trip out into the country and explore the markets.
Please note below that I visited in low season on a weekday, the numbers of tourists both Thai and Foreign were very low and many shops simply did not bother to open. The experience in high season will be markedly different.

The Entrance to Hua Hin Floating Market

Market 1. Hua Hin Floating Market. This is about 12km from Hua Hin proper, along Soi 112. Confusingly it is right next to another floating Market (Hua Hin Sam Phan Nam Floating Market ) so you can kill 2 birds with one stone. If you follow the signs to the Sam Phan Nam market you will reach Hua Hin Market first. My map was out of date and the Market was much further along Soi 112 than I had anticipated. I had actually tried walking there the day before and given up. I believe that it may have moved from the original site as the buildings all look very new and modern.

While the lake and buildings are pretty overall I did not find this very impressive. On the day that I went it there were only a handful of shops open and only a handful of other tourists. But there are certainly some nice looking food stalls, I did stop at one to get a cold drink but the disinterested staff could not be bothered getting off their seats so I gave up on the drink idea and walked away.

Goats in the Animal Farm

There is an animal farm at this market which is attractive to children. The animal farm consists of a small souvenir shop, a coffee shop and the animals themselves. These consist mainly of some tired looking goats, a few parrots and a bunny rabbit. You can buy bottles of milk to hand feed the kids.
I walked around the whole complex in about 30 minutes and was on my way.
The Bludger was not overly impressed.

Floods?

Ayutthaya is a city at the confluence of 3 rivers namely the Pra Sak, the Chao Phraya and Lopburi rivers. The old town is built on an island formed many years ago by building a canal to link the Pra Sak and Chao Phraya rivers.
This area is low lying and flat. In 2011 it flooded extensively when Bangkok and other parts of Thailand were also flooded.
There have been extensive rains in the catchments of the above mentioned rivers and local authorities have had to release water from dams to alleviate the high water levels. Parts of Ayutthaya province are already flooded and although we are not officially on flood watch I have met some worried locals. It reminds me of the atmosphere of Brisbane just before the floods. One lady that I know has left to look after her mother who is in a flooded property. We drove by her mother's place only yesterday and all was well. Today I have been down to the ferry terminal on the Pra Sak river. Normally you walk down a floating gangway to reach the ferry terminal, today I walked up it.

Normally you walk down that ramp. Not today you don't.

The river is in spate. Ordinarily Tug boats tow several large barges in a chain full of building materials down the river to Bangkok. Today there are 2 tugs, the one at the front is barely making headway and is just going with the current and keeping the barges on track. A second tug at the rear is facing backwards and slowing the barges down and preventing the rear most barge from swinging out of line and overtaking the other barges.

Front tug. Slack tow ropes. Just maintaining headway.

The chain of barges

The rear most tug, being dragged backwards.

I ate lunch in a restaurant overlooking the river today. The restaurant owner spent many minutes looking at the river obviously assessing the potential danger of flooding to his property.
Otherwise all good here.
The Bludger is irrigating his stomach with beer.

Surat Thani - Night Market

On our journey from Koh Samui to Bangkok, Alan and I had a little time to visit the Surat Thani Night Market while we waited for our connecting bus.
As we walked there Alan mentioned that he didn't think that people here were quite as friendly as on Samui. Thirty minutes later our view was totally different.
We entered the market and looked at a few stalls. It was fairly standard night market stuff with a food section selling traditional Thai snacks including deep fried chicken, various meats on sticks, curries, noodles and rice meals etcetera. We did see some some foods that we had not seen before in particular what looks like a waffle folded in half with various fillings.

In that browsing period we spoke a few quiet words with some of the vendors, who were friendly enough. But then Alan decided to buy himself a new wallet. Once the transaction was completed you could feel a buzz of excitement go around the market, as we were now not just tourists but tourists who bought stuff. We could see and overhear the girl who sold the wallet turn to the next stall holder and issue a string of Thai with the word "farang" thrown in. Farang means foreigner or Westerner and we guessed that the gist of the conversation was that a farang had just made a purchase from her.
From that moment on as we walked around picking up little bits of foodstuffs from the various stalls people were eager to speak with us and show us their goods. One lady with very good English and she told us that she had worked in a hotel in Samui for some time. A man tried to encourage his daughter to speak with us and another lady showed me her baby.
A nice group of people, we left that market with everyone having their lives enriched just a little.
The Bludger was happy to spread some good will and enjoyed the food greatly.

