How to Apply for a Thai Visa in the Philippines

Thailand is a country that is very open to tourists. This can be seen in the fact that foreigners who wish to stay inside Thailand for a few days are not required to obtain a visa. Thus, foreign tourists can just ride an airplane to Thailand to enjoy seeing the temples in Ayuthayya or sunbathing at Pattaya.

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The case is different, however, if you are planning to stay in Thailand for a month or more. Thai government will require you to apply for a visa.

Since I will stay in Thailand for six months, I was required to apply for a visa.

Applying for a Thai visa is very easy and very quick. Unlike the other embassies of other countries, the Thai embassy doesn't have long queue of people who are applying for visa. I, for instance, saw no other person applying for a visa when I went to the Royal Thai Embassy in Makati City.

How to Go to Thai Embassy

The Royal Thai Embassy is located along Rada (Thailand) Street in the Central Business District of Makati City. The embassy is just a short walk away from Greenbelt.

Here is the map, from Google, showing the location of the Royal Thai Embassy:

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Google map showing the location of the Royal Thai Embassy in Makati.

Commuters can reach the embassy by riding a Ayala Avenue-bound jeepney at Mantrade, which is located near the MRT-Magallanes Station. Go down in front of Greenbelt and then walk to the embassy.

Another way to reach the Royal Thai Embassy is by riding a bus that pass along Ayala Avenue. Go down near the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) building and then walk.
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Thai Visa Application Schedules

You just don't go to the Royal Thai Embassy and apply for a visa. You have to follow the Consular Section's schedule so your time will not be wasted. The schedule can be seen at this page of the Royal Thai Embassy website.

Application for a visa are only entertained from 9:30 AM to 12:00 noon. Visa are released from 3:00 PM to 5 PM.

The Royal Thai Embassy is open from Monday to Friday but it is closed during holidays. The embassy follows the holiday schedules of both Philippines and Thailand so it is good to check if the the Royal Thai Embassy schedule at this page of their website.
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Thai Visa Requirements

Here are the requirements for the Thai visa application:

1. Application form and supplement form, which can be downloaded here (PDF).

2. Two 3.5 cm by 4.5 cm photos taken within the last six months.

3. Your Philippine passport.

4. Other supporting documents that will help in the approval of your Thai visa application.

5. Payment of 2,900 Philippine pesos for a single-entry Thais visa or 7,100 Philippine pesos for multiple-entry Thai visa.

You just have to wait for 2 days to know if the Royal Thai Embassy approved your visa application or not.

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Do you have any questions about application for a Thai visa in the Philippines? Please feel free to leave your comments or questions at the comment box.

My First Week in Thailand

It is sad to live alone in a foreign country. However, my stay here in Thailand is not only gloom and doom. I believe that opportunities are present in every situation, even in the situation that I am in now.

Six months of stay in Thailand means that I have to do things on my own. It also means that it is not good for me to rely on outside help like eating in the cafeteria every single day or sending my dirty clothes to a laundry service. Seeking outside help, which is not cheap, will have a great impact on my expenses. My best recourse is to do my own laundry and to learn how to cook.

Dirty clothes piled up last week. Unfortunately, I have nothing to use for laundry so I had no choice but to improvise.

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I used the kitchen sink to wash my clothes. I also used my refrigerator's vegetable container as the container of my clothes.

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The kitchen got flooded after I did the laundry. This leave me with no other choice but to buy a small tub that I can use to wash my clothes.

Thai food is very spicy that's why I am very careful in choosing the food that I will order in food shops. One time, I ordered a very spicy fried fish for lunch. My eyes and nose were watery while I was eating.

What I enjoyed eating last week is this food:

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Pork noodle soup (not spicy).

One of my little project here is to learn how to cook. I bought a small pan, a rice cooker and other tools to accomplish this project. I tried to cook a piece of chicken drumstick last week and the results are...

...smoke and char. The chicken was burnt and my room was filled with smoke. I was relieved that there is no fire alarm or else firefighters will swarm my room. I can't imagine the commotion that it will make just because of a burnt drumstick.

(I was so disappointed of the burnt drumstick so I didn't take any photo of it :-P)

It is lonely to be away from my Beloved for a very long time. But the positive thing about my situation is that I will learn how to be more responsible and independent. I will also learn how to cook, which will make my Beloved very happy. :-)

Reporting Live from Siam

“Sawatdee kraup. Sabai dee mai.”

That is how the Thais say “hello” and “how are you”.

I am learning a bit of the Thai language because I am now in Thailand and I will be in this country for a very long time. Yup. You read that right. I will be here in Thailand for a very, very long time. It is my first time to be outside of the Philippines for more than a month. So you can expect that my blog posts in the coming months will feature the sights and scenes in this country.

I left Manila just this week and I rode a Philippine Airlines flight. My experience with my flight is actually good. I experienced no hassle or any problem. I even liked the meal provided during the flight.

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The meal included a cup of rice, a serving of beef dish, a piece of bread, a glass of orange juice and an appetizer. A small cup Magnolia ice cream for dessert was not included in the photo.

I reached Suvarnabhumi Airport after 3 hours of flight.

