Crossing the Boarder from Thailand to Laos.

My boarder crossing started at 12 mid-day when I checked out of my guesthouse. The town is well set up to support travelling people as they make this trip. I got a tuk tuk for 40B to the bus station, and then got a 15B bus to the boarder where I parted with $35 ($5 more than 'usual') for what I believe/hope is a 30 day visa (I have been too distracted finding accommodation to check). Then I paid 10B to walk through the facility and 50B to get on a bus to Vientiane. I ended up having to hide from various taxi and tuk tuk drivers who got to me before I saw the bus. I was at the bus terminal in the capital town by 1330. The hardest part of the journey started there as I hadn’t pre booked a place to stay and had to humour a tuk tuk driver as he took me to his friends place. The bus station is only 5 minutes walk from the centre of town so I could have walked to the Wonderful Guesthouse, where I ended up staying for $12. I hired a bike again for $1.5 and had a cycle along the Mekong Promenade where there are hundreds of seats set up for people to relax and view the sunset with a beer Laos and barbeque. I made my way to a place closer to home where I met a young woman called Judith from Holland who has agreed to help me avoid getting lost (and manage cycling on the wrong side of the road) on a longer bicycle ride tomorrow.