I had a few days in Savannakhet with family. what a shit hole? couldn't wait get back to thailand fast enough,what gives with these Laotians? for whom I had previously had high regard for.
Firstly while it was on the Thai side, I had the misfortune to come up a against the wrath in of a dick head on the bridge. An obstructive unhelpful prick, who want going to give me any info on border passes for the kids.
Then on the the Laotian side i ran into another cvnt who refused to take US dollars, saying they were fake, as I got the from the bank at Udon that was unlikely. he just didn't want them, preferring to take baht where he could cash them in for more money and hand in the US dollars to his boss.
It just got worse from there, rorted at every turn in Savannakhet on exchange rates. A crap hotel, a room switch, shown one and given another, rude people and Unhelpful in the extreme.