Just get an international licence good for 12 months takes about 20 minutes at the motor registry and costs about $50 that's in Australia and I would assume it would be a similar process and cost in Canada
I think you will be surprised how interesting being in the provinces can be, i never get bored But Depending on where You are in phichit it should only be roughly an hours drive to phitsanulok a plane fare is about,,,give or take, pending on the day 900 baht up to 3000 baht to Bangkok.
Very lame post, should of had that worked out before you got there, but like alot have said go the bar flash the cash they will have it spent for you in know time.
You can use ATM'S there but Don't get to much laos money (Kip) as most exchanges don't like trading with it, so you might end up being stuck with a lot of Kip thats useless anywhere else.