FAQ

After some future Asia Exchange students wrote me emails with questions concerning my semester abroad I decided to have a Frequently Asked Questions section to help future exchange student in Phuket.

Accommodation:
First of all I definitely recommend you to spend the first 2-3 days in a hostel and then start looking for suitable accomodation while you're already in Phuket. It's not possible to book most places while you're abroad and those places that you can book are usually very expensive. Don't worry too much about finding a place, because there are lots of options close to the university and about 2 months before the program starts Asia Exchange will also send you a guide where they show you different places.

The first month I stayed in Ormthong hotel, which is in walking distance of the university. They have nice rooms with aircon, TV, frigde, hot shower and internet for 7000Baht/month plus water&electricity (less than 500Baht if you don't use the aircon too often). The daily rates is 500Baht/night for one room (2 people).

I later moved to another house next to the Golf course (it doesn't have a name but it's blue and pink colour make it easy to recognize). I pay 5000Baht/month (plus water&electricity ~ 250Baht/month) for a slightly smaller room with fan, TV, internet, frigde and cold water. It's located half-way between the university and the large crossing with the petrol station that you pass on the way to Pathong.

Many students decided to rent a house or a villa with pool. If you team up with other exchange students this will cost you between 8000-14.000Baht/month plus water, electricity and other services such as a cleaning lady or a pool boy. There is a Finnish agent that offered some villas to the exchange students on our facebook group about 1 month before the beginning of the semester.

Airport transportation:
You can get a place in a shared minibus for 150 Baht from the airport to Pathong. The counter to buy tickets is just outside the airport and they will take you directly to your hotel or whereever you want to go in Pathong.

Classes:
Most classes were between Monday and Friday, however after talking to our teachers it was possible to change the Friday classes to another day so that we have a long weekend.

Course selection:
You have to choose the courses you want to take during the AsiaExchange application. However, it is still possible to change them when you're in Phuket. During my semester there were some courses not available even though they were on the AsiaExchange list, so you might have to be a little flexible.

Food:
If you stay in a hotel or a apartment you often don't have a kitchen, which means that you have to eat outside. Food in Kathu is quite cheap and you can get a meal between 40-80 Baht. At the university cantine food is even cheaper and only costs around 25 Baht.

Holidays:
Our semester had holidays between the 23rd of December and the 7th of January. In November there was a research week from Wednesday till Friday where international students didn'T have to participate so we had another long weekend then.

Internet:
There is free internet at the university and pretty much every kind of accommodation that I know has internet as well.

Uniform:
All students have to wear a uniform. During the orientation week you will be taken to a place were you can purchase the uniform. If you get a skit or pants with 2-3 shirts it shouldn't cost you more than 800Baht. Even though you're officially told to wear black and closed shoes, most Thai students didn't wear them and no one ever checked our uniforms.

Party:
Pathong is famous for its nightlife and has several clubs and bars. It only takes 15 minutes by scooter to go there from Kathu so there are many places to choose from if you are into partying.

Scooter:

They're the best way to go around Phuket due to insufficient public transportation and the infamous "tuktuk-Mafia" that charges super high prices for a taxi or tuktuk ride. I recommend you to rent a scooter from Gerard, an Austrian guy living in Phuket. We paid 2.500Baht/months and he will bring the scooters to the university in Kathu and he also comes there to collect the rent, so you don't have to go to his place in Pathong to do it. A problem with scooters is that some places might charge you a huge sum if there's only a tiny scratch on the scooter, whereas Gerard doesn't. His number is 0840605090 in case you want to rent a scooter there.

SIMcard:
When I arrived at Phuket airport there was a promotion and we got free TrueMove simcards in the hall where we got our luggage. Even if you don't get them for free, it's worth investing a couple of Baht into a TrueMove simcard, because if you dial 00600 before the country code they have special rates for international calls (less than 2 Baht/minute to Germany, landline).

Special items:
You can get almost everything that you have in your home countries in Phuket. Therefore, there is no need to bring lots of stuff from home. However, sunblog is a lot more expensive here than in Germany so you might want to bring some to Thailand.

Visa:
You can either get a 3 month education visa or a 12 months multiple entry visa. I decided to just get a student visa for 3 months and then I left Thailand during the holidays and reentered on a tourist visa for the last 2,5 weeks of my semester here.