Yes, this is the best/easiest/cheapest option. I assume the last word "extension" in the above post should have read "exemption".

Your single-entry tourist visa is used as soon as you enter the country. There's really no issue with either of the two options you said in your original post. You can stop worrying about it. :)

Yes, you don't have to (and can't) "renew" your visa. Everything with your original plan is fine.

Either option is fine. Though it wouldn't hurt to book your Vietnam flight (or at least make a reservation) before your flight to Thailand, in case the airline ask when you check in (immigration almost certainly won't, though of course they can).

By the way, you can definitely also get Chinese tourist visas in Thailand while on a Thai tourist visa (or even an exemption), again at least in CM. There was a period a couple of months back where they changed the rules for a lot of SEA consulates so you could only apply if you're a resident in the country, but that seems to have reverted to normal shortly after.

I think you'll need to check with the consulate and maybe the employer. You can in principle get Chinese tourist visas in Thailand (although the BK consulate has a reputation for being tough, CM is a lot easier). The guy above (I won't try and type your name to tag you, no offence!) seems to be American, and they get 10 year METVs by default so that's not a surprise. For UK citizens you can only get single- or double-entry tourist visas in Thailand (at least according to the CM consulate a month or so ago when I asked them). The 2-year METV needs to be applied for in the UK.

But that's tourist visas. For Z visas, I'm not sure. I got one in the UK several years ago, although I was living in Germany at the time, and I was told by my employer that I should specifically apply in the UK. I'm not sure whether this was stated on the invitation letter or not, but it's something that would probably be better checked with the consulate and employer. :)

IIRC, the wallet isn't installed by default on the English version. It should appear there when you receive money though. (You can pm me your wechat ID if you like. I'll send you 1 Mao and the wallet should appear.)

You only really need a bank account if you want to actually withdraw from or deposit money into wechat. For just sending and receiving over wechat you don't. :)

(vi) Maybe also see if the bank will let you register a Thai number or something with them. (these are mostly things I wish I'd remembered to do ;) )

I'd be a bit surprised if you can open a mainland Chinese bank account in HK (though I might be wrong; but BOC HK is a separate legal entity). Even more so for Macau.

While you're in China I'd suggest (i) getting a Chinese SIM card, (ii) doing whatever activation thing it is you need to do so it works abroad for as long as possible (I think you have to pay a separate deposit of a few hundred RMB for this, at least with China Mobile circa 2015), (iii) setting up internet banking and payments, (iv) linking your wechat wallet to the bank account, and (v) maybe registering with Alipay too.

Some of these things are difficult or impossible to do once you don't have a Chinese phone number anymore and can't visit the branch. :)

@Sar***

, you seem to be confusing two different things. Extending a visa means going to an immigration office inside Thailand and paying to extend your stay for another 30 days beyond that granted by whatever visa you have (60 days for an SETV/METV). Doing a visa run means going to a consulate outside Thailand to get another visa.

Single entry means you can only enter the country once (unless you get a re-entry permit). If you want longer than the 90 (=60+30) days you need either an METV or multiple SETVs. With the former you would then need to do a border run every 60 days (or 90 if you extend a stay) but don't need to visit a consulate and can re-enter on the same visa (as the name suggests).

I haven't read anything in any of the CM groups to say you can't extend more than one of the entries on an METV (and if that were the case, it'd probably have been mentioned at some point). I also extended each entry of a double-entry visa before (like many others), though that's obviously out-of-date info.