Forget Vientiane – Visa run from Khon Kaen to Savannakhet in Laos

So good news is, since we have been teaching in Thailand, I (Stephen) had finally gotten all my paper work back from a newish school (the kindergarten Kristine works at) to get my Non B Visa, making me legal in Thailand. Meaning, once I get my work permit I won't have to leave Thailand again for 1 whole year for another visa run.. *breathes... sighs of relief*. Once you have your paper work, you then have to go through the usual red tape of Thailand. 
Leaving the country to go to Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam, even Myanmar but we recently read something about it getting dodgy there and some tourists getting refused, so do some homework first. We were told about Savannakhet which is a 4 1/2 hour bus journey (3 hour car drive) to Mukdahan. Mukdahan is small town on the Thailand / Laos border, so we figured we would try somewhere other then Vientiane.

We booked our bus from the Khon Kaen terminal, the station is located at the old bus terminal close to Central plaza. I have heard they may be moving all buses to the new station at the other end of town near the Ring Road - ( possibly to reduce traffic in the city but for now it's quite handy). The buses go from 3.30 am til 6 pm everyday and they are running every 40 min's. The bus was 185 baht one way. It brings you to Mukdahan bus station, which is at the border.
You then pay about 50 baht for a bus across the friendship bridge to the Laos side but it's easy to get a ticket. 
I would advise to not hang around before boarding the bus because it's crossing the border and they use half the bus to bring food, plants and who know what else across on these trips. That meant we were all piled in on top of this crap, which makes for a slightly uncomfortable 20 mins bus ride, as people were squeezed in right up to the front door of the bus... So grab your seat early :)

We have done the trip to Vientiane many times, which is where most people go for their visa runs. Never again for us after coming to Savannakhet, as it just all felt so easy compared to going to the capitol. The border crossing was easy and the staff there still seem to smile and joke with each other. As they let small groups of 20 people through at a time, it made the place seemed deserted. We got a Tuk Tuk from the border exit as our bus driver decided to leave us there. Just because we had decided to get our Laos visa on the border rather than in a Laos Embassy in Thailand and held him up all of 5 mins (as even this was quick)... nice guy. Getting the visa on the border will save you from 200-400 baht depending on your country of residence and it takes only a matter of minutes, no questions asked about the other 4 Laos visa's we already had :).

We arrived in Savanakhet around 5 pm after leaving Khon Kaen at 12 pm and decided to walk around to check out our new home for the next 5 days. We went there on a Thursday, which happened to be a  holiday, meaning the embassy was closed and to make things worse, there was another holiday on Monday meaning we would hand in our documents on Friday and collect on Tuesday, as every time we went to Vientiane the process is as follows. 

• The embassy opens from 9 am – 12 pm where you grab a number first thing in the morning and unless you're there queuing from 8 am you will be looking at a 1-3 hour wait for them, to very slowly process everyone's details. 
• Once your numbers called you walk up and get quizzed sometimes by the clerk as to why your in Thailand.
• You then have to go to the next building to make your payment, only to frustrate you more when you see you about 50 numbers ahead of yours and have to wait another 40 min's just to hand over 1000-3000 baht depending on your type of visa.
• The next day you have to return between 1 and 3 pm when the place opens after lunch and wait another, longer than required, amount of time just to be handed your passport back.

Not in Savannakhet however, but I'll get to that shortly.
We stayed in a guesthouse called Savan Banhao Guesthouse in the middle of the small inner city. Savannakhet is the second biggest city in Laos (population of 120,000) which we found hard to believe, as it's one of the quietest towns we've visited, they must be all living on the outskirts. The guesthouse is on Phetsarat Road in the very centre of the city . The room was only 340 bahtq, which is a lot cheaper then what we spent in Vientiane and very little tourists in the area in comparison.. I feel like I'm bad mouthing Vientiane a bit, don't get me wrong, it's a great city to visit but if you have been there 5 times in 8 months you get a little tired of spending too much time and money there. Once would have been enough.
So we explored a bit and it looks very similar to the capitol as it's also on the Mekong river and you cross Laos second Friendship bridge. It only opened up to the public in 2007, possibly the reason not many people know about it. A friend put us onto it as he told us they had a casino and as betting is illegal in Thailand we thought it would be something different to do. From the size of the place, it may have shows and nice restaurants with live music.
Here is the website if you are interested www.savanvegas.com/ (love the name) We had been advised you can stay there from 1600 baht for a basic room, but if you sign up to their VIP club straight away it's free, then they are half price. The reviews we found are not great but also not terrible.

