Highlandman

I understand he still spent 2 days in jail. If he hadn't been jailed at all, he would have spent 0 days in jail. That's the whole point.

In your case, I'd head by taxi to the morning market bus station and get on a direct Vientiane - Udon Thani bus. They depart around 8 times daily so provided your flight arrives during the day it probably won't be a long wait. This bus will take you seamlessly all the way to Udon Thani bus station. A separate bus service also goes just to Nong Khai, with roughly 8-10 departures daily. Walking across the bridge is prohibited. It's not necessary anyway when the same bus will take you across the border. It will wait for you. Thailand bound buses will take all foreign passengers regardless of their visa situation. Some of the short haul Lao bound buses only take travelers from visa free countries, those holding an e-visa or standard visa sticker as they don't want to hang around waiting for travelers applying for visas on arrival.

Yes both sides of that border can be quite corrupt.

Wow. I simply tried to offer my insights and you get all bent out of shape. The purpose of my original reply was to inform you that border pass holders always end up paying extra, compared to passport holders. It's not worth using a border pass at an international crossing where a passport would grant free entry and the ability to roam around the country. You can if you want, but it's not worth it. Plus you don't have to waste time going to a dedicated border pass office and wait for them to issue it. Border passes should or must be used at local border crossings that only permit restricted travel in the local area entered or borders such as those with Myanmar, where passports are currently not recognized such as Mae Sot and Mae Sai due to restrictions on travel on the Burmese side.

Yes. He is a Thai national. The complaint was also made in the Thai language . Where did you get the idea he was an Australian? The only Australian part of this story is it involved a passenger on a THAI flight to Australia and his post was made in Australia.

He's Thai.

There will be, effective March 31.

True. In Cambodia, Baht is generally accepted within a radius of around 30-50km from the border. Beyond that it's generally Riel or USD only. Occasionally I see signs purporting to accept Baht at some supermarkets in Phnom Penh, but it's probably an exception rather than the rule. It's unlikely any merchant in Phnom Penh is still willing to accept Baht, though I did manage to pay a traffic fine (bribe demanded by the police) in Baht while in Phnom Penh last October. The officer was particularly interested in my Baht note as the USD and Riel I had in my wallet was insufficient to meet his demands.

It's not presumptuous. Border pass holders always have to pay something for exit. First for issuing the border pass, then upon entry on the Lao/Burmese side. Returning to Thailand, there is generally no charge. Passport holders generally pay nothing on either side.

Aha I see. Then you would be right, as Cambodian officials at that border are particularly corrupt. I've heard and read many stories.

Very strange...in the past, most foreigners always paid in USD, so they could save a few hundred Baht compared to paying in Baht. Now I hear many travelers are just paying in Baht and in doing so, they're overpaying by 350-400 Baht. That's no small chunk of change for backpackers in particular.

Did she travel on a passport or border pass? Border pass holders almost always pay more. It's really well worth getting a passport instead...saves a lot of time and frustration compared to applying for a border pass, which can't be done outside government hours. Different procedures at different borders though - at the Mae Sai and Mae Sot borders, border passes for Thais cost only 30 Baht and are straightforward and quick to get, moreover at the moment they're not recognizing passports there due to the borders being officially closed to foreigners and Burmese visas not being recognized, though Thais are allowed to enter Myanmar for short stays in the border areas. They can't proceed to areas further inside the country though (except Kengtung in the case of entry via Mae Sai).

I would think so. Bus or minivan. Ranong is 300km north of Phuket. You can use the normal immigration counter to travel to Kawthoung or go via the separate Andaman Club island one. I've never used the Andaman Club pier. I'm only familiar with the normal immigration one that takes you to Kawthoung, however, I understand that the Andaman Club is located a few Km to the south and not hard to find.

Can that form be done on arrival as you're entering Malaysia?

The Thai side doesn't charge anything except if you're driving a car across, sometimes you're charged a small fee for the paperwork. Ban Pakkard for example has a strange procedure where you need to get a form from a military post located 30km before the border (the form is free), then you need photos of your car plus the usual immigration and customs forms in duplicate and will be charged 50 Baht to have them stamped. There is no charge for passengers. I have no idea of the purpose of the military form, but it could be to prevent vehicle smuggling. Yet it's not employed at checkpoints outside of Chanthaburi province, nor are Cambodians required to get one to bring their cars into Thailand via that crossing. I had, until I made that trip through Ban Pakkard, only ever re-entered Thailand that way by car once in 2019. Otherwise, I was using Chong Chom or Koh Kong for entry into Cambodia by car and Poipet-Aranyaprathet or Chong Sa-ngam or Hat Lek/Koh Kong for exit back into Thailand.

