Chlidonias Goes To Asia, part seven: 2024-2025
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
That "tick" silhouette definitely isn't one, wonder if whoever made it didn't know or just thought good enough. Or possibly it's warning of something different that translated oddly?
Lafone
Well-Known Member
What an amazing few days (to add to all your others) The Takin look great, must have been fantastic to see the herd. And a Red Panda, though you've seen one before, that is lovely. Some super looking birds.
I am always wondering why people yell and scream in natural places and throw food at animals and then act surprised when shy animals flee and greedy ones attack!
Looks like nature actually won the day for you though, excellent read as usual.
I am always wondering why people yell and scream in natural places and throw food at animals and then act surprised when shy animals flee and greedy ones attack!
Looks like nature actually won the day for you though, excellent read as usual.
Videos aplenty on Yutube of people in Asian countries feeding macaques and then getting attacked for their pains. And they always seem surprised at the outcome.
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I think it's probably a "good enough" / "didn't actually realise" silhouette. It has too many body segments and not enough legs, but it still looks enough like a tick.
There are a lot of big ungulates here (deer, takin, pigs, etc) so I'd imagine there would be lots of ticks here as well. Interestingly, I very rarely come across ticks when I'm travelling.
The tick silhouette isn't as jarring as the wildebeest pictured on one of the Jiuzhaigou maps I posted earlier. The Chinese name for the Takin invariably gets translated into English as "wildebeest". (Well, it "often" does - I don't know if "invariably" is quite an accurate word there). This means that actual wildebeest sometimes turn up on media masquerading as Takin.
I'm always concerned how out of touch most people are with animal behaviour and nature in general. I see all the time where tourists think they can just walk right up to something like a wild elephant. They seem to have no concept that a wild animal is wild and not a farm cow.
Labahe: day four
Last day at Labahe, and it was back up the cable-car for one last look for the Chinese Monal.
I'm surprised how many people were bringing their dogs to the nature reserve! I saw six or seven dogs with visitors during my stay here. On the bus up to the cable-car the little dogs would get taken on board on the owner's lap, but the bigger dogs get put in the luggage compartment under the bus! Today there was an old placid Golden Retriever, the kind of dog which was carrying its own leash in its mouth and in the evening probably puts on a smoking jacket and a pair of tiny round spectacles and sits in an armchair by the fire reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All the way up the winding road, all I kept thinking about was the poor old dog sliding around in the luggage hold.
It was very foggy on the mountain and as I got higher up the walkway it started raining. Not heavy rain but enough to need an umbrella. Very few birds were around, and the conditions made seeing them difficult. Total along the walkway was only eight species, including Elliot's and Black-faced Laughing Thrushes, a Grey-sided Bush Warbler, Blue-fronted Redstart, Rufous-breasted Accentor, Rosy Pipit, Buff-barred Warbler, and a pair of Golden Bush-Robins right at the top.
Grey-sided Bush Warbler in the fog
I'd seen Golden Bush-Robin up here the other day as well and was surprised. It was a bird I expected to be in actual forest - it is bird "of the montane forest understory" as eBird puts it. The first pair the other day were at least in the rhododendron scrub above the treeline, so I figured that kind of fits with "montane forest understory", but the ones today were right up at the summit flying about between the rocks.
No Chinese Monals were seen.
It was raining even more heavily down at the lower cable car station, so I just got on one of the buses to go back. When the bus reached the stop where the gravel road leads to the metal walkway the rain had abated. I figured it would start again, but I should really go back to the walkway and look for more birds and mammals so I wasn't wasting any of my time here. I got off the bus. It wasn't a great decision.
The slope where I'd seen the Goral the other day was completely hidden behind a thick curtain of fog. The river where the Takin congregated was blanketed in fog. Pretty much everything all along the walkway was invisible. The only additional birds seen for the day were Verditer Flycatcher, Rufous-vented Tit, and Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher.
Today was a Saturday. I had earlier been wondering how busy the weekend would be, but because I was away from most visitors - and no doubt also because of the rain - I hadn't seen many and kind of forgot it was Saturday. When I came back down to the visitor centre the parking lot was overflowing with cars, with dozens more lined up all along the access road. It was crazy.
There were ninety cars in the hotel car park that night!
Back at the hotel I had a really painful experience trying to get some transport organised for the following morning back to Tianquan. The girl who had been on the desk the previous days was great, the Saturday girls were absolutely useless. I think it was arranged for a ride to the ticket entrance and then a bus from there to Tianquan, but I really didn't know if it had been or if they had just said it had to get rid of me.
The restaurant was in chaos. I waited over half an hour, with the staff telling me to wait "a moment" because there were no seats, but eventually gave up and went spotlighting. The restaurant was bad enough to deal with during quiet times - on the weekend good luck getting anything to eat!
It was still raining so I just went to the "squirrel cliffs". I saw the too-high squirrel again, but still couldn't tell what it was. Nearby I got some other eye-shine which I thought was another squirrel in a tree but turned out to be a Goral on the cliff-face behind the tree! And then a bit later found another Red & White Giant Flying Squirrel. There were the usual Sambar at the restaurant - I went back there at 9pm to eat when everybody else had gone. I hadn't see any macaques at all today, so these three nocturnal mammals were it for the day.
Last day at Labahe, and it was back up the cable-car for one last look for the Chinese Monal.
I'm surprised how many people were bringing their dogs to the nature reserve! I saw six or seven dogs with visitors during my stay here. On the bus up to the cable-car the little dogs would get taken on board on the owner's lap, but the bigger dogs get put in the luggage compartment under the bus! Today there was an old placid Golden Retriever, the kind of dog which was carrying its own leash in its mouth and in the evening probably puts on a smoking jacket and a pair of tiny round spectacles and sits in an armchair by the fire reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All the way up the winding road, all I kept thinking about was the poor old dog sliding around in the luggage hold.
It was very foggy on the mountain and as I got higher up the walkway it started raining. Not heavy rain but enough to need an umbrella. Very few birds were around, and the conditions made seeing them difficult. Total along the walkway was only eight species, including Elliot's and Black-faced Laughing Thrushes, a Grey-sided Bush Warbler, Blue-fronted Redstart, Rufous-breasted Accentor, Rosy Pipit, Buff-barred Warbler, and a pair of Golden Bush-Robins right at the top.
Grey-sided Bush Warbler in the fog
I'd seen Golden Bush-Robin up here the other day as well and was surprised. It was a bird I expected to be in actual forest - it is bird "of the montane forest understory" as eBird puts it. The first pair the other day were at least in the rhododendron scrub above the treeline, so I figured that kind of fits with "montane forest understory", but the ones today were right up at the summit flying about between the rocks.
