JoshBKK

You CAN buy a visa at the border, yes (although in hind sight i would next time probably get one in advance to cut on waiting times). The cost is in US Dollars only (to my knowledge) and cost me $45 (at least thats what i recall.

Right, you can buy a visa at the border, just some days ago I bought mine at the Friendship Bridge I (Nong Khai) and it just took a couple of minutes to get the visa issued. I only had to provide one picture, the visa fee (see below) and the address of the hotel where I intended to stay in Laos.

You can pay the fee in Thai Baht as well (what I did), but currently it seems favorable to pay the fee in U.S. Dollars. In my case, being a German citizen, they would have charged $31 and I paid 1,340 Baht.

At least at this particular Friendship Bridge, Lao Immigration also asked for an "entrance fee" from foreign passport holders. It was $1, and when I asked how much it is in Thai Baht (as I didn't hold any U.S. Dollars), they told me it's 10 Baht. Quite a difference!

So I'd say it would be best to pay the visa fee in U.S. Dollars and the entrance fee in Thai Baht.

Personal ... I will sat forget Kubuntu and install Ubuntu (gnome windows manager). Gnome is at the moment the most advanced desktop windows manager. KDE has maybe the advantage of being more MS-Windows like, but all new releases also come with similar MS-Windows problems..... (Wow did I say that)

[...]

As this is more or less just a question of personal taste (each camp claims that their window manager is the best, and both have very enthusiastic supporters), it might be worth mentioning that you can install both window managers at the same time without any problems. Then you can see what your users like best, or you can even let them choose which one they want to use whenever they log in.

Starting from an Ubuntu installation, installing the additional KDE packages is very easy.

webmail, all the way...

just general internet browsing, webmail, facebook etc and photo uploading, plus some people put music on their IPods, so it would need to recognize the Ipods and cameras. Might be easier to go with a card reader instead?

All that web-centered activities won't be a problem, but when putting music on an iPod it depends. Most iPod owners I know use Apple's (Windows or Mac OS/X) iTunes application to keep the music and video files on their computer in sync with the iPod. So if they are really ignorant, chances are you will have a hard time finding some iTunes replacement they like. Banshee might be worth a look. You could also run at least some iTunes versions on Linux via Wine, but I don't know how stable that is and what features you will miss.

Thanks for the very good information.

As I haven't been to Laos yet, I haven't seen any Lao ATMs and the signs they sport. So after reading some probably very outdated reports, I just wanted to get some more up-to-date information. Thanks in particular for your advice to actually use kip, as I would have had the impression otherwise that the situation is pretty similar to Cambodia.

I'm not sure if it's allowed to leave the island. Although they do usually ask how long you are staying, it's a max of 4 days I believe. There are also restrictions as to how far from the border you are allowed to go without a correct visa.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to leave the island and in fact I don't want to go to Burma at all unless I have to, given the situation there. I was just curious if they issue a visa although they keep your passport, or if they just put some stamps in your passport to satisfy Thai immigration (!) when you want to get stamped in again in Thailand.

From what I've read they seem to have ATMs at least in Vientiane. I don't think you can find them virtually at every corner like in Thailand, however.

If the computer isn't too old, I'd recommend Kubuntu, the KDE branch of Ubuntu Linux. It's easy and fun to use and it's as good as it gets concerning Linux recognizing hardware. And it's free.

As for e-mail, if these "ignorant people" use webmail, they will be fine with the Firefox browser. If they are used to some Windows e-mail application instead, however, you'll probably want to check out some Linux e-mail applications with them to see which one they like best and get along with.

I'm wondering if it makes sense to take a Thai ATM card, in particular one of these VISA debit cards issued by Bangkok Bank, along to Laos. Can you withdraw money there? What are the fees like? Maybe somebody tried already and can report?!

From what I've read so far, carrying cash in US dollars (or in Thai baht, but at the moment dollars seem to be better concerning the exchange rates) seems to be the best option, as you'd end up with tons of kip banknotes when using ATMs, and it's hard or even impossible to change kip back when leaving Laos. Maybe somebody can comment on this as well.

