Traveling by Rail from Bangkok to Vientiane...

You can travel by tour bus and you can fly direct to Vientiane now,but I still enjoy the rail journey
there is a fast train which arrives about 10 minutes from the Lao border at 4-30 am after leaving
Bangkok at 6-30 pm,If you want a more relaxed journey there are slower sleeper trains that leave later
                              are slower traveling and arrive later in the morning.

The purpose of my visit was to renew my Visa so the earlier train suits the purpose better.
There is always plenty of tuk-tuks waiting to take you to the border,50 baht is about the norm,
Make sure the tuk-tuk takes you to the border,they may try to introduce you to a form filling
shop,which makes claims about an easier visa application-it's much better you complete
yourself and saves you money If that's your choice there are more form fillers  at the border.

If the train is on time there is no rush because the border immigration doesn't open until 6am there
                            is a 7/11 there but not much else at that time of day.
We finally made it through immigration,from there you have to buy a bus ticket to take you across
the Friendship Bridge and to the Laos immigration.It's better to take some US$ with you to purchase
a Laos Visa it has been 35 $ for as long as I can remember but 1500 baht if you pay in baht.

There are a number of taxies there offering their services direct to the Thailand Embassy ,they ask
300/400baht for a single person so you really need to get others that are going to the embassy,and
you can negotiate a better deal last time I was there it was 100 baht.If you have time to spare
you can take the bus which runs frequently there are plenty of  tuk-tuks when you arrive at the
                     bus station,the walk to the Embassy would take around 30minutes.

It pays to have some local currency, 'Kip' most will except Baht but will give you change in Kip and
It's very unlikely you will gain on the transaction.
There is a plentiful choice of accommodation,I prefer to stay close to the Embassy it makes life
easier and have never had to book in advance.There is a particularly good Pizza restaurant opposite
                                                    the Thai/Embassy.

I found Laos to be quite relaxing and enjoyed my short visit.If you like entertainment I think there
                                              is plenty of that to enjoy too