No Chinese Monals were seen.
It was raining even more heavily down at the lower cable car station, so I just got on one of the buses to go back. When the bus reached the stop where the gravel road leads to the metal walkway the rain had abated. I figured it would start again, but I should really go back to the walkway and look for more birds and mammals so I wasn't wasting any of my time here. I got off the bus. It wasn't a great decision.
The slope where I'd seen the Goral the other day was completely hidden behind a thick curtain of fog. The river where the Takin congregated was blanketed in fog. Pretty much everything all along the walkway was invisible. The only additional birds seen for the day were Verditer Flycatcher, Rufous-vented Tit, and Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher.
Today was a Saturday. I had earlier been wondering how busy the weekend would be, but because I was away from most visitors - and no doubt also because of the rain - I hadn't seen many and kind of forgot it was Saturday. When I came back down to the visitor centre the parking lot was overflowing with cars, with dozens more lined up all along the access road. It was crazy.
There were ninety cars in the hotel car park that night!
Back at the hotel I had a really painful experience trying to get some transport organised for the following morning back to Tianquan. The girl who had been on the desk the previous days was great, the Saturday girls were absolutely useless. I think it was arranged for a ride to the ticket entrance and then a bus from there to Tianquan, but I really didn't know if it had been or if they had just said it had to get rid of me.
The restaurant was in chaos. I waited over half an hour, with the staff telling me to wait "a moment" because there were no seats, but eventually gave up and went spotlighting. The restaurant was bad enough to deal with during quiet times - on the weekend good luck getting anything to eat!
It was still raining so I just went to the "squirrel cliffs". I saw the too-high squirrel again, but still couldn't tell what it was. Nearby I got some other eye-shine which I thought was another squirrel in a tree but turned out to be a Goral on the cliff-face behind the tree! And then a bit later found another Red & White Giant Flying Squirrel. There were the usual Sambar at the restaurant - I went back there at 9pm to eat when everybody else had gone. I hadn't see any macaques at all today, so these three nocturnal mammals were it for the day.
Some photos from the upper parts of the mountain. The rhododendron scrub above the tree line is really open underneath when you can look in from the side but from above it is an impenetrable blanket of leaves. I can imagine the Chinese Monals just walking around under these bushes, totally hidden from view most of the time.
The last photo is from above the rhododendron "forests", where the slopes are literal rock-gardens of small herbs and dwarf flowers.
The last photo is from above the rhododendron "forests", where the slopes are literal rock-gardens of small herbs and dwarf flowers.
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Last day in China
To my surprise the transport from Labahe to Tianquan had actually been organised and everything ran smoothly. The car picked me up at the hotel at 9am, drove me down to the ticket gate, and then a bit further to where there was a little yellow bus-van sitting waiting. There were already two girls in the van - I don't know where they had been picked up from because the van was already on the entrance road beyond the main ticket building. I didn't have to pay for the car from the hotel, perhaps the 20 Yuan I paid when I arrived was a return fare? Then the yellow van cost me just 20 Yuan to Tianquan.
It stopped somewhere in town and when I asked how I get to the bus station from there I was asked where I was going, I said Ya'an (so I could catch a train back to Chengdu), and a guy said to follow him. He led me across the road and said to wait, a big car arrives and he says to get in this. I thought this was just a taxi to take me to the bus station but after we had been driving slowly around the town for a while looking for more passengers it dawned on me that this was in fact a car to Ya'an. This was fine actually, because it only cost 20 Yuan and the regular bus cost 14 Yuan, so the difference was only a dollar or so.
There are regular trains between Ya'an and Chengdu which take about 1.5 hours. It was 36 degrees when I arrived in Chengdu and I just went straight back to the Rayfont Hotel and Apartments. This was my last night in China. Tomorrow I would be flying out to Bangkok for a couple of days stop-over on my way back to New Zealand.
My last meal in China, at Chengdu airport. On the right is roast eel. One of the best meals from China probably, and China had lots of good food.
Some of the dishes on this menu (the night before, not at the airport) translated on my phone as "hairy blood", "rotten cowpeas" and "rotten meat fans"...
To my surprise the transport from Labahe to Tianquan had actually been organised and everything ran smoothly. The car picked me up at the hotel at 9am, drove me down to the ticket gate, and then a bit further to where there was a little yellow bus-van sitting waiting. There were already two girls in the van - I don't know where they had been picked up from because the van was already on the entrance road beyond the main ticket building. I didn't have to pay for the car from the hotel, perhaps the 20 Yuan I paid when I arrived was a return fare? Then the yellow van cost me just 20 Yuan to Tianquan.
It stopped somewhere in town and when I asked how I get to the bus station from there I was asked where I was going, I said Ya'an (so I could catch a train back to Chengdu), and a guy said to follow him. He led me across the road and said to wait, a big car arrives and he says to get in this. I thought this was just a taxi to take me to the bus station but after we had been driving slowly around the town for a while looking for more passengers it dawned on me that this was in fact a car to Ya'an. This was fine actually, because it only cost 20 Yuan and the regular bus cost 14 Yuan, so the difference was only a dollar or so.
There are regular trains between Ya'an and Chengdu which take about 1.5 hours. It was 36 degrees when I arrived in Chengdu and I just went straight back to the Rayfont Hotel and Apartments. This was my last night in China. Tomorrow I would be flying out to Bangkok for a couple of days stop-over on my way back to New Zealand.
My last meal in China, at Chengdu airport. On the right is roast eel. One of the best meals from China probably, and China had lots of good food.
Some of the dishes on this menu (the night before, not at the airport) translated on my phone as "hairy blood", "rotten cowpeas" and "rotten meat fans"...
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CHINA (part two) ROUND-UP
Quick recap: I came back in from Hong Kong to Guangzhou (in the province of Guangdong) where I visited the Guangzhou Zoo (and also Ocean World, which is within the grounds of the zoo) and the Chimelong Safari Park; then went westwards for a return visit to Fanjingshan (in Guizhou); then more westwards to the province of Sichuan where I went to Jiuzhaigou National Park and Labahe Nature Reserve.
So just a short revisit to China (21 days) and only a few sites visited, but almost all of them went really well, in terms of finding wildlife.
