I am starting my Southeast Asia trip on AirAsia flight AK 70. I plan to visit a few Southeast Asian countries, depending on getting the visas from Malaysia.
After entering Malaysia, the first task is applying for the Thailand e-Visa using the Malaysia entry stamp. Then, apply for the Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar visas at their embassies in Kuala Lumpur. If a Thailand visa is approved, apply for the Singapore visa from Thailand. Six countries in total, about 5-6 weeks. Most of it will depend on getting a Thai visa.
I am planning to fly to Cambodia from Kuala Lumpur and then take a bus to Thailand. From there Laos and back by land. Flying to Myanmar and back from Thailand after that, then flying to Singapore and Dhaka.
Last year, I wanted to visit Cambodia and Laos during the Thailand trip but could not. I applied for the Cambodia e-Visa twice. They charged for the visa twice but never issued it. They asked for additional documents, but there is no way to know which one. No one answered emails or WhatsApp messages about it. I went to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok last year to know about the sticker visa then. They gave a list of the required documents that could not be arranged at that short notice. So, I left it for the next time.
As for Laos, the easiest way to get a visa for a Bangladeshi passport is from Phnom Penh or Kuala Lumpur. It is possible to get a sticker visa there in one or two days with just the passport and a photo. I went to their embassy in Bangkok last year, and they gave me a list of tour operators in Laos from whom I must have an invitation letter. After that, they will let me know what documents will be necessary. And no one will give an invitation letter without booking a tour. So that was a no-go path left for later.
For a Singapore visa, it is easier to get from Bangkok for a Bangladesh passport than apply at home via an agency. The last thing I want to do is keep my passport deposited with an agency and keep me hostage.
Myanmar was the latest addition to the plan since flights are available for us now from Bangkok only. And AirAsia flights from Bangkok are inexpensive. We had a direct flight from Dhaka to Yangon, which stopped after the Rohingya crisis a few years ago. Initially, it was scary to think about visiting Myanmar because of the fighting. However, more research showed that it is safe to visit the military-controlled areas. I am primarily interested in visiting Bagan, which is possible by taking a VIP bus from Yangon.
This year, I planned to visit Cambodia and Laos in April, the last dry month. Also, I can go on overseas trips only during my off-season from April to September. And adding other countries where inexpensive flights are available from Bangkok.
Unexpected Malaysia Visa
I was extremely busy the last few months guiding different groups in Bangladesh. I wanted to apply for a Malaysia visa just before leaving for a 14-day tour. After gathering all the necessary documents, when I tried to submit the e-visa application, the system would not accept it. There is a 500 error in the system. Pretty desperate to submit the application on time, I did all their FAQs and knew they had 24/7 support for the visa.
Looking for the online chat option on the website, I missed the sign at the bottom of the page, so I searched for the Malaysian e-visa live chat on Google and ended up on a page that looked like the official e-visa site. I contacted them in chat about the system error, and they replied instantly and gave me an alternative URL to upload my documents, which was a much cleaner interface than the actual visa site. I uploaded the documents, and then they gave me a Stripe link to make the payment, which I did.
Only after making the payment did I come back to my senses, but it was pretty late! The URL I now noticed is not the official government website. The visa fee I paid was more than double the official visa fee. Apparently, it was an agent from Malaysia who applied for a Malaysia visa for people with their charge.
They made their site look like the official site. They send their emails as the authority. It’s a totally fishing site. I felt a bitter taste in my mouth being scammed online for the first time in my life. There were so many red flags in the process, all of which I overlooked because of the anxiety of submitting the application and getting the visa on time. I abandoned the plan to visit Malaysia this time and went on the tour.
After a few days, when I was in the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest out of signal, only one bar occasionally coming sometime, I got an email from the scammers at night saying my Malaysia e-visa was approved! I thought it was a fake visa. After returning to the internet, I checked it from my phone, and it looked real.
I still wanted to check it properly from a big screen returning to Dhaka, which I did. The visa is real! So, I started to plan the trip after finishing the tour in a few days, which was the last tour of the season for me. I got about two weeks to do all the research, make a plan, and prepare all the documents for the visa applications from Malaysia and Thailand. I was able to finish everything only on the morning of departure!
AirAsia Check-in
I arrived at the airport long in advance, thinking about the hassle on the last trip to Uzbekistan when they could not verify the e-visa because of the Uzbekistan server issue and let me go only 10 minutes before the flight. There was no crowd to enter the airport. I was just after one person.
The AirAsia counter was preparing to open, but a few people were already lined up. I was after just one person on the line. But when the staff arrived, they told the immigrant workers and tourists to queue on separate counters, so I went to a new line after 5-6 people, which took about 30 minutes to come to my turn.
The staff checked my visa and the return ticket. My return was in Batik Air, which was not an issue like some airlines, specially US-Bangla Airlines, which are not allowing Bangladeshis to fly with them unless they also have the return ticket with them because they can not check the return ticket with other airlines, making the international travel even more difficult for us. I call for boycotting the airlines who do that.
My carry-on baggage was already about 8 kg instead of 7 kg. I put that intentionally thinking they would let 1 kg extra go. The staff told me to put it on the weight scale and told me it was overweight. Then he asked for the personal bag, which I showed and told him it was just the laptop.
He said because I already have my carry-on overweight and the backpack on top of that, I must put the trolley on the checked baggage. I told him I do not have checked baggage, so can I be permitted to take it with me, which he said he can’t. So I told him to put the trolley as checked baggage. AirAsia gave a 30 kg checked bag allowance for the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur flight, which made the ticket price similar to that of mainstream airlines. This is probably for the immigrant workers, all carrying a big checked bag.