Sunday, last day of freedom. Location Lamai Beach, Koh Samui

July 28, 2013 I awoke early and had a walk along the beach. At this time the day was cool and the water felt warm. A solitary fisherman was casting his line from some rocks, joggers ran by and the local dogs lay there protecting their territory. The water was calm, the sky overcast, there was little or no wind and the sun had not yet risen to heat the air. Despite this it was warm and I built up a sweat walking along the sand which is quite soft underfoot.

At this time of day there is little open and I ended up in a bakery for a breakfast of omelet and a plate of fruit. Getting breakfast before study looks like it may need some forethought and preparation as the hotel does not include breakfast other than Tea and Coffee and some bread and a toaster. Later I took a longer walk and visited a nearby waterfall and a viewing platform part way up the nearby hills. It was a slow walk up the hill due to the heat and my lack of fitness. The view was not spectacular but worth the effort.

At the viewing platform I noticed a man coming across the valley on a flying fox. Until then I had not noticed the cables. After dismounting he came up to the platform and we talked for a while. It turned out that his family own the property and have an extensive section of the mountain side that they are turning into an adventure park. The flying fox was in process of being installed and he was testing the run. He took me up to see the start. At this point in time it is a series of cables bolted into the rock, but he explained that they were going to build launching and landing platforms and stairways to make the climb easier. I made my way back to the hotel and picked up a selection of fruit along the way that will become tomorrows breakfast. At lunch time I ventured out for a healthy meal and ended up having an excellent Green Papaya Salad at "Grill Bar". I asked for it spicy and they got the chilli just right not too hot to start with but by the end of it my lips and mouth were on fire, but not overly so.

After lunch I had a massage that was not very good. Despite saying no sex I spent the entire hour warding off the advances of my masseuse. Then it was time for a swim and I spent some time in the Ocean. Tick in the box I have swum in the Gulf of Thailand, both from Vietnam and Thailand sides.It was so hot that by the time I had walked back to the hotel, which is not far, I had to cool off in their pool.
In the evening we had our first function for the TEFL course. It was a social evening for us to get to know each other. We assembled at 7pm and walked to a nearby restaurant where we had a reserved area and an open bar. There was also a huge spread of finger food consisting of fairly typical Thai nibbles including Fish Cakes (Tod Mun Pla), Deep fried Prawns, "no name" - which is a vegetarian patty and a few others. Pretty good all up.
After that first night madness ensued and people were seen at various bars over the next few hours.
The Bludger behaved himself.

Ayutthaya to Koh Samui

In Koh Samui I will spend 2 weeks obtaining a TEFL/TESOL certificate. I have already done several hours of online training. The next 2 weeks are the practical side.
To get to Koh Samui at reasonable cost was a small challenge. A direct flight from Bangkok was more than I wanted to pay.
I packed and left my Hotel first thing in the morning. After a quick breakfast with PeaPa, consisting once more of Pork Noodle Soup, we walked to the ferry to cross the river to the train station. PeaPa had to work so we parted company there. The next available train was at 8:27am and the trip cost 11 baht, not even 50 cents. The timing was well within my schedule and I had a good buffer for possible delays.
The train arrived on time and I found a seat, sharing a booth of 4 with a Thai couple.
Images of Thailand: The ticket collector came by and punched my ticket. He then moved on, stopped, came back and spoke with the couple in the other seats. I could tell by the actions that he was telling them that I was heading for Don Muang airport and asking them to make sure that I got off at the right station.
I love those small unexpected acts of kindness.
As it happened the train was delayed one stop short of Don Muang and it was after 10am when I arrived at the Station. The airport was a short walk, basically on an overhead walkway across the tracks and main road to the terminal.
Checkin was quick and easy. My water bottle was removed at the security screening and I made my way to the departure lounge.
I was having flashbacks to a previous visit to Thailand. I have only used Don Muang airport once before on my first visit, all other entries have been through the new airport. But I had these strong flashbacks of a restaurant that I had eaten in and I am pretty sure that I ended up in the same departure lounge at gate 73.
It is spooky the way memory works. I could not have described these areas at all immediately prior to visiting them again.
My destination was Surat Thani. Surat Thani is on the coast of southern Thailand with nearby ferries to Koh Samui. The short flight was smooth and without incident. I scored a set of 3 seats to my self in the emergency exit row. I wished that I was 3 foot taller so that I could have used all that space.
The next part of the journey was to get to a ferry terminal. There are several. I did this with a bus/ferry combined ticket and I was led like a sheep to the terminal. All up that took about 2 hours from the airport to the ferry and cost 350 baht.
The ferry trip was nice. I love being on the ocean. Safety was a concern however. It was a car and passenger ferry a "roro" i.e. "roll on roll off" or "roll on roll over" as they got renamed after the Herald of Free Enterprise (google it). I could not see any life jackets, nor lifeboats and only a small number of life rafts that were so degraded I doubted their ability to stay afloat.