The zoo reviews:
Guangzhou Zoo: review and species list, May 2025 [Guangzhou Zoological Garden]
Ocean World (Guangzhou): review and species list, May 2025
Chimelong Safari Park: review and species list May 2025 [Chimelong Safari Park]
BIRDS and MAMMALS:
I saw 137 species of birds, of which 16 were lifers, and a further 20 were new for my China list (as in, I had seen them previously in other countries but not China). My China list is now 427 bird species.
I saw 10 species of mammals, mostly at Labahe, of which just one was a lifer (the Red & White Giant Flying Squirrel).
Tibetan Macaque Macaca thibetana (Fanjingshan and Labahe)
Masked Palm Civet Paguma larvata (Labahe)
Chinese Red Panda Ailurus (fulgens) styani (Labahe)
Chinese Goral Naemorhedus griseus (Labahe)
Takin Budorcus taxicolor (Labahe)
Sambar Cervus unicolor (Labahe)
Reeves' Muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (Labahe)
Red & White Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista alborufus (Labahe)
Perny’s Long-nosed Squirrel Dremomys pernyi (Labahe)
Maritime Squirrel Tamiops maritimus (Fanjingshan)
COSTS:
Total spent and average per day (exchange rates were all done today so won't be exactly what they would have been a month ago, and they are mostly rounded up or down):
9622 Yuan total = c.NZ$2246 ; UK£999 ; Euro 1149 ; US$1342
Over 21 days that’s an average per day of roughly 458 Yuan (c.NZ$106.80 ; UK£ 47.55 ; Euro 54.70 ; US$63.90).
This is not including the train into China from Hong Kong (90 Yuan) or the flight out of China to Bangkok (687 Yuan).
This is quite a lot higher than the first time through China on this trip, which averaged out at 319 Yuan per day (exchange rates at that time: c.NZ$77 ; UK£35 ; Euro 42 ; US$44). There were some specific costs worth mentioning which bumped the averages up considerably this time:
Chimelong Safari Park - the entry fee for this zoo was a whopping 300 Yuan (roughly NZ$70 ; UK£31 ; Euro 36 ; US$42).
Jiuzhaigou - the hotel in town here wasn't expensive (c.106 Yuan per night), but the entry cost for the park was 280 Yuan every day (c.NZ$65 ; UK£29 ; Euro 33 ; US$39).
Labahe - the cheapest hotel here is still extremely expensive by my standards, up to four or five times higher than any other accommodation I stayed at in China, with a total cost for four nights of 1745 Yuan (an average of 436.25 Yuan per night, which is c.NZ$102 ; UK£45 ; Euro 52 ; US$61). This is even notably expensive when looking at my average hotel spend in Japan which was NZ$83 per night overall (or NZ$68.30 per night if I removed the one really expensive outlier in the Ogasawara Islands). There was also the cost of the shuttle bus and cable-car each day, which was 120 Yuan (c.NZ$28 ; UK£12.50 ; Euro 14.30 ; US$16.70).
TRAVEL:
Trains:
1498 Yuan for seven trains, which is roughly NZ$349.30 ; UK£155.50 ; Euro 178.90 ; US$209.
The most expensive train was 493 Yuan from Tongren to Chengdu, which is roughly NZ$115 (UK£51.20 ; Euro 58.90 ; US$68.80). This took about 6.5 hours, covering 583km in a direct line measurement - the internet varies in what the actual travel distance is, but it seems to be around 960km.
The next was 457.50 Yuan from Guangzhou to Tongren (about 7.5 hours). The other trains ranged from 62 to 161 Yuan.
Buses:
325 Yuan for eight buses/cars between towns or cities, which is roughly NZ$75.80 ; UK£33.75 ; Euro 33.80 ; US$45.35.
The most expensive was 80 Yuan going from Tianquan to Labahe (20 Yuan on the way back!), which is roughly NZ$18.65 ; UK£8.30 ; Euro 9.55 ; US$11.15.
HOTELS:
The prices average out a little weird because the total price paid when booking covers different prices on different days of the week. The only "round" number is for Xiu Shui Villa at Fanjingshan because I was paying that directly to them at 100 Yuan per night.
Guangzhou (100 Hotel): five nights, 327 Yuan (average 65.40 Yuan per night)
Tongren (Tongren Siyan Hotel): one night, 46 Yuan
Fanjingshan (Xiu Shui Villa): four nights, 400 Yuan (average 100 Yuan per night)
Chengdu (Rayfont Hotel and Apartments): one night, 94 Yuan
Jiuzhaigou (Four Seasons Fairy Tale Hotel): four nights, 425 Yuan (average 106.25 Yuan per night)
Tianquan (Lakeside Cloud Hotel): one night, 122 Yuan
Labahe (Luming Hotel): four nights, 1745 Yuan (average 436.25 Yuan per night)
Chengdu (Rayfont Hotel and Apartments): one night, 138 Yuan
3297 Yuan total for hotels (c.NZ$769 ; UK£342 ; Euro 394 ; US$460).
Divided by 21 nights that makes an average of 157 Yuan per night (c.NZ$36.60 ; UK£16.30 ; Euro 18.70 ; US$21.90).
And one last photo from China, from way back in Guangzhou - ukuleles or guitars or something like that, discounted from 580 Yuan to 99 Yuan! That's a bargain!
The two QR codes on the table are for payment. The blue one is AliPay and the green one is WePay.
Quick recap: I came back in from Hong Kong to Guangzhou (in the province of Guangdong) where I visited the Guangzhou Zoo (and also Ocean World, which is within the grounds of the zoo) and the Chimelong Safari Park; then went westwards for a return visit to Fanjingshan (in Guizhou); then more westwards to the province of Sichuan where I went to Jiuzhaigou National Park and Labahe Nature Reserve.
So just a short revisit to China (21 days) and only a few sites visited, but almost all of them went really well, in terms of finding wildlife.
The zoo reviews:
Guangzhou Zoo: review and species list, May 2025 [Guangzhou Zoological Garden]
Ocean World (Guangzhou): review and species list, May 2025
Chimelong Safari Park: review and species list May 2025 [Chimelong Safari Park]
BIRDS and MAMMALS:
I saw 137 species of birds, of which 16 were lifers, and a further 20 were new for my China list (as in, I had seen them previously in other countries but not China). My China list is now 427 bird species.
I saw 10 species of mammals, mostly at Labahe, of which just one was a lifer (the Red & White Giant Flying Squirrel).
