The entry point on 11 November, and a hub this leg circled back through more than once — before and after Koh Tao, and again before the Cambodia border run — though the stop after Cambodia was genuinely Pattaya, not this.
A scuba diving stop in the Gulf of Thailand — one of Southeast Asia's most popular dive-certification islands, reached from Bangkok by an overnight bus to Chumphon followed by a ferry across.
A border town, not a stay — this is where the route re-entered Thailand from Cambodia on 12 December, continuing through to 26 December before heading on to Laos.
The stop after crossing back from Cambodia — genuinely Pattaya, not Bangkok, on the coast southeast of the capital — before the final leg north to the Nong Khai border into Laos.
The border crossing point into Laos, at the end of the second Thailand stretch — not a stop in its own right, just where this leg ended.
November–February is the cool, dry season and genuinely the best window — avoid April–May, the hottest stretch, unless specifically chasing Songkran. This trip's first leg landed right in the good window (November); the return after the Cambodia detour pushed into December, still comfortable.
That the "one country" turned out to be two separate stays split by a four-day Cambodia detour, re-entering through the exact same border post both times. Almost six weeks total in Thailand looks, from the outside, like one long settled stretch — the reality was two distinct arrivals, two different states of mind, with an entirely different country wedged in the middle of what should have been a single continuous visit.
Re-entry through Aranyaprathet after the Cambodia stop here stayed on the same visa-free allowance — no new visa needed.
It can differ depending on whether you enter by air or by land — worth confirming before you build an itinerary around an assumed number of days.