What are the best flight options and requirements for returning to Thailand with a SETV after visiting Shanghai?

ah sorry i did not read the previous pos

you can open a chinese account in TH with china banks, its perfectly valid in china.

did you know you can open a chinese bank account here in Chiangmai? the bank is near promenada....I think. was at an OTOP fair last year and a Chinese bank stall was there letting folk know about it. can maybe find out more for you if you are interested.

You can enter China without a visa for three days, is your trip longer than that?

What about Hong Kong?

Just a thought - it might be worth getting a Chinese visa from the CM consulate despite the option of the 144-hour visa-free transit. I'm just not sure how easy it would be to open the Chinese bank account without a visa. I have no idea either way actually, but I wouldn't be surprised if trying to do that ends up being a massively frustrating experience for some vague reason or another. The CM consulate is pretty friendly and the single-entry visa pretty cheap, so might be worth doing to avoid the risk of a wasted trip or a lot of visiting banks.

Having the visa beforehand would also avoid the need to fly to a third country after China, giving you the option to be more flexible with that part, re-enter Thailand with an exemption, and handle the Thailand visa stuff in a separate trip days later.

I seem to remember you had another post about Chinese bank stuff a month or two back where I commented in more detail, but when you go to the bank you should probably have a Chinese phone number already and take the Registration Form of Temporary Residence (or the print-out of your registration from a hotel, depending on where you're staying). It might (=will) be a hassle to set up the account in English, but I'd recommend doing whatever Chinese bank stuff you need to do (online banking, linking with WeChat/Alipay, maybe routing any confirmation stuff to your Thai phone number if possible) and checking that it works while you're there, since it'll be difficult/impossible to do outside China. I'd probably be tempted to open two or three accounts personally, just in case of any problems later. I'm with ICBC and the online banking is acceptable (in Internet Explorer, haha), but that's just because my previous employer used that bank and it's not a particular recommendation. :)

Vientiane, Laos is an option. No proofs required for an SETV there. Although you would need a Laos visa, 1500bt, slightly cheaper in USD.

Vietnam offer 15 days visa free.