Tibetan Macaque Macaca thibetana (Fanjingshan and Labahe)
Masked Palm Civet Paguma larvata (Labahe)
Chinese Red Panda Ailurus (fulgens) styani (Labahe)
Chinese Goral Naemorhedus griseus (Labahe)
Takin Budorcus taxicolor (Labahe)
Sambar Cervus unicolor (Labahe)
Reeves' Muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (Labahe)
Red & White Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista alborufus (Labahe)
Perny’s Long-nosed Squirrel Dremomys pernyi (Labahe)
Maritime Squirrel Tamiops maritimus (Fanjingshan)
COSTS:
Total spent and average per day (exchange rates were all done today so won't be exactly what they would have been a month ago, and they are mostly rounded up or down):
9622 Yuan total = c.NZ$2246 ; UK£999 ; Euro 1149 ; US$1342
Over 21 days that’s an average per day of roughly 458 Yuan (c.NZ$106.80 ; UK£ 47.55 ; Euro 54.70 ; US$63.90).
This is not including the train into China from Hong Kong (90 Yuan) or the flight out of China to Bangkok (687 Yuan).
This is quite a lot higher than the first time through China on this trip, which averaged out at 319 Yuan per day (exchange rates at that time: c.NZ$77 ; UK£35 ; Euro 42 ; US$44). There were some specific costs worth mentioning which bumped the averages up considerably this time:
Chimelong Safari Park - the entry fee for this zoo was a whopping 300 Yuan (roughly NZ$70 ; UK£31 ; Euro 36 ; US$42).
Jiuzhaigou - the hotel in town here wasn't expensive (c.106 Yuan per night), but the entry cost for the park was 280 Yuan every day (c.NZ$65 ; UK£29 ; Euro 33 ; US$39).
Labahe - the cheapest hotel here is still extremely expensive by my standards, up to four or five times higher than any other accommodation I stayed at in China, with a total cost for four nights of 1745 Yuan (an average of 436.25 Yuan per night, which is c.NZ$102 ; UK£45 ; Euro 52 ; US$61). This is even notably expensive when looking at my average hotel spend in Japan which was NZ$83 per night overall (or NZ$68.30 per night if I removed the one really expensive outlier in the Ogasawara Islands). There was also the cost of the shuttle bus and cable-car each day, which was 120 Yuan (c.NZ$28 ; UK£12.50 ; Euro 14.30 ; US$16.70).
TRAVEL:
Trains:
1498 Yuan for seven trains, which is roughly NZ$349.30 ; UK£155.50 ; Euro 178.90 ; US$209.
The most expensive train was 493 Yuan from Tongren to Chengdu, which is roughly NZ$115 (UK£51.20 ; Euro 58.90 ; US$68.80). This took about 6.5 hours, covering 583km in a direct line measurement - the internet varies in what the actual travel distance is, but it seems to be around 960km.
The next was 457.50 Yuan from Guangzhou to Tongren (about 7.5 hours). The other trains ranged from 62 to 161 Yuan.
Buses:
325 Yuan for eight buses/cars between towns or cities, which is roughly NZ$75.80 ; UK£33.75 ; Euro 33.80 ; US$45.35.
The most expensive was 80 Yuan going from Tianquan to Labahe (20 Yuan on the way back!), which is roughly NZ$18.65 ; UK£8.30 ; Euro 9.55 ; US$11.15.
HOTELS:
The prices average out a little weird because the total price paid when booking covers different prices on different days of the week. The only "round" number is for Xiu Shui Villa at Fanjingshan because I was paying that directly to them at 100 Yuan per night.
Guangzhou (100 Hotel): five nights, 327 Yuan (average 65.40 Yuan per night)
Tongren (Tongren Siyan Hotel): one night, 46 Yuan
Fanjingshan (Xiu Shui Villa): four nights, 400 Yuan (average 100 Yuan per night)
Chengdu (Rayfont Hotel and Apartments): one night, 94 Yuan
Jiuzhaigou (Four Seasons Fairy Tale Hotel): four nights, 425 Yuan (average 106.25 Yuan per night)
Tianquan (Lakeside Cloud Hotel): one night, 122 Yuan
Labahe (Luming Hotel): four nights, 1745 Yuan (average 436.25 Yuan per night)
Chengdu (Rayfont Hotel and Apartments): one night, 138 Yuan
3297 Yuan total for hotels (c.NZ$769 ; UK£342 ; Euro 394 ; US$460).
Divided by 21 nights that makes an average of 157 Yuan per night (c.NZ$36.60 ; UK£16.30 ; Euro 18.70 ; US$21.90).
And one last photo from China, from way back in Guangzhou - ukuleles or guitars or something like that, discounted from 580 Yuan to 99 Yuan! That's a bargain!
The two QR codes on the table are for payment. The blue one is AliPay and the green one is WePay.
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Glad you mentioned that as I had noticed the offending illustration on the map mentioned and thought, what's a wildebeest doing in a Chinese reserve...( I think I also realised it should have been a Takin.)
I've been hoping with each read, right up to the last day, that you would finally come upon a group of Snub-nosed monkeys, but alas it wasn't to be. Many thanks for such a descriptively written, interesting and enjoyable account of all your recent travels!
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Yeah, that's wildlife watching.
“That’s why it’s called fishing and not catching”.
A sincere thank you for the write-up. Now I have to find a something new to read before I go to sleep
You should open a fund so that you can travel sooner again and write up more
I do have to say that reading your travels (and troubles) really do not make me want to travel to China more. Even though you seem to love it, your blogs just makes me appreciate south- and central America more as a travel destination.
A sincere thank you for the write-up. Now I have to find a something new to read before I go to sleep
You should open a fund so that you can travel sooner again and write up more
I do have to say that reading your travels (and troubles) really do not make me want to travel to China more. Even though you seem to love it, your blogs just makes me appreciate south- and central America more as a travel destination.
Bangkok
Starting in May 2025 you need to fill out the Arrival Card online before entering Thailand, even at the land borders (apparently).
Every country is getting into this now. In the "old days" you just flew to where-ever, filled out the paper card on the plane, no problems. Places like Malaysia or Thailand were especially easy for travel because you never needed proof of exit or hotel bookings or anything like that (officially you did but they never actually bothered with it). It made travelling without time constraints really easy.
Ideally a country would have both options available - online and physical cards - because there are always going to be people turning up not knowing they had to do it in advance, but there is a real variability in this.
On this trip, when I arrived in Malaysia at the start I discovered that they only have their "Arrival Cards" online now but luckily they have some computers so you can do it on the spot (and luckily I was only passing through for a few days so I had a hotel already booked, which isn't something I normally would have done).
China has physical cards - surprisingly, given how everything else there is done through phone apps now.
