welo

(2) re: eVisa vs Visa On Arrival (Aranya Prathet Border)

eVisa

25 USD (20$ for the visa plus 5$ fee) charged by credit card

No 1-page sticker in the passport (saves pages)

Usually issued within a couple of (business) hrs, also on weekends (officially its 'within 3 business' days though)

no (printed) passport pic required

Saves 5-20 minutes at the border

No worries with touts that charge overpriced visa fees

Some people are worried about credit card fraud - billing is done via 2 companies in *Singapore*

Visa On Arrival

20 USD (~620Baht) official fee (usually asked for 1000 THB or 20 USD plus 100-200B extra)

Bring USD (or change at Kasikorn Bank opposite 7/11 next to the border entrance)

Refuse to pay extra fee - they used to be a lot more demanding than nowadays

Usually issued within 5 minutes (whether you pay extra fee or not)

One passport pic required (can be any pic in approx. the correct size)

Make sure you find the correct visa office (AFTER Thai immigration, next to the big stone arch)

visa sticker requires one full page

(3)

Transport/Parking

Minivan from Victory Monument (next to Century The Movie Plaza) 230B 4hrs

Bus from Mo Chit to Aranya P. 4-6hrs 220B (?) plus 50B Tuktuk to border

Casino Bus from Lumpini Park 3.4-4hrs 200B straight to border

Car 2.5-4hrs Parking 100B per day (right at the entrance to the border/market area, cannot miss)

Taxi (roughly 3000B to the border, 2000B back, estimated)

If you go to Aranya Prathet, you might want to check out my other posts on that topic for (even) more details (use search by username)

Maestro, I think you misunderstood. Alizzara was referring to the Entry/Exit stamps since they already had the eVisa and were charged for getting the stamps.

Alizzara, you get the stamps when you just keep walking after you pass the stone arch. It is maybe 150m straight down the road. Just follow the flow of people.

Sometimes officers will sit on chairs shortly after the arch and try to sell you the 'VIP' service. Just decline friendly but firmly.

You will end up in a small building where you retrieve your arrival/departure card, fill it (also fill the departure card, but leave the return date open), then pass it to the officer at the counter (together with your print of the eVisa). Nowadays they have finger print scanners there.

You will eventually get your ENTRY stamp.

I've heard stories that they might ask for 100B here if you tell them you go back the same day. I personally have never been asked. If I were asked I would tell them I go to the Casino, possibly maybe stay there a night, or something like that. But I think they rarely bother westerners.

After retrieving your ENTRY stamp you exit the small building and proceed towards the roundabout. The free shuttle bus to the bus terminal leaves here. There are touts waiting because they want to sell you a ride to Angkor Wat.

However, you want to cross the road to the opposite immigration booth for going back to Thailand. Be confident. There is NOTHING illegal or irregular about doing that. I have never been bothered doing that even with an elderly officer sitting on a chair right in the middle of that road.

At the immigration booth you hand over your passport with the departure card pinned into it (completely filled and signed), your second copy of the eVisa (albeit my guess is that they won't ask for it if you don't have it), and then retrieve your EXIT stamp.

Occasionally if a tourist bus from Angkor Wat has just arrived, you might have to queue. VIP service for jumping the queue was offered to me for 200B. Personally I don't think it is worth the 20minutes.

There you go! On your way back to Thai immigration.

Return the same day

There is no such rule and people return the same day (well, the very same hour) without paying extra all the time.

You can get 'VIP' service for 300-500B where a tout/officer takes your passport and will get the Cambodian immigration stamps for you while you wait and have a coffee.

I've never paid any extra fee for returning the same day and have never been asked. Others might have had a different experience, and it might as well depend on your nationality.

It might also help to tell them you are going to visit the Casinos. I assume they get troubles if they piss off Casino customers.

Cambodia Visa Costs

Just pay in US Dollars! You can exchange Baht to USD at Kasikorn Bank located opposite 7/11 (green signs)**. Currently the 20 USD will cost you about 620 THB.

