araiwaja

Sounds like an attempt to sing เล่นของสูง (len kong soong) by BIGASS.

Just came back from Chiang Khong, and had a similar experience but with a different result. Officers asked for ฿1800, I said I only have $40 and persisted. They said if you don't enter the country you must pay ฿1800. I said no problem, I will enter the country, turn around, and exit the country. They acted surprised at the idea, but eventually gave up. They had me fill out the forms, I walked over to the bank window, paid my $40, walked through the gate, turned around, and walked to the departure booth and on to the bus. So it seems ฿400 (฿1800 - $40) buys you: - No forms to fill out - Shorter turnaround time with no arguments - Saves a ~50m walk through arrival and departure - Saves a page in your passport since they don't stick a visa in it If that's worth ฿400 to you, then don't bother going the $40 route. Otherwise, know that $40 is still possible if you insist.

Simply false. Please stop spreading misinformation.

This is not true for most land borders. Some Cambodian border crossings use it as an excuse to get a bribe (on khmer side) and recently a Malaysian border crossing started to try it on sometimes (on thai side). It is not a genuine requirement and you will normally have zero problems returning same day (or even same hour).

It's not a "getting around" problem, I have a scooter too. I simply dislike congested cities, it feels crappy.

IB never required 100k to open an account. They did require an account total value of at least 100k to avoid a monthly fee, but that has also been removed. There are no minimums now and no monthly/inactivity fees.

Decided to spend 3 months up north this year to cool off. Headed to good old Chiang Mai and stayed at a hotel off center for a few nights. Plan was to use those days to find a home. However after experiencing the current levels of bumper to bumper traffic and hordes of tourists, I quickly decided against it. Giving Chiang Rai a try currently. I miss COVID time, everywhere was so much better then.

Anyone has any experience paying with a (crisp, new) $100 bill for the Laos VoA? I'd like my change in USD rather than THB/LAK...

It used to be okay even if slow, but then went offline for a while and afterwards most banks stopped updating. I switched to this site which appears to update in real time and has all the banks, shops, card rates, market rate, etc. Definitely an upgrade if you follow the exchange rate.

No. All banking apps and websites use TLS (usually over HTTPS) with modern cryptographic algorithms. Even in the unlikely scenario where someone IS monitoring your communications, all they will be able to see is useless encrypted data. They will be able to know that you are communicating with your bank, but they won't be able to see any actual data passing between your device and the bank. Some people preach in favor of VPNs, which add another layer of security before HTTPS, but it is unnecessary from a pure security standpoint (the equivalent of having sex wearing a hazmat suit in addition to a condom). VPNs are useful for other things like faking your location, etc. 99% of account takeovers happen due to phishing or insecure client devices (as in the attacker has full access to your device, making MiTM communication monitoring unnecessary). In both of those cases it doesn't matter what kind of communication method you use (mobile, wire, satellite, smoke signals).

None requested on entry to Laos, but on re-entry to Thailand they had desks set up outside the immigration building to check for vaccination papers. They stamp the TM6 form once they verify the papers, like they used to do at the airport (what do they do now that there's no TM6 at the airport, btw?). Laos always had an overtime fee at their border checkpoints, it's legit, but they sometimes fiddle with the price. They usually post the hours somewhere visible so that you know it's not a made up fee. They charge it on holidays, weekends, and after 4:30pm on normal days.

No financial records required or requested. I went by myself and no one at the consulate said anything at all about my wife needing to be there.

Just spoke Thai (with a few Isaan words I could muster), smiled, and genuinely didn't care if we could reach an agreement or not. Plenty of other tuktuks out there. I think they make a decent profit on ฿50, it really is a short distance. Not an option. If it was that important I'd simply walk, as I've seen a few people do. I haggle mostly to avoid that "I got screwed" feeling later, it stings. Also, I quite enjoy it at times. One could, but it's US$10 more. It does save you a passport page though.

I went on a Wednesday to make the experience as quiet and fast as possible. Parked my car at the friendship bridge covered car park at 7:45 (฿250 per night, meh) Stamped out of Thailand, waited a few minutes and got on the bus to cross the bridge (free, as no one was selling/checking tickets) Filled out Laos VOA forms, got the visa sticker, received a note with a QR code to facilitate payment Paid US$40 with the QR code at the LDBank counter next to the exit gate (pristine USD notes required) and received an exit QR code for the gate Aggressive tuktuk driver offered to take me to the consulate for ฿300, ฿200, and then ฿150, I declined and got on the bus (still free!) Waited in the bus a few minutes before taking the short ride to the Savannakhet bus station Got a tuktuk ride to the consulate for ฿50 after some haggling and discussion of current fuel prices (started at ฿100) Arrived at consulate at 8:57, 5 other people in line, gate opened 3 minutes later Waited in line less than 5 minutes, submitted only the documents listed on the Savannakhet consulate website, paid 5K, got a next-day pickup ticket and left Tuktuk to hotel ฿50, no haggling required since the driver saw me pay ฿50 to the tuktuk that brought me in 555 Aura Residence ฿400/night, let me check-in super early, building's getting a bit old, but clean, big rooms, comfy beds, fast wifi Next day tuktuk to consulate ฿50 Picked up my passport with a shiny new visa, quite a few people (20 maybe?) but literally no wait time, passports were flying out the window Tuktuk to bridge ฿50 Bus over the bridge ฿50 (had to pay this time 555) Total: ฿250 parking + ฿250 transportation costs + ฿400 accommodation = ฿900 + misc Visa fees: $40 (฿1450) + ฿5000 = ฿6450 PS: Turns out Laos immigration was charging people a "Development and stability of Laos" fee (including receipts and all). It was ฿100 on arrival and another ฿100 on departure for farangs. Some thais paid ฿100, some paid ฿40, some paid different prices on arrival and departure. I somehow managed to avoid this fee completely, as on arrival the VOA officer decided to stamp me in himself, so I didn't go through the normal arrival windows, and on departure, once I found out that the window I was in line for was charging a mystery fee, I immediately switched to the Laos citizens window. They were a bit grumpy about it but stamped me out anyway and no fee.

Mai pen raiiii