I arrived in Japan a few days before they were reportedly stopping the use of physical cards - I'm not sure if they still have them or not.
When I got to Taiwan I had already filled out the form online because even before I left New Zealand I had read that online was mandatory, but when I got there I saw signs all over the airport saying that you can do either, it is just that the online version makes things faster for you.
Hong Kong has nothing at all!
The next stage for Thailand immigration is an ETA like the USA has, which will be so much added hassle with uploading documents etc. It was supposed to be starting last December (2024) and fully rolled out by June (i.e. now), but fortunately that doesn't seem to have been accomplished. I'm not sure I could be bothered going back to Thailand if having to do that.
On the plus side, you now get two months in Thailand whereas before you only got one month.
I don't think I've ever booked a hotel ahead of time in Thailand. I always just turn up and find one on arrival. On the old paper Arrival Cards I would just write "Khao San Guesthouse" and that was good enough, but now with the online version requiring an actual address (and because I was only staying a couple of days anyway) I thought I'd better do it. I opened up Trip and saw loads of dorm beds for NZ$10 and upwards. That's ridiculous, I thought. Typically a hotel I get in Bangkok would be under that price for a room. I thought it would be easiest to get a hotel near the airport but the airport hotels were really expensive, as in hundreds of dollars. I looked at hotels along the stations of the Airport Train and started discarding them one after another as I read their reviews. I hate booking hotels online! Eventually I got fed up with it and just settled on one called The Best Bangkok Hotel where the room was NZ$40, at a discount from NZ$108 (!), and it had almost all good reviews. I've never paid that much for a hotel in Thailand before, so we'd see how that was going to go!
I flew from China on Sichuan Airlines, which I declare to be the best airline I've been on. Nice plane, better leg-room than most economy flights, all the air hostesses were friendly and seemed like they wanted to be there instead of wishing all the passengers were dead, and they kept giving out food.
Arrival at the Bangkok airport was chaotic. You'd think China would be the chaotic one and Thailand the smooth one, but no. China immigration is a breeze. At Bangkok when you come off the plane to immigration there are some rope channels, but then they suddenly just stop and everyone spills out into one big mass which are supposed to be queues. It took over an hour to get through and onto the train.
While watching the people ahead of me go through immigration it was interesting that for some people the immigration officers wanted to see the online Arrival Card on their phone, but other people were just a passport stamp and away. It should all be on their computer already, so maybe it depends on how long prior the person had done it (e.g. the day before versus while standing in the queue). For me, the lady just asked how long I was in Thailand for, asked if I was alone, and then stamped my passport and waved me through.
I caught the Airport Train to the last station at Phaya Thai which I was under the impression was the closest to the hotel I'd booked. When I got there I looked on the Trip map for the walking route and it had a big long arc which it said would take 22 minutes. That didn't seem right. I zoomed in on the streets because I was sure I didn't need to take such a long route, but of course it didn't show all the little alleys and I didn't want to end up wandering around getting lost for ages in alleyways. I asked at the ticket counter and the girl there said that I needed to take the train back one station to Ratchaprarop (i.e. the station I had just come through to get to Phaya Thai). So I travel back one station, and now the Trip map says 12 minutes walk, so at least it was closer. The next morning I went to get the BTS Skytrain at Phaya Thai and easily found the route, which literally took five minutes to walk between the station and the hotel.
The Best Bangkok Hotel was fine but the room was definitely not worth NZ$108, and honestly not even worth the NZ$40 which it was priced at. I do suspect the price being at a "discount" is a scam to hook people in.
When I checked in they wanted 1000 Baht deposit (that's NZ$50)! At the airport I hadn't wanted to get out a small amount from an ATM because my bank charges a "foreign ATM" fee of NZ$6 each transaction, so I'd just exchanged some of the Malaysian Ringgit I still had from the start of the trip. I hadn't thought I'd need much, only being in Bangkok for a short time, but changed 300 Ringgit in case of unexpected expenses. Lucky I did that, or the 1000 Baht deposit would have rendered me moneyless. Afterwards I checked the booking policy for the hotel on Trip and it specifically says "No deposit required by the property".
There are several signs up in the room warning "you will be charged 5000 Baht if you make the room dirty", "No smoking, no durian, no eating, fine 2000 Baht". Like I said, it's a fine hotel.
As it was, I ran out of money on my last morning. Bangkok is way more expensive now! I couldn't believe it.
On previous trips my daily average was about NZ$20-25 (say about 500 Baht): that's including accommodation, food, transport, everything. That wasn't going to be my average on this visit because I was only here three nights and my hotel alone was way over my usual average, but nevertheless I'm going out looking for food and I find that meals in the restaurants and cafes are mostly around 120 to 400 Baht. Basically, just food alone is reaching my usual average daily spend. I don't know what's happened here.
I didn't take any photos of food while here because I was mostly just eating fried chicken from streetside stalls because that was the cheapest thing available. On that last morning, breakfast (which was just noodle soup and coffee) cost me 100 Baht at a streetside stall! That was my wallet now empty - I had three Baht left - so had to wait until I checked out and could get my deposit back before I could buy anything else (or even pay for the train back to the airport).
The hotel did end up costing me NZ$45 per night instead of NZ$40, because of bank fees / exchange rates added onto the booking, but that still meant - once I worked out the averages for my stay - that I was spending NZ$30 a day on food and metro-trains.
On the day I left I found even more unbelievable food prices at the Bangkok airport. Airport food is always more expensive than non-airport food of course, but still Thailand has gotten ridiculous. There were Burger King and McDonalds here, and burgers by themselves were between 300 and 500 Baht. There were two Subways, where the foot-long subs were 500 Baht - that's NZ$25!! I'd be interested in what a foot-long costs in other countries. I couldn't find a Subway at Sydney airport to compare when I went through there afterwards, but when I got back to New Zealand a foot-long is about NZ$16. That's not quite half the cost of one in Bangkok but it's pretty close. I just can't believe the cost of things in Thailand now!
I ended up getting some popcorn chicken and fries from a shop there called Mega (I think) which was so gross that I had to throw the fries in the bin. Luckily I found a Dairy Queen and bought a strawberry Blizzard to get the taste out of my mouth.
Totally unrelated to food but I had to put a photo somewhere, so here's a House Sparrow:
House Sparrows are native to Thailand, but used to be quite rare and localised. In recent years they have extended their range considerably into urban areas around the country. I'd never seen them in Bangkok before this visit.