Also make sure you go to the *official* visa on arrival office which is located AFTER Thai immigration (=AFTER you stamp out of Thailand) next to the Angkor-style stone arch. The sign above the doors say 'The Office of the International Border Checkpoint of Poipet'. See photos here:

Make sure you bring a passport photo (any photo of your face with appr. the size of a passport pic will do, they are not very picky). Also, in the application form enter 'purpose: Tourist' and 'duration: 30days' even if you plan to return immediately.

The tout outside the booth will ask you for extra cash just say 'no sorry' and hand the application to the officer behind the window. They used to be annoyingly persisting ('have to wait looong time') but that has changed recently (the tout is actually whispering his demands). Even if claimed otherwise I always received the visa within 5 minutes.

Coming from Thailand, on the way to Thai immigration, touts will try to bring you to different places to sell you the Cambodian visa at higher costs (1000B)

** If you plan to travel Cambodia there is an ATM that hands out USD in the border/casino area just shortly after the Angkor-style stone arch. (You are free to walk around that area no matter what touts/officers tell you.)

The printable evisa should have your data (name, passport no, etc), your picture, a bar code, and number underneath the barcode. Barcode and number are equivalent I guess.

If barcode and/or number are missing, I would expect that something went wrong.

If they cannot lookup your visa in their database (using the barcode/number), the visa will be worth nothing - after all it is just a piece of paper that you printed on your own computer.

Email them to have the problem sorted out.

Went to immigration in CW today, by bus.

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but there is currently a direct bus going to Victory Monument, No 166. It takes the Si Rat tollway and is therefore a good option.

Schedule is as shown on the photo, basically every 60 minutes, and every 30 minutes during late afternoon. They go directly from the eastern entrance of the building (where the shuttle buses leave as well).

The sign also mentions a date of 1.July-31.July 2011. Not sure if this relates to the operating times of the buses, and if they are only a 1 month promotional thingy, or if the service keeps going after that.

Would be nice if other could report if the sign is still there on Monday or not. If so... keep reading

My bus (at 12:30) was a standard Bangkok bus, a 'red' bus, so no costs(!) but also no aircon . Easily got a seat. The bus turned left on the main road (Chaeng Wattana Road) and left again after 3 km on the Si-Rat tollway (not Don Muang). Was about 40 minutes to Victory Monument. But the last km off the tollway alone took at least 10 minutes due to traffic.

Didn't think non-aircon buses can go on the tollway. Windows all open, we were flying past a couple of cars

They have air-con buses going at 15:45, 16:45, 17:45, 19:15 (from CW -> VM)

Check the photo. Left column is CW, right column VM.

Note:

The official 166 bus from Victory Monument is a blue air-con bus that goes to Chaeng Watthana Road (17B) and does *not* pass the eastern part of CW Road where the government complex is located *at all*. Coming from Si Rat tollway it will turn left instead. If you get out on the first stop just off the tollway, a taxi is about 4km (55B in light traffic) to the Government Complex. Total time for me was about 30 minutes from Victory Monument (arriving 11:00)

Not sure how to keep the official buses and those that go to the Government Complex apart when departing from Victory Monument. I'm sure they have a sign, probably in Thai

@TimTang

Thank you for this interesting option! Do you know how often the trains go (approx.) and how long they take? Assuming that they don't go very often, do you have a schedule?

Another option: get the eVisa for Cambodia, no 1-page sticker, just the entry/exit stamps. Search the forum for 'eVisa'.

haha, pathetic!

Where is the fun in that?

Of course that is the backup plan, but next Home Mart is faaaar away

150B is dirt cheap though. Thanks for the hint.

welo

Hi guys,

While dismounting a loosened old door know I made the foolish mistake to open the inside cylinder (see drawing) - instead of removing the knob only via the appropriate release mechanism.

I am trying to figure out where the spring belongs and how to fit the parts together again, but it seems I am not smart enough

Tried to google but only found zillions of mounting and dismounting tutorials for the door knob (where the cylinder is left complete and unopened).

Maybe somebody with more know how in this field is able to find me a tutorial or technical drawing of the inside of a cylinder, or has some other (visual) resources that might help.

I am talking about the cylinder in the lower part of the drawing, not the one where you put in the key.