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Suvarnabhumi Airport looks good. I guess it is bigger than NAIA Terminal 3 and definitely looks better than NAIA Terminal 1.

I can say that Thailand is very similar with the Philippines, based on what I saw during the few days of my stay here. This country have the same tropical climate like the Philippines. The houses and buildings that I saw is not that different with our structures in the Philippines. Even the Thais look like Filipinos at first glance.

The main difference between Thailand and the Philippines is the dominant religion. The Philippines is filled with Roman Catholic churches while Thailand is filled with Buddhist temples. We have many stores that sell images of Christian saints while the Thais have a lot stores that sell san phra phum or spirit house, which serves as a shrine for “protective spirit” of the place.

Here is what I want to do during the whole duration of my stay here in Thailand:

1. Visit a lot of temples, especially the one in Ayutthaya.

2. Ride on top of an elephant.

3. Walk around downtown Bangkok.

4. Tour some Catholic churches.

5. Have dinner with the royal family.

Well, the last item in the list is just a wishful thinking. He he he.

So these are my initial report live from Siam. I hope that I can accomplish some of the activities I placed on my list.

A Box of Pasalubong from HenLin

My brother, in a usual case of generosity, brought home this box from HenLin:

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I did not wonder what is inside the box. I know that this box contains siopao. I was not wrong.

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Six pieces of HenLin siopao.

I expected the box to contain siopao because I have heard HenLin’s radio advertisements a lot of times. The advertisement always mentions siopao because it is HenLin’s specialty.

The siopao that my brother brought is too few. That is why I only got a piece of siopao.

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Oh well, one is better than none.

I am not sure, at first, if the siopao is  bola-bola and the asado flavors. What I got, if I remember it right, is bola-bola.

I definitely agree with HenLin’s radio ad that their siopao is delicious. But I think it is not that special and the bola-bola siopao that I tasted is almost the same as the other siopao offered by other shops.

HenLin website shows that another siopao available is the Hong Kong Style Siopao. Maybe this siopao is the special siopao of HenLin. I definitely would like to taste this siopao. I hope that my brother brings home another box from HenLin and I hope the contents are Hong Kong style siopao.

Major Overhaul for Tropical Hut

Me, my Beloved and Second Brother went to EDSA – Starmall After watching the Pixar movie, Brave, at Shari La Mall. It was dinner time so we walked around Starmall to search for a good place to eat. We already shunned the usual fast food restaurants like Jollibee and McDonald’s because we want to try something new. We found, at the ground floor, the Starmall Branch of Tropical Hut.

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Tropical Hut is the first fast food restaurant in my hometown. The restaurant is a part of my childhood memory because I always see the Tropical Hut mascot whenever we go to Mercury Drug. That Tropical Hut branch is now gone.

I haven’t eaten at Tropical Hut so I agreed to Second Brother’s proposal to eat at that fast food restaurant. I ordered their Tapa, which costs 85 Pesos:

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While my brother ordered a Tropical Hut’s spaghetti, which costs 43 Pesos:

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I forgot to take any photo of my fiancée’s dinner that’s why it is not shown here.

The tapa is OK and I found no problem with it. I think it is like the regular tapa meal that can be brought from any turo-turo and carinderia. My brother, on the other hand, didn’t like the spaghetti. The reason for this is that the sauce of the spaghetti is too watery. The sauce acted more like a “sabaw” than a normal spaghetti sauce.

My brother thinks that the Tropical Hut brand is beyond salvation. He said that the owners must reinvent the brand and improve their offerings so that Tropical Hut can compete against popular fast food brands. Tropical Hut is an old restaurant but it was already left behind by newly-established restaurants.

Cold Delights from Gold Delight

Second Brother wanted to buy ice cream for the whole family one hot Sunday. Unfortunately, Second Brother is short on cash so he couldn’t buy the popular ice cream brands like Selecta and Magnolia. So he went to a branch of Ice Cream House and bought the ice creams of Gold Delight.

Second Brother bought corn-flavored ice cream:

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Coconut Biscotti:

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And Pastillas de Langka:

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Pastillas de Langka and Coconut Biscotti is under the brand Coconut Gelato but I think that this brand is also owned by the owner of the Gold Delight brand.

I don't know how much a  gallon of Gold Delight ice cream costs but I think that it is not expensive because my brother was able to buy a total of 1 gallon plus 2 liters of ice cream. 

The whole family enjoyed eating the ice cream of Gold Delight. I tried the corn-flavored ice cream first.

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Me scooping some corn-flavored ice cream.

Gold Delight's corn-flavored ice cream tastes good! The only problem is I became easily satiated by the flavor.

My favorite of the three flavors of ice cream is the Coconut Biscotti. I like it because of its flavor, which did not satiate me unlike the corn-flavored ice cream. Another thing that I like about it are the chunks of biscotti (biscuits) that gave the ice cream some crunchiness.

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The yummy coconut biscotti.

Gold Delight ice cream is not as expensive as leading ice cream brands but it doesn't mean that its flavor is so-so. Gold Delight matches the flavor and quality of the expensive ice cream. That's why I may buy Gold Delight ice cream if I want to bring home some cold treats in the future.