There is an interesting paper from 2024 titled "House Sparrow Passer domesticus as an Invasive Bird in Thailand, Natural Dispersion or Introduced Species?" which has various figures and diagrams showing the increase of the species in Thailand. Figure 1b has a graph where the population goes in a fairly straight line until about 2014 and then suddenly starts going upwards like a steep staircase. Figure 2 of the paper has three maps from 1995, 2010 and 2020 where the distribution goes from a few coloured squares to almost covering the country.
Starting in May 2025 you need to fill out the Arrival Card online before entering Thailand, even at the land borders (apparently).
Every country is getting into this now. In the "old days" you just flew to where-ever, filled out the paper card on the plane, no problems. Places like Malaysia or Thailand were especially easy for travel because you never needed proof of exit or hotel bookings or anything like that (officially you did but they never actually bothered with it). It made travelling without time constraints really easy.
Ideally a country would have both options available - online and physical cards - because there are always going to be people turning up not knowing they had to do it in advance, but there is a real variability in this.
On this trip, when I arrived in Malaysia at the start I discovered that they only have their "Arrival Cards" online now but luckily they have some computers so you can do it on the spot (and luckily I was only passing through for a few days so I had a hotel already booked, which isn't something I normally would have done).
China has physical cards - surprisingly, given how everything else there is done through phone apps now.
I arrived in Japan a few days before they were reportedly stopping the use of physical cards - I'm not sure if they still have them or not.
When I got to Taiwan I had already filled out the form online because even before I left New Zealand I had read that online was mandatory, but when I got there I saw signs all over the airport saying that you can do either, it is just that the online version makes things faster for you.
Hong Kong has nothing at all!
The next stage for Thailand immigration is an ETA like the USA has, which will be so much added hassle with uploading documents etc. It was supposed to be starting last December (2024) and fully rolled out by June (i.e. now), but fortunately that doesn't seem to have been accomplished. I'm not sure I could be bothered going back to Thailand if having to do that.
On the plus side, you now get two months in Thailand whereas before you only got one month.
I don't think I've ever booked a hotel ahead of time in Thailand. I always just turn up and find one on arrival. On the old paper Arrival Cards I would just write "Khao San Guesthouse" and that was good enough, but now with the online version requiring an actual address (and because I was only staying a couple of days anyway) I thought I'd better do it. I opened up Trip and saw loads of dorm beds for NZ$10 and upwards. That's ridiculous, I thought. Typically a hotel I get in Bangkok would be under that price for a room. I thought it would be easiest to get a hotel near the airport but the airport hotels were really expensive, as in hundreds of dollars. I looked at hotels along the stations of the Airport Train and started discarding them one after another as I read their reviews. I hate booking hotels online! Eventually I got fed up with it and just settled on one called The Best Bangkok Hotel where the room was NZ$40, at a discount from NZ$108 (!), and it had almost all good reviews. I've never paid that much for a hotel in Thailand before, so we'd see how that was going to go!
I flew from China on Sichuan Airlines, which I declare to be the best airline I've been on. Nice plane, better leg-room than most economy flights, all the air hostesses were friendly and seemed like they wanted to be there instead of wishing all the passengers were dead, and they kept giving out food.
Arrival at the Bangkok airport was chaotic. You'd think China would be the chaotic one and Thailand the smooth one, but no. China immigration is a breeze. At Bangkok when you come off the plane to immigration there are some rope channels, but then they suddenly just stop and everyone spills out into one big mass which are supposed to be queues. It took over an hour to get through and onto the train.
While watching the people ahead of me go through immigration it was interesting that for some people the immigration officers wanted to see the online Arrival Card on their phone, but other people were just a passport stamp and away. It should all be on their computer already, so maybe it depends on how long prior the person had done it (e.g. the day before versus while standing in the queue). For me, the lady just asked how long I was in Thailand for, asked if I was alone, and then stamped my passport and waved me through.
I caught the Airport Train to the last station at Phaya Thai which I was under the impression was the closest to the hotel I'd booked. When I got there I looked on the Trip map for the walking route and it had a big long arc which it said would take 22 minutes. That didn't seem right. I zoomed in on the streets because I was sure I didn't need to take such a long route, but of course it didn't show all the little alleys and I didn't want to end up wandering around getting lost for ages in alleyways. I asked at the ticket counter and the girl there said that I needed to take the train back one station to Ratchaprarop (i.e. the station I had just come through to get to Phaya Thai). So I travel back one station, and now the Trip map says 12 minutes walk, so at least it was closer. The next morning I went to get the BTS Skytrain at Phaya Thai and easily found the route, which literally took five minutes to walk between the station and the hotel.
The Best Bangkok Hotel was fine but the room was definitely not worth NZ$108, and honestly not even worth the NZ$40 which it was priced at. I do suspect the price being at a "discount" is a scam to hook people in.
When I checked in they wanted 1000 Baht deposit (that's NZ$50)! At the airport I hadn't wanted to get out a small amount from an ATM because my bank charges a "foreign ATM" fee of NZ$6 each transaction, so I'd just exchanged some of the Malaysian Ringgit I still had from the start of the trip. I hadn't thought I'd need much, only being in Bangkok for a short time, but changed 300 Ringgit in case of unexpected expenses. Lucky I did that, or the 1000 Baht deposit would have rendered me moneyless. Afterwards I checked the booking policy for the hotel on Trip and it specifically says "No deposit required by the property".
There are several signs up in the room warning "you will be charged 5000 Baht if you make the room dirty", "No smoking, no durian, no eating, fine 2000 Baht". Like I said, it's a fine hotel.
As it was, I ran out of money on my last morning. Bangkok is way more expensive now! I couldn't believe it.
On previous trips my daily average was about NZ$20-25 (say about 500 Baht): that's including accommodation, food, transport, everything. That wasn't going to be my average on this visit because I was only here three nights and my hotel alone was way over my usual average, but nevertheless I'm going out looking for food and I find that meals in the restaurants and cafes are mostly around 120 to 400 Baht. Basically, just food alone is reaching my usual average daily spend. I don't know what's happened here.
I didn't take any photos of food while here because I was mostly just eating fried chicken from streetside stalls because that was the cheapest thing available. On that last morning, breakfast (which was just noodle soup and coffee) cost me 100 Baht at a streetside stall! That was my wallet now empty - I had three Baht left - so had to wait until I checked out and could get my deposit back before I could buy anything else (or even pay for the train back to the airport).
The hotel did end up costing me NZ$45 per night instead of NZ$40, because of bank fees / exchange rates added onto the booking, but that still meant - once I worked out the averages for my stay - that I was spending NZ$30 a day on food and metro-trains.
