Merlion Hotel
Mar 3
Tatzu Nishi is a Japanese artist who attempts to recontextualise civic sculptures by building temporary rooms around them. He’s been to Barcelona, Sydney and he’s going to be in Singapore at the Singapore Biennale 2011 with a piece called the Merlion Hotel. During the day people can visit and overnight, a guest will be able to check in and use it as a hotel room. The 32 nights of the festival are all booked out, but you still have a chance to win a free night by writing a short piece ‘Why I Should Stay at the Merlion Hotel’ and emailing it to themerlionhotel@singaporebiennale.org before the 7th of March 2011. Good luck.
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Get a China Tourist Visa in Bangkok
Nov 28
While it is possible to apply for, and pick up, a Chinese Tourist Visa in a day, if you live in Bangkok and can get to the embassy without too much hassle, it’s probably better to schedule two morning trips and avoid the four hour wait. It’s cheaper too.
If you heading to China for sightseeing, visiting relatives or any other private purposes, you’ll want to apply for a Visa L. For tourists you’re supposed to provide evidence of finances to cover traveling expenses in China, and the onward plane or train tickets for your next stop after China. In most cases it’s unlikely to be checked. Better safe than sorry and all that jazz, though.
Getting to the Embassy
The Chinese Embassy is at 57 Rachadapisake Road, just north of Rama 9 Road. The best way to get there is on the MRT from the Phra Ram 9 station. Take exit 1, which will bring outside next to a large mall filled with computer stores. Walk north for a couple of minutes past Tesco and a couple of faceless office buildings until you reach the embassy.
Here is a google map of how to get from the MRT to the Chinese Visa Section.
The embassy is open for visa applications between 9 – 11:30, and to pick-up between 3 – 4pm. If you are not picking up on the day of application, you can grab your visa during the morning opening hours. If you aim to get to the embassy by nine, you should see a line forming along the street outside the embassy. The visa section is on the second floor.
Price for Chinese Tourist Visa
Prices are posted on the door and inside the embassy. Here are the prices as of late 2010.
| Type of service | Single Entry | Double Entry | Half year multiple | One year multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 2300 | 2850 | 3400 | 4500 |
| 2-3 days | 1900 | 2450 | 3000 | 4100 |
| 4 days | 1100 | 1650 | 2200 | 3300 |
Application Procedure
There are two separate steps to applying for a tourist visa, the application, and payment. Unless you’re getting a visa on the same day, you pay for the visa when you pick it up. Although it’s busy, the lines move pretty quickly, and if you arrive around nine, you should be able to complete the application procedure in less than half an hour.
Once you’re on the second floor, the first thing you’ll want to do is fight the agents with huge piles of passports for a ticket number. There’s a machine just inside the door on the left that will give you a ticket number when you press the visa button. Once you’ve got a ticket, grab a visa application form and start filling it in. When your number is called just go up to the booth with your form, photos and passport and submit it.
When it comes to payment, there are two lines on the far left of the room. The first is where you tender your currency and get a receipt. The second is where you use your receipt to pick up your visa.
Japan Travel Forum
Oct 15
BudgetEast is proud to collaborate with LovingPerth and bring you a forum for travel related queries. If you have any questions about travel to Japan, no matter how obscure, post them in the forum and we’ll do our very best to answer them. Be it trains, hikes, shops or where to grab that nori-flavoured energy drink, our heads are packed with travel knowledge. So, head on over and pick our brains.
Undercurrent
Sep 30
I find Sho Uchida’s photos of everyday life in Japan utterly captivating. There’s something gritty and real about almost every photo he puts up, be they of closed office buildings, breakfast tables or train lines. Normalcy is beautiful.
Seishun Juu-hachi Kippu (Part 1)
Mar 6
The Seishun Juu-hachi Kippu (Youth 18 Ticket) is a little known ticket that is a boon for the uber budget conscious, in particular those already living in Japan on Instructor or Student visas, who are unable to qualify for the JR Pass.
It allows for up to five days of unlimited travel on the JR local service anywhere in Japan. With careful management and some time on your hands you can literally travel from one end of the country to the other for around 2000 yen. That’s not to be sneezed at.
That said, this ticket is not for everyone. Its limitation to local and rapid services means you will be spending a lot of time on trains. Additionally, if you are traveling long distance you will be forced to change trains every few hours as you hop your way towards your destination. Traveling along the central corridor between Osaka and Tokyo takes around 7 hours on this ticket; Between Kyushu and Tokyo, 17 hours.
In the end it depends on both your budget and what you are looking for out of your travel.
Pros
- Very cheap way to travel
- Social way to travel with friends
- Use train lines and see places you wouldn’t usually
Cons
- You will spend a lot of time on trains
- See point one.
- Did I mention the amount of time you spend on trains?
Travelling on Seishun
Remember the translation of Seishun Juu-hachi? Youth 18. As the name implies, when this ticket was introduced, it was intended for impoverished University and High School students and even now, traveling during a Seishun period will mean running into hordes of Uni students carting huge rucksacks who are heading home for the holidays, or heading off into the countryside with their friends.
The Seishun 18 remains a very social way to travel. With four people sharing a single ticket and a bag full of goodies from the local convenience store, a day spent hopping from train to train passes in no time at all. In fact, there are whole magazines in Japan dedicated to exactly this pastime: planning extended trips with friends while using a Seishun ticket. We’ll get to that later though, for now let’s look at how the ticket works.
How it works
You buy a single ticket that costs 11,500yen. On this ticket there are five sections, each comprising of one day’s travel, from midnight until midnight.
You can use these five days in any way you please: whether consecutively or non-consecutively, alone or in a group. The following would all be valid uses of one ticket:
- One person traveling alone for five days
- Two people traveling together for two days and one person for one day
- Five people traveling together for one day
It’s entirely up to you, you just need to make sure that when you travel, you’re traveling together with the ticket.
Period of Validity
It’s also important to note that the Seishun ticket is seasonal and can only be used during three major holiday periods during the year. These usually fall on the same dates each year:
| Spring | 1st March – 10th April |
|---|---|
| Summer | 20th July – 10th September |
| Winter | 10 December – 20th January |
Period of Sale
To make things even more difficult, you can only purchase the Seishun tickets prior to the commencement of the travel period. The general periods of sale are:
| Spring | 20th February – 31st March |
|---|---|
| Summer | 1st July – 31st August |
| Winter | December – 10th January |
During the period of sale Seishun tickets can be bought at the Green Window (Midori Madoguchi) of any major JR station. Generally, any JR station larger than three platforms will have Seishun tickets for sale. Outside of the period of sale, Seishun tickets can still be bought from discount ticket shops, we’ll cover this later.
Terms and Conditions
The Seishun 18 ticket is only valid for JR lines and on Local, Rapid, and some Special Rapid services. You cannot use this ticket on any Limited Express, Special Express, or any train that requires a seperate express ticket. If you are found on a limited express train with only a Seishun ticket, you will be charged for the full price of the express ticket and also the relevant distance travelled locally, so it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right train.
Additionally, you cannot use this ticket on any private line or non-JR service.
Coming up in Part 2
In Part 2 of our guide to the Seishun Juu-hachi Kippu we’ll cover tips and tricks with the Seishun including great routes, sneaky tricks, and how to get from Hiroshima to Tokyo for 150 yen. Crazy, I know. Stay tuned.