noisyboy

Becoming a Thai citizen requires learning Thai, which is an insurmountable barrier for most farang living in Thailand. With Chinese and Indians it is a different story.

Why?

I guess they're not as stupid as us

The tones are much easier to adapt for Indians due to many indian langues have similar tones. The vocabulary has some overlap with Sanskrit which is kind of a mother of many languages. E.g. megh (cloud), angoon (grapes), arun (sun) etc. etc. - same/similar in Sanskrit/Hindi.

Beyond that, it is down to individual's aptitude and more importantly, how much of effort one invests in learning.

Dear Prathet Laos,

Please contain Khun Taksin on his arrival to your country and poste haste send him to Thailand where he is a wanted fugitive and has been avoiding a 2 year jail sentance.

We hope this will not spoil your Songkran festivites too much but we really need him back here in jail to show the people of Thailand that corruption WILL NOT be tolerated.

Should you allow him to stay in your illustrious country we can only come to the conclusion that you too are a corrupt nation.

Greetings from Prathet Lao,

We don't like gettting caught between a rock (China) and a hard place (his sister is your PM, if you remember). Please sort this out yourselves. We need to continue to visit Thailand to do our weekly shopping and our banana farms/casinos must continue to operate.

Thank you.

Seems to me the problem is manifold:

1. Operating at full capacity? Not really unless opening 4 out of 10 counters could be described full capacity. And this is applicable to both Airlines check-in counters and immigration counters.
   
2. There is no pre-screening of boarding passes. While people are standing idle at the immigration queue, surely they could employ few staff who can have a quick glance to ensure that the form is filled and required information is not missing.
   
3. Why can't computerised printing of boarding pass with preliminary information filled be done at airlines check-in counters? They are presented with the passport while checking-in, they are the ones with all flight info and these two things are source of 80-90% of the information required on the boarding pass. That would help so much - though I recognize that it would not help incoming traffic unless the source airport is doing that too.
   

If Airasia is moved to DM, I would pray that happens for both Domestic and Intl. I'm screwed otherwise.

Yes, you can get a visa on arrival for Laos that is good for 30 days in Laos. Cost is 1500 baht or 30-35-42 US dollars, depending on passport nationality. (So, you save money by paying in dollars. Two banks along the main street will sell you dollars if you want.)

Obtaining a re-entry permit for getting back into Thailand is no. There has been an immigration office here. (Not the checkpoint at the border - But, a separate building on the main street - Where they did immigration matters, including re-entry permits) But, in September when I went for my usual 90 day TM7 notification, they politely informed me that the office would be closing as of the first of October. (And, I would have to do my TM7 at Mae Sai next time.)

I gather Mae Sai is the immigration center for the area now.

I live in Chiang Khong. If I find out anything different about this, I will post.

Hi,

Sorry for reviving an old thread but I've been desperately looking for directions/address for the Chiang Khong Immigration office (not the checkpoint at the border). I'll be going to Laos via Chiang Khong and coming back the same way so need the re-entry permit. Since you seem to be having a clue about this, would much appreciate if you can provide some details.

Thanks