Back in 2008 I was on a non-B multiple entry visa with work permit and had never been across the Cambodian border by land. Prior to that time, I had however been across to Laos, Malaysia and even Myanmar by land, with the Myanmar crossings being day trips, but I had no idea how the procedure worked at the Cambodian border. A Cambodian tout approached me at the Aranyaprathet border near Thai immigration. He quoted me a whopping 1600 Baht to do everything, getting stamped out of Thailand, getting my Cambodian visa and then getting everything stamped back in on both sides of the border while I waited with a Thai friend who was equally clueless. We accepted this price for the convenience and not knowing any better. It all seemed to be legit, but by doing it myself I would have saved at least 50% and it would have been much faster. We must have waited there for at least an hour while he was away with my passport. I couldn't believe how long it took. These days you can't do that. At minimum, you have to present in person to Thai immigration at least. Since that time I have had extensive experience traveling by land across to Cambodia and from there to Vietnam. I have, on subsequent trips in 2012-2014 paid touts on the Cambodian side to skip the queue and stamp my passport for entry or exit for 150-200 Baht (only on the Poipet side; on the Aranyaprathet side you do it yourself regardless of how long the wait is) if the queue is long but the only land border where there is even a queue is Poipet. These days, I generally don't even use Poipet anymore. I feel this was OK as the touts were always in my view, though I probably wouldn't do it anymore and it might not be permitted anyway, as Cambodian immigration has been requiring fingerprints now for longer than even Thai immigration. Cambodian immigration began fingerprinting around 2014, while Thai immigration only followed suit in 2017. I would never do what I did back in 2008 again, as it's a huge risk, not merely because the stamps could end up being fake, but also the risk of passport theft.

It's cheaper to pay in USD. While I wouldn't bother exchanging my funds to USD for going to a neighboring country (except for Cambodia, where the USD is the de facto local currency) I most certainly would go out of my way to exchange enough USD for the visa on arrival..only exception is if I lived too far away from an exchange bureau (or i was somewhere in the country far away from an exchange bureau prior to crossing the border), costing me more in fuel bills than the savings from paying in USD. Normally though, I plan my trips in such a way to always have enough USD for a visa on arrival. If you fly, even easier as you can exchange your money at the airport prior to your flight. No excuse for not doing so then.

For anyone who follows aviation vloggers such as Josh Cahill in particular, you will have noticed how other airlines handle criticism. Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways have both reacted negatively to Josh's vlogs, by preventing him from traveling with them after the "offending" videos were released. They did not, to the best of my knowledge, threaten to sue him though and keep in mind Josh is way, way more famous than this Thai guy who nobody even heard of until he made his social media post. Josh's videos have been watched by millions on YouTube. While both Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways reacted quite immaturely, at least they didn't go overboard in the way THAI has. Fortunately for Josh, his review of THAI wasn't negative enough for them to threaten him with legal action, but he should keep Thailand's defamation laws in mind next time he decides to travel on a Thailand registered airline and make a similar review to the ones that got him into trouble with Malaysian and Qatar.

I suspect they threatened to sue him after he removed his statement and apologized, just to make an example of him and because they can, Thailand having the world's strictest defamation laws. Not even in Communist countries is it this bad. One can criticize a Chinese airline and not face this level of legal action.

It's an operational issue. Of course THAI proceeded to bring the passengers from Sydney to Melbourne once the weather conditions improved. Never heard of anyone successfully suing an airline for being a little inconvenienced. You're being ridiculous. I would rather an airline land at their alternate sooner and wait until the weather clears before taking me to my original destination, than insisting on landing in low visibility and then crashing, as happened in the case of the Lao Airlines flight that crashed into the Mekong near Pakse on October 13, 2013, killing everyone on board when the pilot could have and should have diverted to Ubon Ratchathani, where the visibility was better. Yet he insisted on getting to the original airport regardless of the conditions (get there itis). I noticed that during the latter part of the rainy season (and I think this happens EVERY rainy season) based on reviewing FlightRadar24 data, there are flights having to divert away from Suvarnabhumi or Don Muang due to heavy rain or storms over the airport and land at alternate airports. Back in early October, this affected about 10 flights landing on a particular late afternoon/evening (that's when storms normally hit, which is why I don't fly in or out of Suvarnabhumi that time of year between the hours of around 3pm and 8pm). One EVA Air flight from Taipei diverted to Chiang Mai, then flew the passengers to Suvarnabhumi later that evening. An Air Asia flight from Nakorn Phanom to Don Muang turned around and landed in Khon Kaen. Other flights landed at U-Tapao before eventually flying their passengers to Suvarnabhumi or transporting them by bus. Personally, I'd rather they drive me from there to Suvarnabhumi than waiting hours for the flight to depart, given the short distance along the expressway to Suvarnabhumi. I can reach Suvarnabhumi from U-Tapao in 80 minutes by car.

