I see. Not sure this is in line with their governments desire to attract more foreign money to their country - but hey, what’s new? 😄 I think if I were to need to do a border run for a new TR tourist visa, I would apply for a new eVisa with the consulate in Europe / the US and then use that one for a border bounce to a neighbor country instead of dealing with having to go to a Thai consulate in person in that respective neighbor country.
What the hell? This used to be a requirement of the STV visa - and was nonsense back then. Since when do they now even want proof of fully prepaid bookings for a regular TR visa? Are they for real? Not the way people travel to Thailand. Not that they would ever really understand the way of their guests. But I am guessing some little uniform just screwed up that list. Doubt that full proof of stay is really an actual requirement now.
I feel you. Not only do these far to frequently needed extension stamps take up way to much valuable passport page space, the (relatively small) entry stamps are also way to often than not placed in a manner with the most possible space wasted. But what can we do. I give you points for creativity here - even if it did not work.