araiwaja

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

On 7/12/2023 at 10:25 AM, elektrified said:

They won't accept USD at the moment.

On 7/14/2023 at 8:02 PM, bamboozled said:

he said 1800 baht. I said $40 USD ok? He said, no, not if you're just going back straight to Thailand

20 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

if i ENTER laos aka spend money there, he will accept 40 usd....i was doing a turnaround which he said is 50usd

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.

3 hours ago, macgver said:

you are require to stay one night at another country,

Simply false. Please stop spreading misinformation. 

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

No problems at all on my scooter or bicycle.

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

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... 

5 hours ago, DFPhuket said:

This site is updated daily and gives the currency conversion rates for a number of Thai banks and money exchanges

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. 

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Even as recent as staying in a hotel with free Wi-Fi, she said don't use it and let me piggyback from her internet using hotspot, just for doing normal stuff on the internet, no banking, is she right ?

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).

5 hours ago, sanook 1 said:

What about vaccination proof to enter laos and re enter thailand again? 

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?).

4 hours ago, MaiDong said:

When I done this trip a few months ago there was an 'overtime' charge

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.

On 9/23/2022 at 2:52 PM, kidneyw said:

Any financial records requested.

Also did they say anything about wife should be with you?

On 9/23/2022 at 8:48 PM, Deerculler said:

Did your wife need to be with you?

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. 

12 hours ago, problemfarang said:

50.. how did you manage that?

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.

3 hours ago, sjbrownderby said:

Why didn't you get off the bus at the Thai Consulate

Not an option.

3 hours ago, sjbrownderby said:

Saving small amounts of money is obviously very important to you

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.

1 hour ago, MrJ2U said:

I wonder if one could get an Evisa and bypass the paperwork on entry to Laos?

One could, but it's US$10 more. It does save you a passport page though.

Mai pen raiiii 

I plan to get a multi-entry non-o visa based on marriage at Savannakhet soon, and was wondering:

1. Anyone know a place to safely park my car in Mukdahan for a night or two? I'll take the bus from there.

2. I will probably be in a position to apply for a 1 year extension within Thailand well before this visa expires. Am I right in assuming that I will be able to apply 30 days before the admitted-until date on my current stamp, regardless of my visa expiry date?

Thanks much

29 minutes ago, kinyara said:

there is an enclosed concrete area with a hoop under the flyover on the road up or down from Pratumnak to Bali Hai Pier

That's a great tip, thank you! Here it is on GMaps if anyone's looking: https://goo.gl/maps/d3XkeF7yhpg5bgYw5

If anyone knows of any others I'd be happy to know. A full court would be nice ????

I've been looking for public basketball courts in Jomtien/Pattaya and haven't been able to find one yet.

I found a "youth center" that only has a soccer arena and not much else.

I also found some courts that ended up being privately owned by hotels/condos.

So here I am looking for hints. Anyone know?

Updating in case anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation...

I briefly considered trying to sign as her myself (as @problemfarang mentioned) , but my penmanship skills aren't up to the task and it felt unnecessarily risky. Eventually, I decided to just submit the documents with her printed signature. It was slightly pixelated and in black, so quite obvious that it was a printout.

The documents were inspected and accepted by the front desk without any problem, and the visa was issued successfully a few days later.

On 6/8/2022 at 4:38 PM, ubonjoe said:

You try that and sign the copies yourself

In the end, I decided not to do that so it won't attract any unwanted attention to the fact that one of the signatures wasn't done with a pen.

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Could your wife sign some copies and email them to you?

Email? Sure, that she can definitely do. That was my original question, whether anyone knows if it will be accepted.

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If you time she could send them by International Express Mail to you if needed

Yeah was just hoping I wouldn't have to stay in PP that long, it's not a positive experience.

50 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You could try doing the application with copies of the signed ID card and passport (normally copies her house book registry would be needed}.

I do have copies of everything, including her tabien baan, I just don't have a pen signature on them...

The consulate wants to see a copy of the wife's ID card and passport according to their website.

I read here that my wife should sign these documents.

However, I'm not in Thailand, so I can't get her to sign anything "live".

She can send me a photo of these documents along with her signature, and I can print them.

Is that generally accepted by the consulate?

I imagine it has to be accepted, since people are generally requesting a visa when they're away from their wives...

13 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If you got the non-o visa before entering the country you could possibley apply for the extension earlier than the 30 or 45 days the normally require by showing them a ticket out of the country.

Oh interesting! So sounds like that is the only option to shorten the 60 days wait before applying. The word "possibly" in there is a bit alarming though... Is this a rule that some offices follow and some don't? Or is it not even a written rule and requires the grace of an officer? Would love more details on this option.

46 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You can complete a TM7 form to apply for a extension, pay the 1900 baht fee and be granted 7 days to leave the country to avoid a overstay and paying a 500 baht a day for it,

Yes, I'm aware. That's why I said this in my OP:

13 hours ago, araiwaja said:

My plan is to request a COVID extension at the end of March. It will be denied since I last entered Thailand as non o, but I will get the 7 days I need to tide me over until my flight.

However, that wasn't my main concern in opening this thread. Please reread the part right after it, I'd really appreciate your insight on how to obtain the one year extension as soon as possible when I arrive back in Thailand:

13 hours ago, araiwaja said:

For unimportant reasons I have a narrow window in which I need to apply for my 1 year extension. If I get a non o visa from a Thai consulate in the US, will I be able to immediately apply for the 1 year extension once I arrive in Thailand? Or will I need to wait out 60 of the 90 days given on arrival before applying? Can I shorten this wait time by entering on a tourist exemption stamp and immediately converting to a non o within Thailand? As far as I recall, once converted I will only need to  wait 30 days before I can apply for the 1 year extension, but I might be misremembering.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Have you used your 60 day "extension to visit wife"

Yes, unfortunately. That's why I'm resorting to the denied covid extension tactic to buy a few days until my flight.

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Are you here now and prepared (financial proof and etc) to apply for your extension now?

I'm here now, but unable to apply due to an emergency that led to having insufficient funds in the Thai bank. I will be able to top up back to 400k after a month in the US.

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Which office will you be applying at?

Huahin most likely.