always put exactly what is written in the passport. same as name, dates, etc… it is a 1:1 check. no need to make things up or even think about putting something else…
the number of teachers doing visa things in laos is probably so small that you would not even notice a difference if they were going from 100% to 0%… such a very specific small group.
while before you had thausands of expats running the border every few months and literally living on visa exemptions for many years in thailand. things changed.
plus visa exemption is now 60 days + 30 extension. majority of tourists have very little reason to do a border run now since the change.
no one is talking about banks. no one would put money in a bank and hope for gains… of course you invest in something like s&p500 or nasdaq100 or msci all world or whatever investment you think works for you. these gain average 10% annually and are not high risk at all. just check the last 90 years that the s&p500 is out for example ;) in the last 5 years people literally doubled their money in it. some more risky things like crypto are also an option but we were talking fairly conservative here.