Vientiane to Nong Khai

Sat 28/12/13, 70km

Well I certainly didn't intend to go to Thailand today... Woke up with the intention of following Highway 13 East and South so after breakfast I set off to do just that.

Decided to see if I could use Google Maps to navigate me quietly out of town and avoid the first bit of the highway. This was managed, most certainly. Alas, it involved 10km of corrugated dirt road, so I was happy to get back on asphalt and heading to the highway. However, the road crossed the way to the Friendship Bridge to Thailand. When I hit the cross roads I ummed and ahhed but carried on until I hit the highway at which point I thought some more and decided, sod it, I want some easy cycling on good roads for a bit and turned the bike around. Had a nice tailwind now and it was down the bridge!

Immigration on the way out was a formality (albeit with queues) and the exchange rate at the bank was a 1% spread so a great rate. The bridge itself is about 1km long and whilst it's not been designed with bikes in mind I was comfortable enough. Thai immigration was once again heavy on the queues but easy enough.

I did the last section into town, got a hotel, local SIM, visited the TAT (Tourist Authority of Thailand) office for maps and local guides then grabbed food, took a stroll and followed this with more food, beer and bed.

View down the Mekong to the Friendship Bridge