On the day I left I found even more unbelievable food prices at the Bangkok airport. Airport food is always more expensive than non-airport food of course, but still Thailand has gotten ridiculous. There were Burger King and McDonalds here, and burgers by themselves were between 300 and 500 Baht. There were two Subways, where the foot-long subs were 500 Baht - that's NZ$25!! I'd be interested in what a foot-long costs in other countries. I couldn't find a Subway at Sydney airport to compare when I went through there afterwards, but when I got back to New Zealand a foot-long is about NZ$16. That's not quite half the cost of one in Bangkok but it's pretty close. I just can't believe the cost of things in Thailand now!
I ended up getting some popcorn chicken and fries from a shop there called Mega (I think) which was so gross that I had to throw the fries in the bin. Luckily I found a Dairy Queen and bought a strawberry Blizzard to get the taste out of my mouth.
Totally unrelated to food but I had to put a photo somewhere, so here's a House Sparrow:
House Sparrows are native to Thailand, but used to be quite rare and localised. In recent years they have extended their range considerably into urban areas around the country. I'd never seen them in Bangkok before this visit.
There is an interesting paper from 2024 titled "House Sparrow Passer domesticus as an Invasive Bird in Thailand, Natural Dispersion or Introduced Species?" which has various figures and diagrams showing the increase of the species in Thailand. Figure 1b has a graph where the population goes in a fairly straight line until about 2014 and then suddenly starts going upwards like a steep staircase. Figure 2 of the paper has three maps from 1995, 2010 and 2020 where the distribution goes from a few coloured squares to almost covering the country.
Here in California a standard foot long is $9.39 - and the currency converter implies the NZ cost is technically the same just adjusted for the currency. The Thai prices you state however are overpriced by the same calculation, with 9.39 being 305 Baht. So your statement of 500 Baht means they're charging roughly a third more for some reason.
Bangkok birds
On my first morning in Bangkok I left the hotel early and caught the BTS Skytrain to Mo Chit station, which is next to Chatuchak Park. This park is small and tidy, but next to it is the larger and more "wild" Suan Rot Fai (Rot Fai Park). I was expecting to increase my year list here quite a bit but unfortunately most of the birds I saw were ones I had already seen.
White-breasted Waterhens (which were not new for the year list) and a Javan Pond Heron (which is new for the year list). It's a fifty-fifty shot!
Rot Fai has 219 species recorded on eBird, although only 67 species total have been reported in June because it is summer and outside the migrant season. (That is June of all years, not 2025 June specifically). Most of the checklists from June are roughly between 10 and 20-ish species. I saw 25 species while there.
Some of the "new" additions for my year list were Zebra Dove, Pied Starling, Streak-eared Bulbul, Indochinese Roller, Javan Pond Heron (a nesting colony), White-nest Swiftlet, House Sparrow, Ornate Sunbird, Striated Heron, and Asian Pied Fantail.
Asian Pied Starling
Striated Heron
Ornate Sunbird
In both parks I saw great quantities of Northern Tree Shrews and Variable Squirrels, but I couldn't find any of the Greater Sphinx Bats. Rot Fai seems smaller than I remembered but it still took two laps of the park before I finally found the palm trees the bats roost in. I knew the palms were here somewhere because I've seen the bats in them before. When I did find the palms, I checked all that I could but found only old roost sites. The bats live in specific types of palm trees, the ones with big fan-shaped leaves, not the ones with long open fronds. They bite through the midribs of the leaflets of the fan so they droop down and form a tent, and the bats cluster inside.
Variable Squirrel
Northern Tree Shrew in a tree, which despite the common name isn't where they are usually seen!
I also dropped by the Bangkok Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, which is a large meshed enclosure rather than the glasshouse you might see in less tropical climes (or at least, I think it is mesh - I can't actually remember now that I've written that!). It's funny that I've been coming to Bangkok for twenty years now, and this is the first time I've seen the Butterfly House. I've looked for it a couple of times but weirdly never been able to find it in the park. Last time I was in Bangkok I thought I found it because I came across a big shade-clothed enclosure being used to keep geese in, and I thought maybe that was it now closed down and repurposed, but no it is still going strong.
There are some photos of the butterfly house below. The one which from a quick glance might look like a hanging cluster of pink flowers is actually a hanging cluster of pink bags, presumably containing some sort of mushy butterfly food. The insects swarming on them are hoverflies, which look like bees but are harmless. The butterfly on there is the Orange Oak Leaf Kallima inachis - when at rest it looks like a dead leaf (as can be seen in this photo: Orange Oak Leaf (Kallima inachis) - ZooChat)
On my first morning in Bangkok I left the hotel early and caught the BTS Skytrain to Mo Chit station, which is next to Chatuchak Park. This park is small and tidy, but next to it is the larger and more "wild" Suan Rot Fai (Rot Fai Park). I was expecting to increase my year list here quite a bit but unfortunately most of the birds I saw were ones I had already seen.
White-breasted Waterhens (which were not new for the year list) and a Javan Pond Heron (which is new for the year list). It's a fifty-fifty shot!
Rot Fai has 219 species recorded on eBird, although only 67 species total have been reported in June because it is summer and outside the migrant season. (That is June of all years, not 2025 June specifically). Most of the checklists from June are roughly between 10 and 20-ish species. I saw 25 species while there.
Some of the "new" additions for my year list were Zebra Dove, Pied Starling, Streak-eared Bulbul, Indochinese Roller, Javan Pond Heron (a nesting colony), White-nest Swiftlet, House Sparrow, Ornate Sunbird, Striated Heron, and Asian Pied Fantail.
Asian Pied Starling
Striated Heron
Ornate Sunbird
In both parks I saw great quantities of Northern Tree Shrews and Variable Squirrels, but I couldn't find any of the Greater Sphinx Bats. Rot Fai seems smaller than I remembered but it still took two laps of the park before I finally found the palm trees the bats roost in. I knew the palms were here somewhere because I've seen the bats in them before. When I did find the palms, I checked all that I could but found only old roost sites. The bats live in specific types of palm trees, the ones with big fan-shaped leaves, not the ones with long open fronds. They bite through the midribs of the leaflets of the fan so they droop down and form a tent, and the bats cluster inside.
Variable Squirrel
Northern Tree Shrew in a tree, which despite the common name isn't where they are usually seen!