On our first night we planned to not stay out to long, so we could hit up the embassy early and decided we could win our millions at the casino the next night. We went out to find a restaurant and went for some food in a small place called Lin's cafe. I would highly recommend this place, as it is the haven for falangs travelling and teaching. They're serving great food at reasonable prices and with extremely friendly staff. It is also affiliated with the tourist information, so they can tell you about everything you can do in Savannakhet, which isn't much really but there are some lakes and hiking available if you have a free day.

We found one bar playing live music named "Sabbai Dee" and as luck would have it, ran into a friend of ours from Khon Kaen by pure chance. He had also never been in Savannakhet himself and was only told about it recently. He had handed in his docs late on the Wednesday, so had to collect on the Friday with the public holiday falling on the Thursday delaying him an extra day. We had a few beer Laos (it's voted best beer in Asia, dark and light beer) and listened to some singers belting out American rock songs. My favourite part of the bar was the bathroom, the men's we can understand but the woman's... well look for yourself. 
We were joined later by a guy from England who was doing also a visa run and we stayed there til the bar/restaurant closed, which was around 10/11pm as with most of the town. We had heard of one nightclub but we are a bit past partying with teenagers so we gave it a miss.. maybe next time :)

The next day we had breakfast in Lin's cafe (the food really is that good) and went to the embassy at 8.40 am, very worried we had ran a bit late and that the queues would be around the corner by now. When we arrived we were shocked to find only about 15 people queuing up at the hatch and we walked up to grab our forms. In the time we had them filled out the queue had disappeared and we were the only two remaining. We walked to the counter handed them in and asked "do we pay in the next building". The clerk laughed and said "no pay me". The whole atmosphere here just seemed more relaxed, as staff were joking and laughing in the back, compared to a much more strict response from other busier embassy's. 
We paid then and there and asked if we should return on Tuesday, (frustrated that we would be paying for accommodation in a very quiet town with very little to do) but he laughed again and said come back today at 3.30 pm to collect. So at 3.30 again we walked in, queued for 3 minutes and got handed our new visas, and me my Non B visa. We had met up with our friend who had driven and offered us a lift back to Khon Kaen, that day. Delighted and after some quick deliberation, we said "yes" as we didn't want to waste money and spend it for the sake of spending, as there are no real amenities here that couldn't be done in a day or two and the casino was another possibility to lose money, so we agreed and drove home that same day.

We arrived back at 7 pm, just in time for our friend Rainny from Supan's house (our local hangout) to take down the list of ingredients required for Kristine to make her famous chili con carne. Rainny wanted to make it for the Mexican party they were throwing the next day in the bar for Cinco de Mayo as she hosts a lot of fun themed party's once a month. It turned out to be a great night with everyone designing and wearing sombreros and eating some amazing Mexican food that not many places in Khon Kaen serve. All the customers raved about Kristine's Chili con Carne and also the rest of the amazing dishes that Dylan (Rainny's significant other) had slaved all day to prepare. I contributed by designing the chalkboard ;).

We do regret not having a bit more time in Savannakhet but we know we will definitely be returning any time we need a visa. I can't say 100% if they only gave us same day visa because of the holiday on the Monday but it didn't seem like it, from the way he said it and the fact they had only 20 passports to process. So if you wan't a hassle free visa that possibly can be done in a day then we advise to check it out. Max 2 days but you can chill out and not spend too much money in this quiet french influenced town.

We were not to freaked about not having a mini break before the schools start back in two weeks and we go back to work, but we're very happy to find out my new school is sending all the teachers to the Island of Koh Samet next week for a 3 day all expenses paid holiday. So I will post a run down of the trip once we return.