Appreciate your help!

welo

Thank you for the advice. I'm just really worried about crossing the border and then not being allowed to get back in, being trapped in Cambo. I only need two more weeks, then i'll be going back to London. Once i'm in London, i'll apply for a proper visa and return about 1 month later.

If you have a flight ticket already, bring it along. If you should really run into troubles it might serve you well.

That said, after only 2 border runs - which is even below the *old* limit of 4 border runs (when you could still obtain a 30-day exempt entry at land borders) - I cannot see why they should bother you (assuming that you provided all relevant information in your OP).

Hint: get a Cambodian eVisa to save passport pages, stress and probably money.

welo

^ go ahead! Will be a long post for sure! There is just so many of them!

@DadaDeluxe

BugMeNot is a nice one And didn't know about the problem with Flash Cookies either (->BetterPrivacy). Thx

@NoScript users

Don't you end up excluding websites all the time to make them work?

But I might give it another try since I think blocking flash might be worth it (not least because of the Flash Cookie problem)

@thaimite

I kicked the IETab out long time ago - are there really still websites that require IE? Boo!

@filingaccount

I heard some negative feedback on UltraSurf some time ago, might have been false alarm, see here: http://www.how-to-hide-ip.info/2009/08/29/developer-denies-ultrasurf-is-malicious/

@Rama

What are the advantages of UpdateNotifier compared to the built-in update check?

Top Extensions

After a thorough statistical analysis using MatLabs I conclude that the most popular add-ons (in this thread) are:

NoScript

thaitelephone(dot)com

Similar to deedial but can be charged via SCB internet banking. deedial requires a 7/11 around to buy credit (sawadee card).

Deedial has the better web interface though, thaitelephone has less features and those they have sometimes didn't work for me.

Theoretically both are comparable to international VOIP providers - for instance you can assign up to 10 dial in numbers (Bangkok numbers) that route directly to a specific international number without you having to enter the number each time (nice!) and they do have a callback service. If I remember correctly deedial has higher rates but offer the call-back service for free (worth 0.25 THB I guess). Thaitelephone charges extra for the call-back service and therefore offers the international rates slightly cheaper.

None of those services can compare to localphone.com in terms of line quality. But I don't know of any international VOIP provider that offers dialin numbers in Thailand - I think I've heard that Thai telefcommunication law does allow only Thai companies to operate VOIP services - Yikes!

welo

Our company sends out such company laptops. Us developers all have to find ways to avoid getting a company laptop. We're holding on to our old ones or use private machines. Some contractors got the company laptop sent and basically only used it to transfer files to the intranet. They're Mickey Mouse machines that can do email and internet, and utterly useless for development. In the bizarre world of the IT dept. this makes sense?!

I can feel your pain

If an IT department does not distinguish between different categories of users in terms of skill level and usages scenarios, then I'd consider them unprofessional. IT departments often develop a tendency to 'fight' the user instead of providing a balance between security and usability.

On the other hand I've seen many users (both developers and standard users) who give a dam_n about company interests, policies and security.

But this is probably off-topic, so sorry for the 'cross-fire'

welo

If you want to use the PC for private stuff why don't you put Linux on a USB thumb drive and boot from there. This way you keep the installed system alone, which obviously has been locked down by the IT company out of purpose.

If they did a good job then they probably blocked this option as well (BIOS password etc).

I'm usually not into 'don't touch a company PC', but if they put that much effort and professionalism into securing the PC, I'd say rather leave it alone.

welo

If you're worried about your own PC, make sure you have adequate malware protection and disable Autorun and Autoplay.

Problem is that just listing the contents of an infected drive is enough to exploit it - that's how I understand it. Makes sense, because the lnk file is parsed by windows explorer to determine the icon to display. I guess, I didn't read any more detailed description of the exploit yet.

You might be right that Antivirus software might implement pattern detection for lnk files that use the exploit, don't have enough technical know how to understand if this could offer 100% detection of future exploits of this vulnerability.

welo

@scorecard

1) Click the wrench icon in the top right

2) Choose the 4th menu option from the bottom (this is the options menu)

3) Choose the second tab on the window which pops up.

