After the sandbox.

[Onhill]

After my 14 day stay in the sandbox, from Phuket,  can I travel to Koh Samui, do I have to  stay in a SHA+ accommodation, or can I stay at any resort/hotel ?

[Lowseasonlover]

18 minutes ago, Onhill said:

After my 14 day stay in the sandbox, from Phuket,  can I travel to Koh Samui, do I have to  stay in a SHA+ accommodation, or can I stay at any resort/hotel ?

I think you are free to do as you please, I think that was the general idea after doing sandbox then go to Samui,

Why not give us your experience of the sandbox we are always interested, Have a nice day

[Faz]

It depends if Koh Samui is open for foreign tourists when you arrive.
The situation is constantly changing.

You can do 7 days Phuket and & 7 days Koh Samui, or as your original plan.
Once you've completed the 14 days quarantine, you can go wherever you like and stay in any kind of accommodation you choose.

[JamesE]

As @Faz says you have the option of 14-Days and done as you're planning, or 7+7. Regardless of which you choose, once you're through the 14 days you'll be considered a domestic tourist and have to follow the domestic travel restrictions. Since those rules are "fluid" right now, if you want to end up in Samui the 7+7 might be the better option and you can stay as long as you want or leave to visit other areas of Thailand.

[Sama]

Is there some English language (or even Google-translatable) site where to find the latest domestic restrictions? 

I'm trying to figure out where to head from Phuket this weekend, after the first 14 days of my Thailand trip. I would prefer to visit Krabi and then maybe the other neighbouring orange provinces, and have not really gotten much results when trying to search the web for the current rules, such as do I need a recent Covid test and what kind, is there some particular mobile app required etc.

[JamesE]

I've not seen a consolidated list. This might be a situation where you'll have to come up with your short list and then search for specific information via the government channels, hotels, and airlines. I just did a quick search on Krabi but didn't come up with anything meaningful. You could also dig around in the TATnews.org site but that tends to be country-wide info instead of province by province.

[Faz]

13 hours ago, Sama said:

Is there some English language (or even Google-translatable) site where to find the latest domestic restrictions? 

I'm trying to figure out where to head from Phuket this weekend, after the first 14 days of my Thailand trip. I would prefer to visit Krabi and then maybe the other neighbouring orange provinces, and have not really gotten much results when trying to search the web for the current rules, such as do I need a recent Covid test and what kind, is there some particular mobile app required etc.

Can I travel around Thailand? Mor Chana app? | Thaiger (thethaiger.com)

Not Province specific as the local requirements frequently change. For entry to 'dark red' provinces, the latest appears to be a minimum of fully vaccinated, with some also requiring a negative PCR test.

If you intend to travel by public transport, they should be able to inform you of the requirements for where your intending to travel. By car, from previous reports, no road side checks or anyone questioning where you came from or are going to - total disorganisation.

[Sama]

Here's a short report on how I have moved about the neighbouring provinces after finishing the Phuket sandbox, and how the practicalities have been.

My plan to go to Krabi went bust due to the suddenly tightened regulations there, so I opted for Khao Lak in PhangNa instead. No minibusses or other public transport currently as far as I understand  (was told so by a couple of places I asked in Phuket, and the terminal in Phuket town center seemed quite dead when I passed it by). So private transport it was, then. Before crossing the bridge from Phuket, there was a separate lane for foreigners and a counter where the officials asked for my destination and checked the certificate from my Phuket hotel for the succesful completion of the 14 days sandbox. There was also a form to be filled with contact details, including the destination in Khao Lak and the reason for the trip. I wrote "Holiday." The stop took just a couple of minutes. I was the only foreigner crossing at the time.

I had only booked a couple of nights in Khao Lak, Bang Niang beach. Extremely quiet. As far as I could see during the two days roaming around, I was the only tourist in the whole area! Nice beaches all to myself, but of course very limited services remaining in the beach area. The tsunami memorial park was sadly in disrepair. If you can, please consider visiting the area to support the few remaining tourist businesses. They really are in desperate need of visitors. A fair amount of stray dogs around the deserted tourist infrastructure with various kinds of attitudes towards a rare bypasser were a bit of a nuisance but not a big deal. 

My next destination was Surat Thani town, where I was able to arrange a couple of locals to drive me to for a similar fee that I paid from Phuket to Khao Lak (again, was told that the usual once-an-hour busses along the main road are not operating). My hotel for one night in Surat Thani told me that they are not currently allowed to book ferry trips to Samui, and I should instead directly visit the Seatran ticket office.