And I have to trust my life to that in an emergency?

Still the seas were calm and I was seated on the open deck with the better chance of survival.
For the record this was a 4 beer trip, was tempted to make it 5.
At Koh Samui I walked through the barrage of people offering taxis and hotels and called for a minibus driver who would share the van. By the time he had rounded up more passengers it was the overloaded ark with 13 passengers, driver and a pile of luggage. Never the less for only 200 baht I was delivered safely to my hotel.
Note for future TEFL participants: The Holiday Park Hotel is lovely, based in the heart of the party district of Lamai beach. Even though we are in budget rooms they are comfortable, clean and roomy. They are air conditioned, have a small safe and a bar fridge. All that you need for your stay. The staff are lovely, warm, friendly and helpful also.
First item on my agenda was to fill the fridge with fruit juice and beer. Job done, there is a 7/11 across the road (technically a Family Mart, but you know what I mean). Then it was into the pool. A minor concern there - insufficient sun beds.
And that means that this post will have to be finished later as I am just having a quiet beer in the hotel communal area and getting ready for dinner.
Later:
Dinner was at the Bikini Bar, on the beach. According to the advertising it is famed for "jerked" chicken and ribs. I have no idea. I had some spring rolls that transmogrified into Onion Rings as they had run out of Spring Rolls and a Tom Yum Goong, hot and spicy prawn soup.
Images of Thailand: Two young boys were having a rough and tumble in the sand. Their mother moved to another table and shared "a fag" (her words that I overheard) with another couple. The boys stopped playing and one sat near to meet. I was disgusted to see him spitting in the sand. He moved away and then started to spew. I have done similar after eating a meal and then exercising so I didn't think it too out of the ordinary. His mother was still "fagging on" totally oblivious. Eventually I decided that she should be told so I attracted her attention. There ensued about 30 seconds of motherly concern, the boy was pronounced OK and mother went back to her fags. Daughter took a photo, no doubt for facebook.
I am  honestly not sure whether this was good parenting or not.
The Bludger ate too much and has left no room for beer so has retired for the evening.

Sights around Ayutthaya

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Ayutthaya is the distinctly shaped Tuk Tuks. Some of their owners take great pride in them and there is one generally waiting around the Ferry terminal called Batman. These three look to be new.

Tuk Tuk's lined up and ready for action.

Of course all good Tuk Tuks eventually need to go somewhere to retire. These have not moved in 12 months since I first came here.

 

 

A deserted and decaying building provides a background for some very artistic graffiti.

And it would seem that council workers are universal.

The Bludger is playing at photography.

I wish I could understand Thai

I spent the morning trying to organise a Thailand phone number with Internet for my Smartphone. Technically not difficult but being me I tried to find the best deal which turned out not to be too easy in Ayutthaya as I could not find a store for the major service providers. I wanted a post paid service to achieve better per MB rates. Foreigners cannot sign up to long term plans, unless they have a visa that allows a long term stay. But there are some short term plans that you can get. Too hard to explain to people what I wanted, I eventually gave in and got a prepaid service from a local shop. I have no idea if I got a good deal or not.
Later that afternoon I discovered a whole range of phone shops that probably could have got me a better deal. Such is life.
Setting up the phone was not easy as all the instructions were in Thai and I relied heavily on the daughter of my girlfriend and various others to help me out. But I now have internet and voice & text working. In places where there is no free wifi I can link the laptop to the phone and use it as an internet gateway.
In the process of the search I had a long walk around the streets which helped with my orientation and getting my bearings.
Breakfast was Duck Noodle Soup with a drink for 35 Baht and lunch Pad Thai, which was really nice, for the princely sum of 40 baht ($1.50). That made dinner which was 2 large beers (60 baht each), 1 small beer and a red chicken curry for 290 baht quite expensive.

Pad Thai - ผัดไทย

The Bludger had an early night as both he and gf were tired.