4) Click the button in the section second from the bottom (the bottom button)

5) Choose the second tab on this screen

6) Click the button at the bottom of this screen

7) Now you should be able to choose English.

source: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=6298d5836fcd7776&hl=en

visual: http://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B8Ha1GyWNEDfZmVkY2UyNzAtNGI5Ny00YTI0LThiMTUtM2I5ZjMwYmIxNDQ5&hl=en_US

next time: just google 'how to change language in chrome'

welo

@frodo

since you identified predictat(dot)com to be involved...

As far as I can tell, this website is not referenced from the Thaivisa forum website. Thaivisa loads quite a bit of 'junk' (sorry!) but during my check the mentioned website was not one of them.

A check on WOT and a google search turns out that the website might be related to the distribution of adware or malware. I say 'might' because 'evidence' (well, basically reports on WOT and Google) is not strong. It might be as well a questionable business model.

Check for installed addons and software like Autocomplete Pro, SEO Live YSRank, Autoresponder.

Or just run Malwarebytes, it seems that it will find and remove adware software installed from this website. One of its files even relates to a browser overlay, this is from a scan log I found in a security forum.

C:\Program Files (x86)\AutocompletePro\[email protected]\chrome\content\browserOverlay.xul (Adware.PredictAd) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

My guess is that it is supposed to show you some add, but due to some technical problems its just black

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100317224407AAAE97k

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t318153.html

welo

That's good news. Thanks for lettings us know!

Seems my last posts here in this subforum brought it to a halt - sorry for that

In order to not always being so anti-Linux (which I'm actually not, just critical), here something nice and positive

http://xkcd.com/149/

Have fun!

This is a severe security vulnerability that MS better fixes sooner than the next scheduled security update (Aug 10).

The FixIt patch will protect against attacks until a security batch is available - however, it certainly affects the usability. I applied the registry patch two days ago and the result is a lot of white and meaningless Icons on the desktop and task bar

Direct link to the FixIt patch: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2286198

However, not sure why The Inquirer claims that Microsoft has given up on it!?

The article is biased and flaming, and the claim just utterly wrong (and not backed by any further evidence). Truth is that it might proof more difficult to fix this patch than others.

Better read more sincere articles that are less 'tabloid' style:

Microsoft may face tough patch job with Windows shortcut bug

Microsoft issues stopgap fix for critical Windows flaw

welo

I live in my browser. [...] I'm a power user and proudly so!

welo likes this

Can somebody help me identify this bug/pest? The bug(?) eats the wholes into the leaves before they even come fully out.

Not sure if this is the correct forum, the name suggests, but I see mostly pet questions...

Appreciate any help,

thanks!

While Firefox is not free of criticism, I am still sticking with it because of the large choice of available add-ons.

Sometimes you have a rather specific problem and it turns out that there is a straight forward solution available via one of the add-ons, and sometimes you stumble over an article and it turns out that there are really useful add-ons that can make your (online) life just so much more convenient

Just google 'best firefox add-ons' and you will find zillions of websites with recommendations.

Be careful though: you should basically avoid installing too many add-ons for your Firefox might suffer from bloating - review your add-ons regularly and disable those that you hardly ever use.

I have 15 enabled add-ons, but 55 add-ons installed total

Just the other day I found the AddonFox extension, that allows automatic installation of about 200 selected addons Does anybody know of a convenient way to batch-install your own selection of addons in Firefox (e.g. on a friend's browser).

If you had to choose only 5 addons to keep, which ones would it be?

My most valued addons:

• TextAreaCache - saves your time by autosaving text typed into any TextArea, e.g. the reply box on Thaivisa
  
• WOT - warns you about malicious websites
  
• Firebug and Web Developer - this is technical stuff not relevant to the average user
  
• Easy Youtube Video Downloader (just one among many Video/Youtube downloaders)
  
• Sorry not allowed by Thaivisa (astral)
  

welo

One problem with service in Thailand, you need to stand and watch the people complete your service, if you go away they will disregard what you need done and take care of other people who come in and watch what they are doing. Then when you come back and nothing has been done, you need to stand there and watch them work. Something I've learned here in Thailand, if you want something done quickly, do not leave the side of the person doing the fixing.

^ I second that! Also helps avoid having some work done that you did not order (like replacement of parts)

welo