Just crossed to Vientiane over the Friendship Bridge from Nong Khai side. On the Thai side you need the green book and they type up the form. All quite quick. On the Lao side you start at Room 6 after immigration and visit another 5 or so officials, dropping around 900 baht on the way for the various bits of paper. After Chong Mek where the Lao don't even (or didn't) even look at the bike, this is fiddly .... But at least they have it organised to let bikes in now. Maybe this is a trend and the seeming closure of Laos to bikes with the opening of each bridge has now been reversed.... I would be interested to know if anyone has tried to cross from Mukdahan in the same way.
Cheers
Dan
Cheers
Dan