This is the age of social media, with new laws that build on existing ones being introduced or enforced. Are you saying there was no defamation law before 2014 that could be used to prosecute someone who made a complaint? I'm quite sure even way back in 2008 for example, if you criticized a Thai company or individual and they made a complaint, you would have faced a lawsuit. The difference now is that it's easier to do so with the proliferation of social media and all. It doesn't mean that such laws are new. They've simply adapted to the times. Moreover, social media was already in existence before the junta got into power. Certainly already in 2008, usage of Facebook was quite extensive.

You can certainly leave by land. No one is forced to leave by air. Oftentimes, dissidents initially leave by land to say Cambodia, in order to "lay low" before figuring out how to proceed or where to go. It's safer to remain there for a few weeks than planning an exit from Thailand by air. Particularly Thais, who have difficulties obtaining visas to western countries, meanwhile they can easily get to Cambodia or Laos within a few hours by car from most parts of Thailand and enter those countries visa free. Once there, they can fly to other countries or try to claim asylum somewhere. Regarding your advice about restrictions on speech in Thailand, you're very right. That being said, where people get in trouble is when they express their opinions using their real profiles on Facebook, Twitter etc. and someone makes a complaint. That's how it works. Merely making a comment that no one sees is not going to result in any enforcement action. Plenty of us criticize the government, airlines, hotels, anything Thai really on these sorts of forums without incident, but that's because we do so anonymously and our comments can be wiped by the forum administrators if they wish. Otherwise every Tom, Dick and Harry calling the government a "junta" on Asean NOW, Bangkok Post etc would be in jail. It's not quite that bad. In fact, i could name dozens of posters, based on their avatars on these two forums alone who criticize the government daily and have been doing so for years. They will continue posting away for years to come, likely without incident. However, depending on who you're friends with on Facebook, an expletive laden post criticizing an airline such as Thai Airways, Bangkok Air or a hotel, bank or any Thai institution or individual, can land you in trouble. You're right about just liking the "wrong" article being a problem but only if it relates to the nation's highest institution and to be honest a simple like and no other interaction being punishable is a bit extreme. That stated, again, someone would have to "snitch" on you to the authorities for doing that and is what happened in the case you describe.

No, it's just that I speak with a Thai like accent. However, you have not explained how or where you get ripped off because in 95% of settings, it's not an issue. I highly doubt Tops supermarket or Lotus's is going to rip you off for being a farang. The vast majority of what is sold in Thailand doesn't require bargaining because prices are fixed. I think anyone with experience would know what a fair price is, only you seem to be so afraid of getting ripped off you have your wife do everything for you. Also no one is forced to buy anything if they don't like the price. You always have alternative options. If you want to fly with THAI, good for you. Don't see what your fear of getting ripped off by Thais has to do with your decision to fly THAI.

I think the action THAI took by landing in Sydney was absolutely the correct one. What they've done wrong is created a media circus out of suing a passenger for making an opinion on Facebook.

Lol. I flew SWISS to Europe just after the end of Covid restrictions and I am flying with them again on my upcoming trip to Europe. Swiss is a more premium carrier, they offer better service, better departure timing ex BKK and my choice at the time of my last flight was also influenced by the fact that SWISS had not only dropped mask mandates but their staff's faces could be seen, meaning actual smiles and no issues understanding their questions. By contrast, THAI, being a very authoritarian airline required their crew to continue wearing face masks for over a year following that SWISS flight I took! Even following the end of the THAI employee mask mandate on October 1, 2023, a large proportion of their crew continue to mask up, such as 2/5 staff on my THAI flight to Ho Chi Minh in December and 4/5 masked crew on the return flight a few days later. I like to see smiley faces and having the faces of the cabin crew being hidden by masks, especially outside of a mandate strikes me as rather unfriendly. I only flew THAI because they were slightly cheaper than Vietnam Airlines but next time I'll revert back to the latter.