The lady at the Seatran ticket counter was by default asking for a 72-day covid test for travelling to Samui. After I insisted that I had only been in orange provinces (see my posting about the current domestic travel rules under the Thailand local / Ko Samui section of the forums), she took photos of my passport, Phuket sandbox certificate and vaccination certificate and asked me to come back at 10AM for getting the ticket for the 10:30 departure. I don't think she had seen an European Union vaccination certificate before, as she at first mistook it for an outdated covid test certificate. For the ticket to be issued, I also had to register online at https://healthpass.smartsamui.com and fill information about recent whereabout and potential symptoms to get the Samui health pass QR code. This was also later checked both when boarding the ferry and when disembarking in Samui. 

In sum, travelling around the neighbouring orange provinces (aside from Krabi) after the sandbox is possible without any further covid tests, although many of the cheaper transport options usually available for tourists are not currently operating. Returning to Phuket will require at least an antigen test. I plan to have a PCR tests shortly before my Samui-Phuket flight. The same test will still be valid for my return flights to Europe a day after. 

[Marc26]

4 hours ago, Sama said:

Here's a short report on how I have moved about the neighbouring provinces after finishing the Phuket sandbox, and how the practicalities have been.

My plan to go to Krabi went bust due to the suddenly tightened regulations there, so I opted for Khao Lak in PhangNa instead. No minibusses or other public transport currently as far as I understand  (was told so by a couple of places I asked in Phuket, and the terminal in Phuket town center seemed quite dead when I passed it by). So private transport it was, then. Before crossing the bridge from Phuket, there was a separate lane for foreigners and a counter where the officials asked for my destination and checked the certificate from my Phuket hotel for the succesful completion of the 14 days sandbox. There was also a form to be filled with contact details, including the destination in Khao Lak and the reason for the trip. I wrote "Holiday." The stop took just a couple of minutes. I was the only foreigner crossing at the time.

I had only booked a couple of nights in Khao Lak, Bang Niang beach. Extremely quiet. As far as I could see during the two days roaming around, I was the only tourist in the whole area! Nice beaches all to myself, but of course very limited services remaining in the beach area. The tsunami memorial park was sadly in disrepair. If you can, please consider visiting the area to support the few remaining tourist businesses. They really are in desperate need of visitors. A fair amount of stray dogs around the deserted tourist infrastructure with various kinds of attitudes towards a rare bypasser were a bit of a nuisance but not a big deal. 

My next destination was Surat Thani town, where I was able to arrange a couple of locals to drive me to for a similar fee that I paid from Phuket to Khao Lak (again, was told that the usual once-an-hour busses along the main road are not operating). My hotel for one night in Surat Thani told me that they are not currently allowed to book ferry trips to Samui, and I should instead directly visit the Seatran ticket office.

The lady at the Seatran ticket counter was by default asking for a 72-day covid test for travelling to Samui. After I insisted that I had only been in orange provinces (see my posting about the current domestic travel rules under the Thailand local / Ko Samui section of the forums), she took photos of my passport, Phuket sandbox certificate and vaccination certificate and asked me to come back at 10AM for getting the ticket for the 10:30 departure. I don't think she had seen an European Union vaccination certificate before, as she at first mistook it for an outdated covid test certificate. For the ticket to be issued, I also had to register online at https://healthpass.smartsamui.com and fill information about recent whereabout and potential symptoms to get the Samui health pass QR code. This was also later checked both when boarding the ferry and when disembarking in Samui. 

In sum, travelling around the neighbouring orange provinces (aside from Krabi) after the sandbox is possible without any further covid tests, although many of the cheaper transport options usually available for tourists are not currently operating. Returning to Phuket will require at least an antigen test. I plan to have a PCR tests shortly before my Samui-Phuket flight. The same test will still be valid for my return flights to Europe a day after. 

What about food? Any restaurants open?

Any places to have an "adult beverage "  ??

 

Did you see motorbike rentals open?

[Sama]

5 hours ago, Marc26 said:

What about food? Any restaurants open?

Any places to have an "adult beverage "  ??

Did you see motorbike rentals open?

In Khao Lak's Bang Niang beach area the vast majority of  tourist places including restaurants were either completely deserted or closed for the time being. A couple of big resorts and their attached restaurants were operational. One indian restaurant not too far from the beach was open also during the lunch time, some other places closer towards the main road opened up only for dinner. Along the main road with the less touristy places the things are closer to normal times. I had no trouble finding places to eat during my stay, although I had to walk a bit from my accommodation near the beach. 

Serving alcoholic beverages in restaurants does not seem to be very common outside of Phuket. I didn't try to order any, so not sure what the reaction would have been. I saw a couple of places in Khao Lak where it looked like it probably is possible, but perhaps better not go into details in a public forum. You can of course freely buy beverages from the shops. As for motorbike rentals in Khao Lak, I can't now recall if I saw any right around the beach, but they are so common in general that I'm sure there is one not far away and can be found by asking around.

In Surat Thani town things seemed pretty normal as it is of course a local centre. Ko Samui so far looks quite the same as Phuket: most things closed but a lot still open.  

[MrStretch]

Thanks for sharing, Sama.  Always good to get a first hand view of what's what.