Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time… I’m havin a ball.
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Do you need to show passport when paying for evisa Vientiane?
With how critically important one's passport is, and especially for folks in this region with the visa and extension stamps contained in them, I'm amazed at people handing over their passports, allowing them out of their possession. At various tourist spots in Thailand, I didn't have much of a problem finding a bike rental place that would take a copy and not the real thing. I didn't and wouldn't rent a bike from ones that insisted on taking possession of the passport. OK, that may not fly in Laos, and if the rental places are demanding a deposit worth the value of the bike, that's a no go. -
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Welcome to Thailand: Where No One Can Drive and No One Gives a Flying Toss
I'm glad you're introducing a new topic to the forum. -
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Welcome to Thailand: Where No One Can Drive and No One Gives a Flying Toss
You know what’s mad about driving in Thailand? Everyone drives like an absolute numpty on meth, right, but no one’s angry about, yeah. I’ve clocked it. I’ve cracked the code, lads. Everyone’s a muppet behind the wheel, they all know it, and they’ve all silently agreed to just crack on with it like it’s some kinda national sport. It’s beautiful chaos in motion, really. Total carnage, but polite carnage. Bloke on a scooter, smoking a fag, with three kids stacked on, all in shorts, no helmets, two barefoot, one in flip-flops, texting with one hand, dog hangin’ off the back like a circus act, and no one bats an eyelid. You pull that rubbish in London, someone’s lobbing a mug of hot java at your windscreen before you can say “oi.” I’m sittin’ there, stuck behind some geezer doin’ 12 kilometers an hour in the overtakin’ lane like he’s out for a Sunday mooch, and I’m waiting for someone to start honkin’, screamin’, flashin’ lights, nada’, bruv. The lot of ‘em just glide by like, “Yeah, mate, that’s just how we roll." It’s like drivin’ through a meditation retreat, but the meditation’s pure chaos, minus any brain synapses. And they don’t signal. Not even once. Indicators in Thailand are purely ornamental, might as well hang some fairy lights off ‘em. Changing lanes? Just go. Someone’s already there? Who cares, long as you arse-in first, you got right of way. If you survive, well done, if not, mai pen rai, see you in the next life, innit. And still no one’s screamin’ abuse, cool as cucumbers. Back home, you so much as drift over the line and some new-monied lebo anoose from Essex is inventin’ new swear words just for you. Here? Not even a tut. Just acceptance. It’s like everyone’s too busy stayin’ alive to bother gettin’ angry. I’ve seen geezers get cut off so bad you’d think they’d pull over and have a tear-up in the gutter. Nope. Not here. Thai drivers get cut off and just carry on like someone politely nicked their spot in the Big-C queue. “After you, mate. Fancy nearly killin’ me today, did ya? Lovely stuff.” It’s mental. Like bein’ stuck in Grand Theft Auto with the blood turned off. I’m startin’ to respect it, in a weird way. They’ve all accepted they’re terrible at drivin’, everyone else is terrible at drivin’, so no one’s shocked anymore. It’s democracy. It’s harmony. It’s beautifully thick. Like a national agreement that “we’re all terrible, so let’s just crack on.” Honestly, it’s kinda poetic. If Britain had this attitude, there’d be no road rage, we’d all die earlier like the 20,000+ Thais on the roads do every year, but we’d die with a grin, a Chang and a seven-toastie in hand. So that’s me conclusion: Thai roads ain’t roads, they’re crash-dummy test arenas. And the first rule of the arena is, don’t complain, just slam on the accelerator and breaks are optional.- 1
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Savannakhet update
just go to the border and ask if you need to stay overnight -
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Renew passport, plus 12 month extension of permission to stay.
Occam's razor...this is the answer. Simplify things. Plan ahead? There's plenty of time starting now. Your other scenario, if I may clarify. Get new extension in October in current passport. Extension will go to late April '26, also the expiry of the passport. In the intervening period, new passport is acquired. Perhaps no need to transfer extension stamp to new passport prior to doing another extension before it expires (late April '26.) When going for the new extension, the stamp for the late April '26 extension will be transferred to the new passport, as well as the identifying details in the now-expired passport on which the extension is based. Then the new 'annual date' of extension validity will be that date in April, no more October, that's over. So one can weigh all the pros and cons of passport expiring date in relation to extension valid till date and make a decision which way to go. Do you want to have a new extension time frame, or carry on with the one you've had for years? That's a component of the decision. As is, the need to have at least six months validity left on the passport for international travel. (Returning to home country, returning to Thailand on valid visa, the six months issue need not be considered.) Good passport renewal management, last half of year 9 is the time to plan for a renewal, and have it done by early into year 10.
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