I also dropped by the Bangkok Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, which is a large meshed enclosure rather than the glasshouse you might see in less tropical climes (or at least, I think it is mesh - I can't actually remember now that I've written that!). It's funny that I've been coming to Bangkok for twenty years now, and this is the first time I've seen the Butterfly House. I've looked for it a couple of times but weirdly never been able to find it in the park. Last time I was in Bangkok I thought I found it because I came across a big shade-clothed enclosure being used to keep geese in, and I thought maybe that was it now closed down and repurposed, but no it is still going strong.
There are some photos of the butterfly house below. The one which from a quick glance might look like a hanging cluster of pink flowers is actually a hanging cluster of pink bags, presumably containing some sort of mushy butterfly food. The insects swarming on them are hoverflies, which look like bees but are harmless. The butterfly on there is the Orange Oak Leaf Kallima inachis - when at rest it looks like a dead leaf (as can be seen in this photo: Orange Oak Leaf (Kallima inachis) - ZooChat)
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Bangkok snakes
The next morning I visited another collection I hadn't been to before, the Bangkok Snake Farm. I've always seen this on maps of Bangkok (it originally opened in 1923), but on other trips I either had too much else to do, or ran out of time, or just didn't feel interested at the time. Today I made sure I visited.
It's a great place, with large outdoor enclosures and loads of indoor terrariums. The original purpose of the facility was to produce snake antivenin, which it still does today, but now it is also a tourist attraction. While I was there I watched staff extracting venom from three King Cobras, which you realise are actually enormous snakes when you see them being held by a person!
King Cobra
There are 48 species labeled as being on display (although four tanks were unoccupied for renovation), and several of the snakes there are newly-described species from within the last few years. Unfortunately for me, one of those newly-described species - the Omkoi Lance-headed Pit Viper Protobothrops kelomohy (described in 2020) - was one of the off-display species.
I have put a full species list here (with the newly-described ones noted): Bangkok Snake Farm: species list, 18 June 2025 [Bangkok Snake Farm]
This is the photo gallery for the Snake Farm: Bangkok Snake Farm - ZooChat
There were already heaps of exhibit photos in there so I just uploaded a whole lot of shots of the snakes themselves, like the ones below, which were sorely lacking.
Lanna Green Pit Viper Trimeresurus lanna
Green Cat Snake Boiga cyanea
Jack's Water Snake Homalopsis mereljcoxi
The Snake Farm is just along the road from Lumphini Park, less than ten minutes walk. I had a wander around there but it was midday and too hot for birds so not much was seen.
And that was it for Bangkok.
The next morning I visited another collection I hadn't been to before, the Bangkok Snake Farm. I've always seen this on maps of Bangkok (it originally opened in 1923), but on other trips I either had too much else to do, or ran out of time, or just didn't feel interested at the time. Today I made sure I visited.
It's a great place, with large outdoor enclosures and loads of indoor terrariums. The original purpose of the facility was to produce snake antivenin, which it still does today, but now it is also a tourist attraction. While I was there I watched staff extracting venom from three King Cobras, which you realise are actually enormous snakes when you see them being held by a person!
King Cobra
There are 48 species labeled as being on display (although four tanks were unoccupied for renovation), and several of the snakes there are newly-described species from within the last few years. Unfortunately for me, one of those newly-described species - the Omkoi Lance-headed Pit Viper Protobothrops kelomohy (described in 2020) - was one of the off-display species.
I have put a full species list here (with the newly-described ones noted): Bangkok Snake Farm: species list, 18 June 2025 [Bangkok Snake Farm]
This is the photo gallery for the Snake Farm: Bangkok Snake Farm - ZooChat
There were already heaps of exhibit photos in there so I just uploaded a whole lot of shots of the snakes themselves, like the ones below, which were sorely lacking.
Lanna Green Pit Viper Trimeresurus lanna
Green Cat Snake Boiga cyanea
Jack's Water Snake Homalopsis mereljcoxi
The Snake Farm is just along the road from Lumphini Park, less than ten minutes walk. I had a wander around there but it was midday and too hot for birds so not much was seen.
And that was it for Bangkok.
Homeward bound
I was flying with Qantas from Bangkok to New Zealand, with a stop-over in Sydney for four hours. Because I'm a New Zealander I can go in and out of Australia freely with no visa issues, my checked pack was going straight through to New Zealand, and I already had the boarding pass for the Australia to New Zealand flight, so all of that meant I was free to easily leave the airport and get back in with no problems.
I had looked for a birding site close to the airport. Initially I had thought of Centennial Park for the Powerful Owls, but it would take too long to get there and back. Instead I found a place called the Landing Lights Wetland which is just on the other side of the river and there is a bus which takes five minutes to get there from the airport.
In the end I never made it there. The flight out of Bangkok was delayed by over an hour by the plane's late arrival from its previous run, and then a heavy rainstorm meant they had to hold off on loading the luggage, and then there was a back-up of planes waiting to depart due to the rain. By the time I got to Sydney there wasn't time to bother leaving the airport.
So instead I just went directly to the transfer gates where I had to empty the entire contents of my carry-on bag into a tray because it had things like camera, laptop, power-bank, and cables, and then they put that tray back through the X-ray twice just to be sure I wasn't trying anything nefarious.
Then I was on my way back to New Zealand, and my trip was over. Finished. An ex trip. No more pining for the fiords.
I was flying with Qantas from Bangkok to New Zealand, with a stop-over in Sydney for four hours. Because I'm a New Zealander I can go in and out of Australia freely with no visa issues, my checked pack was going straight through to New Zealand, and I already had the boarding pass for the Australia to New Zealand flight, so all of that meant I was free to easily leave the airport and get back in with no problems.
I had looked for a birding site close to the airport. Initially I had thought of Centennial Park for the Powerful Owls, but it would take too long to get there and back. Instead I found a place called the Landing Lights Wetland which is just on the other side of the river and there is a bus which takes five minutes to get there from the airport.
In the end I never made it there. The flight out of Bangkok was delayed by over an hour by the plane's late arrival from its previous run, and then a heavy rainstorm meant they had to hold off on loading the luggage, and then there was a back-up of planes waiting to depart due to the rain. By the time I got to Sydney there wasn't time to bother leaving the airport.
So instead I just went directly to the transfer gates where I had to empty the entire contents of my carry-on bag into a tray because it had things like camera, laptop, power-bank, and cables, and then they put that tray back through the X-ray twice just to be sure I wasn't trying anything nefarious.
Then I was on my way back to New Zealand, and my trip was over. Finished. An ex trip. No more pining for the fiords.
What are your most memorable wild snake encounters from all of your travels?