Goodbye Thailand, hello Laos

 Next up: Vientiane!

An easy hop-skip-and-jump from Nong Khai in Thailand (okay, the customs hall on the Laos side was a bit of a zoo*, but once through, it was just a quick bus local trip from the Friendship Bridge to the town centre). 

Vientiane is a big city for Laos, that still feels like a comfortably small city. The tree-lined boulevards are easy to navigate, and you can't throw a stick without hitting something good to eat, from croissants to French tasting menus, and Laos noodle soup to international restaurants.

Much of the city is fairly modern, but there are corners of history as well, and a pleasant view of the river to boot.

There are certainly worse ways to encounter a new country.

Relaxing and sunset watching from the banks of the Mekong.
A family-oriented night market springs up here, if you need a snack, drink, or glowsticks to enhance your sunset.

Wat Hophra Kaew, a 16th century temple and art collection (and former home of the Emerald Buddha)

The beautiful gardens of Hophra Kaew featured a display of modern wooden sculptures
(my personal favourite is this one of a cheeky T-rex)

The Presidential Palace, seen from Hophra Kaew (as there is no way a pleb like me would ever get past the gate)

My reward for all that siteseeing - yum!

A few tips for the border crossing: as you walk in, there's a visa-on-arrival window at the left, nestled among the currency exchange desks, before the main immigration queues. The window is tinted and will typically be closed, but when you walk up to it the person inside will open it up and hand you 2 forms. Fill in both, then go back to the window and hand them in with your passport, and passport picture, and the fee. They will return your passport at window 3 (if you don't have the correct cash and have to give too much, they'll give you back the change at window 3, when you get your passport back). 

That done, you go to a separate visa-on-arrival queue to get it checked (you don't need to join the main big queue) and that's it - you're through.