Hi just to confirm things at the Andaman Club. Went over there a couple of days ago. It was the first time using the club as I normally just get a longtail over to Victoria point and have a wander about. At the Andaman club pier they have their own immagration office. You are stamped out of Thailand there, walk along the pier to the boat and are taken to the Andaman club. You are then stamped into Burma and have one hour to enjoy the club. On the return to the boat you are given back your passport staped out of Burma then back to the Andaman pier. You then get stamped back into Thailand with either a 30 day or 90 day depending on your visa. All in all a painless way of doing it and all for 850 baht. Hope this clears things up

Do you get some sort of a tourist visa from Burma when you visit the Andaman Club, or do they really just stamp your passport? I'm wondering because it was mentioned that Burmese immigration keep your passport while you're there...

I've already staid at the airport overnight as well and I'd agree it's safe. Quite many people sleep there, so finding a cozy place can take a while. At least the FamilyMart stores are open 24 hours, so you won't starve as well. As mentioned already, it gets pretty cold at night.

Concerning your trip to Pattaya, I'd recommend to go there straight from the airport, as you waste a lot of time when you go to Ekkamai first.

Many (Western) governments strongly advice their citizens not to go to Myanmar (Burma), unless it's absolutely necessary. There are plenty of alternatives for a visa run, no need to take the risk!

From my own experience, I can second the observation of others that this new rule doesn't seem to be enforced at each and every land border, at least not yet:

I re-entered Thailand in Sadao, coming from Malaysia by van, on Sunday. I didn't obtain a tourist visa in Malaysia this time because I will head back to Europe for a while shortly, so I was quite curious about what the officer would want to see from me for a 30-day visa exemption stamp. Guess what? He didn't want to see anything! No air ticket, no proof of funds. Also, there were no posters or papers informing about this new rule. The newest information being posted at the boarder was still the increase of the overstay fine in early 2006...

Note that except for one young lady from Canada, I didn't spot any other Farang in Sadao, so it doesn't seem to be your typical visa run border checkpoint. Most people crossing the boarder there seemed to be nationals of Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan.

Yes indeed, I've been there a couple of times and I cannot complain: The staff was always polite and professional and I got what I wanted without any hassles. Also, I never heard any complaints from other foreigners I met there, for them everything seemed to work out smoothly, too.

I cannot compare with Immigration branchs somewhere else, however, because I never went anywhere else...

anything I missed?

No, that's it!

You can also copy the Tourist Visa and the Departure Card together on a single page. That's what the copy shop did where I went to get my copies.

Believe it or not, it didn't take me more than 20 minutes, although it was pretty crowded. About 15 people got their passports back before me, while I was waiting.

Just make sure that you prepare everything before you go to the counter:

• Your passport with copies of the main page and the page with the visa and the departure card
  
• The filled-in application form with a passport picture attached
  

Quite many people were sent across the street to get copies and/or passport pictures...

Just want to let you know in case somebody is in the same situation:

I arrived in Bangkok with a Tourist Visa (Single Entry) from Penang on January, 21st.

Originally, I got the permisson to stay (stamp at the airport) until March, 21st (60 days).

On March, 21st I applied for the 30-day extension in Bangkok at Suan Plu. I paid 1,900 Baht and I got the stamp, no questions asked (as expected). So I got the permission to stay until April, 20th (today).

Today I went to Suan Plu again in order to get an additional extension for 7 days, as I would like to go to Malaysia by train, but the trains to the South are suspended at the moment because of an insurgent attack. I asked a lady at the Tourist Visa Extension Counter if it would be possible to get an extension for an additional 7 days. She said that 7 days are no problem, but I have to pay 1,900 Baht again. Again, no questions asked (I didn't even have to tell her the story about my planned train trip) and I didn't have to provide any outbound ticket. About 20 minutes later (it was pretty crowded today), I walked out with the permission to stay until April, 27th, as requested.

So I guess nothing really changed, it's still possible to get an additional extension for a short time. :-)