What are the steps and tips for performing a border run from Thailand to Laos with a METV?

I’m new to Visas but I wanted to share my first niiave experiences. I’m from the UK and applied for a 6 month METV e-visa online from the Thai embassy in London. For anyone that doesn’t know, the Multiple Entry visa only allows you to stay in Thailand for 60 days at a time but allows re entry as many times as you want. It was granted within a week so I travelled to Thailand in March. I did my first border run in May with 1 day to spare. I drove to Nakhon Thanom to the friendship 3 bridge to Laos. I was expecting to walk over the 1km bridge, get my passport stamped and walk back! Instead I spent 2 hours waiting on the Thai side and filling in forms and waiting for the government bus which is the only way to cross the bridge. I then found that I had to buy a 1 day visa in Laos for 1800bht and do some more form filling. I then had to wait for 3 hours in the sun for the return bus. So the whole trip took most of the day and lots of wasted time waiting.

My next 60 days aren’t up until next week and I’m in Chiang Rai currently so I took a sightseeing trip to Tachileik today and I thought I’d take my passport and paperwork and try the border while I was there. I’ve read on here that Myanmar is closed for border runs due to the civil war. I can confirm that it is closed and they won’t allow foreigners to cross for any purpose. But I drove along to the Golden Triangle (for those that don’t know it’s the joining of borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand on the Mekong river). I noticed that there is a ferry to Laos for the new Golden Triangle City (casino goers mainly!). So I walked into the immigration office to find out about it and to my surprise they stamped me straight out and I paid 70bht for a very nice Thai longboat crossing and was stamped into Laos with another day visa (2000bht). I wandered around the new Chinese City of hotels and casinos and crossed back with no problems. I had to fill in the immigration form at both sides but it was quick, easy and relatively cheap and no waiting. It was also a pleasant day trip. So anyone looking for a pleasant border run in the north of Thailand, I would very highly recommend it.