I decided that I would have 3 days in Vientiane and also the g/f wanted to go so it was decided. As I was in Khon Kaen decided that we would catch the Thai Laos Friendship bus.
There are two buses leaving Khon Kaen one at 7.45am and the other at 3.00 pm. We had decided on the early one as had not booked accommodation and this would give us time to find something decent, as the other bus would not arrive into Vientiane until about 8 pm at night.
If you decide to catch either bus from Khon Kaen you are best advised to obtain your visa for Laos at the consulate in KK. This was a very simple process, go to the consulate a couple of days before hand. Fill the form in, present it at the window and pay your money. If you are a stingy bugger and only pay 1400 baht you will be told to come back the next day to collect passport and visa. If on the other hand you pay 1600 baht, you are told to wait and after I had just time for a smoke (10 mins) got me visa with a single entry for 60 days.
You will need your passport when you get your ticket and can only purchase on day of leaving. Price was 136 baht each. The passport part is for the bus company to fill on their travel sheet, but they do not check if you have a visa for Laos. Bus stops just outside of Udon Thani at a petrol station, where you have time for a piss, fag and get something from the shop if wanted. The day we left it was pissing down with rain virtually all day up until 4pm hence no photos of this.
Then its on to the Friendship bridge at Nong Khai. You will have about 20 mins at both the Thai and Laos border points. No problem leaving Thailand, but if you want a visa at the border then you might have a long wait and the bus will not wait for you. You will have to unload your baggage at the border and then make your own way into Vientiane. This happened to 3 people on our bus.
The Thai border checkpoint at Nong Khai looking back to Thailand
More to follow tomorrow