Shanghai resident Daniel Bian drank in the sweeping views over the Thai capital as he lay on a deck chair beside a swimming pool on the 19th floor of a luxury condominium.

¡°I feel alive. I feel free,¡± said an excited Bian, dapper in tinted sunglasses, flat-topped navy blue hat and a wraparound tunic cinched at the waist, his hair hanging loosely to his shoulders. ¡°This is my dream.¡±

Cooped up in China for three years under some of the world¡¯s toughest curbs against COVID-19, Bian is among a flood of mainland Chinese hunting for property buys in the Southeast Asian nation since Beijing opened its borders this year.