Where to visit?

Nong Khai Province

Hi everybody!! we are going to Nongkhai province. It is located on the north-east of Thailand. Nongkhai is a livable city. There are four neighboueing provinces ; Nakornpanom, Sakonnakorn, Udonthani and Loei. The province is located in the valley of Khong river. It is also has Thai-Laos bridge which are connects two countries each other. It was built jointly by the governments of Thailand and Loas.

Remember!...don't forget to leave us a comment anytime. Hope you enjoy our blog>,<

Nong Khai Map

Where to stay?

For our trip, we spends just 1 day in Nongkhai. However,as a popular tourist destination, Nong Khai has a variety of accommodation options. These are a sample of accommodation in the center of city and alongside the Mekong River.

Royal Mekong Nongkhai Hotel
The Royal Mekong Nongkhai Hotel (Nongkhai's finest boutique Hotel) is located in the heart of Nongkhai's business, entertainment and shopping district. This hotel is the best Sukhumvit location to reach all parts of the City including the airport via the expressway.

Nongkhai Grand Hotel

Nongkhai Grand Hotel is located in the center of city. It is  the center of comfort and convenience and proudly presents all visitors with royal services and facilities.

 

How to get there?

From Khon Kaen to Nong Khai, we takes about 1.30 hours by car.

By plane

You can go to the nearest airport (on the Thai side). It is in Udon Thani. There are direct shuttle buses four times a day between the airport and the Friendship Bridge (2km outside Nong Khai), plus taxis and minibuses that will take you in to Nong Khai proper. Thai Airways and Air Asia operate flights between Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) and Udon Thani. Nok Air operates a service between Bangkok (Don Muang) and Udon.

By bus

There are departures to Udon Thaini at least once per hour from the BKS station on the main drag on Prajak road. The hour-long ride costs 20 baht in 3rd class (non-air con).

                                                 

 By train

You can go to Nong Khai by train. It would take  about 10-12 hours. A first class sleeper ticket from Bangkok to Nong Khai or vice versa is currently about 1200 baht, and a second class sleeper ticket (not bad for the price) is 748 baht ($21.43 USD as of Jan 2009). Sleepers often sell out at peak times so you may need to book in advance.

What / Where to Shop?

We are enjoy shopping at Tah Sadet market!



Beautiful scenery of Tah Sadet market^ ^



Tha Sadet Market 

It is located alongside Khong river. This market is a source of products from Indochina and East Europe, including dried food, processed food, and utensils, such as electric appliances, clothes, watches, kitchenware, etc.

This place is essentially the main pier for the ferry across the Mekhong River to Tha Dua in Laos. The market here is often called the ‘Indochina Market’ because goods sold here are mainly from across the region, but there are also a lot of items from the former Eastern bloc countries and of course local produce.

Organising a Tour



This is a picture when we took a bus on Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge across Khong river in order to go to shop at duty free in Laos.



Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge

Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge is the first international bridge spanning the Mekong. The bridge was built jointly by the governments of Australia, Thailand and Laos. It was opened in April 8, 1994.

We had a nice time at Sala Kaeo Ku and took many photoes here.

Sala Kaeo Ku

Sala Kaeo Ku is located on 3 km. from the town of Nong Khai on the right side of the route to Phon Phisai. This place is an open museum of religious statues. There are Buddha images in different attitudes, Hindu gods, Christian religious icons, as well as character figures from the Ramayana epic and folk legends. It is open daily during 07.00 - 17.00 hrs. Admission fee is 10 Baht per person.

This is Pho Chai temple where the first place we visited in Nongkhai.

Wat Pho Chai

Luangpho Phra Sai, a sacred Buddha image of the town which is respected by Nong Khai citizens. Every year on the full moon day in the seventh lunar month, Nong Khai citizens always hold a rocket merit-making fair or Bun Bang Fai to worship Phra Sai at Wat Pho Chai.

This is a picture of church. If you go inside, you will enjoy a beautiful pattern of this church.

Prap Ho Monument

Prap Ho Monument

This is the cremated bones of those who lost their lives in the suppression of the Ho in 1886. It has been contained inside the monument to honour the good deeds of those who sacrificed their own lives for the nation. There are inscriptions in Chinese, English, Laotian and Thai on all four directions of the monument.

This is the last picture that we took before go inside Laos Duty free.



There are many kinds of goods such as wine, chocolate and etc. The price is cheap, if you don't forget to bargain. 



Festivals and Cultural Activities

Nong Khai Grand Songkran Festival

There are many activities to do at Nong Khai on Songkran festival. Most of people always celebrate this day at Wat Pho Chai temple and Hat Chomani beach near the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge that spans the Mekong River by playing water.

With the neighbouring country of Lao PDR on the opposite bank of the Mekong River, Songkran celebrations in the northeastern province of Nong Khai is a combined Thai-Lao Songkran festival, with rituals, cultural performances, folk games and cuisine, reflecting a shared heritage.

Prap Ho Monument FestivalBun Bang Fai Festival

Being held at the Prap Ho Monument around the month of March every year.

 Bun Bang Fai Festival

This is Bang Fai. It works like a firework.



This festival will be held in the sixth lunar month (May) every year. There is a rocket contest to worship Phaya Thaen or god of the rain. It is a way the local people do to ask for rain. A temple fair will be organised in the grounds of Wat Pho Chai. Rocket shooting will be done on the field around 10 km. from Wat Pho Chai.

Tak Bat Thewo and Thai - Lao Friendship Boat Race

This festival will be  held during the end of the Buddhist Lent festival every year. People come to offer alms to Buddhist monks in the morning. Long boat competitions, which the Thai and Lao sides will take turn to host, will be held on the Mekong River during the day.

Bang Fai Phaya Nak

Many people  come here to attend this festival every year.

This extraordinary miracle always occurs at the beginning of the full moon night in the eleventh lunar month (End of Buddhist Lent). It can be seen along the Mekong River in the districts of Mueang, Phon Phisai, Pak Khat, Bung Kan, Tha Bo, Si Chiang Mai and Sangkhom. Bang Fai Phaya Nak is a term used for red and pinkish fire balls, which according to belief, belong to Phaya Nak or the great serpent of the underwater world. On the day marking the End of Buddhist Lent, a great number of people come to witness this phenomenon.