DavidMavec

I attempted to open an account with LDB (Laos Development Bank) in the past few weeks on a tourist visa. I was told that I would need to either have a work permit in progress or have a Lao person as my guarantor. If I were to have a work permit in progress, I would need to submit the work permit within a month or I was told the account would be closed. I went to two branches (Vientiane) and both told me the same thing...

What is with this vip lameness??? Lmfao. Just coz one has more money then the other it doesn't make that person any better.

Hah. I bet you wish you had enough money to buy a Honda Click. Then they'd let you park in the VIP spot too.

Yes.

No.

Luang Prabang is a nice place to visit, but driving yourself to Luang Prabang and beyond doesn't sound very practical. For one thing they drive on the right side of the road so you'll have to deal with that. And I'd thing a farang driving a car with a Thai license would be a prime target for people with less than honorable intentions. Further road conditions and infrastructure overall are generally below Thai standards..

Laos Airlines flies direct Chiang Mai - Luang Prabang every afternoon. It's an inexpensive one hour flight. By road driving it has to be a 2 day trip.

" And I'd thing a farang driving a car with a Thai license would be a prime target for people with less than honorable intentions"

What utter c**p!! I have been living and driving in Laos for 10 years and never once had any (major) problems.

You have obviously never been to Laos.

To second what the above user says, in my experience from spending time in Laos, Lao people are warmer, more genuine, more generous, less xenophobic, and less about getting money from farangs than Thai people to a long shot. I would take Laos over Thailand any day.

Hello...

If I have a 3G SIM card in my iPhone and corresponding plan, can I take it out of my iPhone and use it in a proper dongle? Will it work or is the SIM card set to only work in mobile phones?

If you have experience doing this, please let me know.

Thanks.

I know a good Thai teacher over Skype and her rates are significantly less than the above.

I drove my Honda Click from Chiang Mai to Vientiane, two weeks ago and am now in Vientiane. I crossed over in Loei province.

This is my second time driving my scooter from Thailand into Laos, the first time was from Bangkok crossing near Pakse in the south.

The road is very poor in northern Laos and I was going around 20-30 kph in many spots, unpaved and tons of potholes, but my 2008 Click scooter held up. Other than that, you should not have many problems, I am thinking with a car it will be even easier than with my motorbike. Just bring your passport and the greenbook for the vehicle. You have to pay a negligible amount, something like 200 baht if I recall correctly, and they give your vehicle 30 days after which time the fines are steep at 1000 baht per day, so be sure to get it out before then.

There is a lot of information on the Laos-Thai crossings on another forum that I am not allowed to mention as per ThaiVisa rules. PM me if you want the link or I can help further.

I strongly recommend learning how to read Thai. Once you learn the rules for reading, including the tone rules, practice reading outloud to a Thai person an hour every day. After six months you will speak very clearly. That's what I did and Thai people almost never have difficulty understanding me.

Had no problems also

Time for you to go outside and enjoy the sunny weather :-)

I doubt it's a "cleaning up of the farang ghetto" or whatever you want to call it, most of the dirty old men loser farangs are likely here on legit retirement visas, the "digital nomad" types probably positively contribute more to both the economy and image of westerners than the ones on old man visas, but that's just what I see.

I know an excellent Thai teacher in Bangkok who worked with me for almost a year. She would do one-to-one classes that would really help you learn the language but wouldn't be able to get you an ed visa. She has experience working at the embassies, has a master's degree, and formal training for teaching Thai. Dunno if that's what you are looking for but if so, send me a PM.

I quite like the laundry at Smith Residence, I think she does a very good job. It is 40 baht per kilo and that includes drying and folding and also she will iron some items free if you ask specifically. I've never had a problem. Granted, it's not too close to where you are asking.

Thanks David, that's one of the rules which I need to learn (the one whereby the initial consonant's class is given to the proceeding consonants).

I know how it works with the silent ห & อ, and likewise about the consonant classes etc. But want to know the specifics about how an initial consonant changes the class of proceeding consonants which are part of a separate syllable (From the examples I've seen, it works if there the first consonant doesn't have any tone markers + no final consonant? But I'm not sure if that is correct or not, or if there are other exceptions to the rule?)

From what I understand you are saying, the way it works is that the second syllable follows the rule of the first syllable (first letter) instead of following the first letter of the second syllable as it would if it were not a consonant cluster.

For example, the second syllable of ฉลาม follows the rule for ฉ instead of ล, as it normally would if it were not this sort of cluster.

I do think that the person who told you it was necessary to learn the list of words like this was correct, and there are lists of these words available that I used when I was studying. It is a relatively small list as well.

I learned the classes in a totally different way; each consonant follows a medium, high, or low rule, there are three groups. If it leads by ห (e.g. หล่อ) it will follow the high group (หล่อ would thus be pronounced with a low tone but ล่อ would be a falling tone since ล belongs to the low group.

In terms of clusters, there is a list of words where this is the case as well, for example, สมอง, whereas because ส is in the high group, the มอง syllable is pronounced rising, whereas if it were not there, มอง would be pronounced with a mid-tone because it belongs to a different group.

There are some exceptions but there are very few.

I am not sure if this is making sense to you, but the way I have learned has let me know the proper tone quite fluently by reading the word, after a good deal of practice of course. I have some sheets I could send you if you would find them useful

What a shame. Any idea why this decision was made?

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

This is Thailand, where there's a will there's a way. Just do it.

Lol, you're just looking for troll posts, aren't you?

There are numerous travel websites, including information on this forum. Just look around, Thailand has a lot of different things to offer.

almost four hundred views, and only one (albeit welcome) reply. This reminds me why I seldom bother here. If you want answers here, seemingly you have to make racist generalisations about the local population, or ask where to get the cheapest cigarettes or whisky or the best 99 Baht all-you-can-eat pizza.

The one answer you were already given is the only real answer if you are serious about learning Thai and have the time to spend. I would still recommend a private 1:1 teacher over Payap since group lessons are taught there and having someone correct your pronunciation on a 1:1 basis when you read and speak is vital to proper learning. But you ignorantly said you did not want a private teacher.

Now quit your whining about this group, you've already been given the best advice, and go be negative somewhere else.

The best way to learn to pronounce Thai correctly is to learn to read it. Practice reading out loud to a Thai person one hour every day for six months, having them correct you when you make a mistake, and you will speak clearly.

Cool, I'll be there +1

Too many backpackers.

Falang kee nok.

(in the tourist part)

Now, that's more the spirit! Keep it up!