I recently was taking some tips on how to pack to travel within the 7 kg limit. One interesting tip was to use a utility jacket and fill its pockets with small staff, which was perfect for me. I bought a vest this winter, which I re-inspected, and I found it has plenty of big pockets to serve this purpose. I filled up its pockets with all my gadgets, including a heavy power bank, a hand fan, an electric razor, a pot of my favorite coffee creamer, and a big powerstrip! These were about 2 kg weight saved.
Then, I put the laptop and its desktop charger in the personal bag, which was more than 2 kg. On top of that, a tripod for the DSLR, which was about 600 gm, and a few other gadgets made the personal bag about 5 kg. I thought they would not weigh the personal bag, the same as when I flew to Colombo last year from Bangkok on AirAsia. I could put everything in the checked bag on this flight because it had the 30 kg checked baggage allowance. But experimented for future flights on this trip, which did not work. For the following flights, I must buy the extra carry-on pack for about $25 to carry 14 kg carry-on instead of 7 kg, when available, or pay for a checked bag. Also, I have to think more about reducing the weight of my gadgets. Especially buying a laptop with a USB charging capacity is something I need to look into soon.
Bangladesh Immigration
The immigration officer only asked one question – when I am returning. That was all! No e-visa visa check, no hassle like the previous trip. I gave him a copy of the visa along with the boarding pass and stapled my previous passport this time, which had my Schengen and the UK Visa. I requested him to put the stamp with a stamp earlier, which he also did. In fact, the behavior of all the airport staff was very nice this time. This is my first time going anywhere after the interim government came, which feels like a huge positive change here.
Priority Lounge & The Roaming Service
Before my last trip, I took a new credit card, especially to use the free priority lounge at international airports. The card includes free unlimited lounge access at Dhaka Airport and six access yearly at other international airports. Last time, I just had time to get a coffee. I had plenty of time in hand this time, so I had a great dinner with chicken biryani, beef curry, salad, desserts, and a cup of cappuccino. I headed to the gate with plenty of time after that.
On the way, I checked the roaming status of my SIM card at the phone company booth just beside the lounge, which I had difficulty activating on my last two trips. I need to receive the verification texts from different services sent to my phone while traveling. I used the roaming service with another SIM card before I went to Europe. I remember using just roaming data on that trip. That was a postpaid plan.
However, I could not get it to work on my main SIM card, which is a prepaid plan, on my last two trips. I had the roaming service activated, but it will not kick in while traveling, no matter what I did. I contacted customer service twice after two trips. They found no problem with the service at all.
This time, I was desperate to make the roaming work. So I went to the customer service office physically and told them to migrate my prepaid plan to postpaid and active roaming service on that. I thought the problem must be with my plan. They said that first, I needed to deactivate the roaming service and transfer my roaming balance to my main balance before the migration. But it can not be completed today. They need one business day to do that, which was none before my trip because of the Eid holidays. They disabled the roaming service and told me how to do the migration on their app and re-enable it. I left their office pretty disappointed.
After returning home, I discovered on their website that I could activate an SMS roaming service on their app by simply recharging a specific amount, which I immediately did. I got a success text, but the roaming service status was still showing as disabled. I contacted customer service again about that by chat, and they figured it out this time. They said I needed to activate the roaming service by recharging the $1 balance by credit card. I did that, and it is now showing as active. I contacted them again to verify this, and they confirmed that when I’m traveling, my SMS roaming will kick in without doing anything else, and it will remain active for the next 3 years.
This time, at the booth, they checked and confirmed that I was all set for my SMS roaming service, which was reassuring.
At the Gate
Headed to the gate from the roaming booth. I couldn’t go to my gate directly because of special security for the arrival of our chief advisor. He is returning home a few minutes from the BIMSTEC conference in Bangkok.
Security check at the gate was easy. I had to remove the belt and shoes, though. The room was already full. Luckily, I got one seat to sit down. The flight was delayed because of the Chief advisor’s flight. They said the aircraft was circling in the air for some time but could not get clearance to land because of the Chief Advisor’s security.
Onboard the Aircraft
They started to board the aircraft about 30 minutes late. My seat was in the front of the plane, but they started boarding from the back. So I was among the last to board. But no one was in that area, so I got my overhead bean free to keep the backpack. I paid extra for a window seat – 6A – which looked good. I had a clear view without the aircraft’s wings. The legroom was also OK for me. I could even spread my legs under the seat without bothering anyone.
10:40 AirAsia flight AK 70 finally started taxying at 23:31 and took off without further delay. When the seatbelt sign turned off, the crew started selling food. I also paid extra to book a meal on this flight, which they brought shortly, without any water, which was not included. I was expecting them to give me a water bottle with the meal. That is no problem at all for me, though. Learning from a previous Wizz Air flight, I brought an almost full 1-liter bottle of water on the plane. They did not bother about it at the security. I was so full from the dinner at the lounge that I left the food for now, thinking about finishing it before landing.
The crew was busy selling food. They were accepting credit cards on the plane, which I was wondering how they did. They probably have satellite internet on the plane for their internal use? Not possible to know now. I downloaded about a dozen movies on the phone before coming to the airport.
I also got a new pair of earphones, which are lovely. Earphones never fit my ears – they always keep falling. This time, I told the shop about it, and they found a nice one for me that did not drop even if I kept shaking my head heavily! Also, I got a new 65w power bank that can charge 50% of my phone in just 30 minutes, so there is no charging problem. I am much better prepared than my previous trips. So concentrated on watching Gods Must Be Crazy I without further wasting time!