Thailand - Nong Khai
Photo Gallery of Nong Khai in Thailand.
Nong Khai is about 600km from Bangkok, about one hour by bus from Udon Thani which is about one hour by air
from Bangkok.
It's located around the border of Laos and Thailand across Mekong River, only 25km from Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Therefore,this area has a very close relationship in commerce with Laos.
There is a famous bridge between Thailand and Laos, Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, and a lot of people go and come everyday.
Many visitors only pass Nong Khai to visit Laos but the site shows the magnificent view of Mekong River, the mysterious temple, Wat Khaek (Sala Kaew Ku) which has various huge images of gods, and the famous and very crowded Indo-China Market (TaaSadej) with a lot of people.
Even if it's in Thailand, it's very cool or cold in early mornings and in evenings in winter. You should take a jacket with you. :)
Nong Khai is about 600km from Bangkok, about one hour by bus from Udon Thani which is about one hour by air
from Bangkok.It's located around the border of Laos and Thailand across Mekong River, only 25km from Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Therefore,this area has a very close relationship in commerce with Laos.
There is a famous bridge between Thailand and Laos, Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, and a lot of people go and come everyday.
Many visitors only pass Nong Khai to visit Laos but the site shows the magnificent view of Mekong River, the mysterious temple, Wat Khaek (Sala Kaew Ku) which has various huge images of gods, and the famous and very crowded Indo-China Market (TaaSadej) with a lot of people.
Even if it's in Thailand, it's very cool or cold in early mornings and in evenings in winter. You should take a jacket with you. :)
[Nong Khai] The city and the river Mekong |
|||
You'll see the scenery of the city, Nong Khai, and around Mekong
river here.The river runs between Nong Khai and Laos, and the river has wide sand land like the picture left. I don't know if the river stream comes up to the sand area or not when the water increases but the magnificent scenery with the sunset is so wonderful. It looks like the city, Nong Khai, is not so big but the streets are busy and a lot of shops are along them. |
|||
|
|
|
|
| Mekong 1 (Scenery in the day time. Laos is opposite side of river.) |
Mekong 2 (The friendship bridge between Thailand and Laos.) |
Mekong 3 (Sand area of the Mekong river. A little difficult to image how wide it is with this picture, though.) |
Mekong 4 (A restaurant along the river. It's quite cool at night. :) ) |
|
|
|
|
| Around the city 1 (The land like this picture spreads around the city.) |
Around the city 2 (Around our hotel. This kind of pots are used to set in front of each house for tourists to drink water.) |
Around the city 3 (This food is called "Kai Grata". Made of bread, eggs, meat and vegetable. This is a famous food of Nong Khai.) |
Around the city 4 (The scenery of the city. The street is busy.) |
|
|
|
|
| Around the city 5 (The scenery of the city. A lot of shops along the street.) |
Around the city 6 (A traffic sign. It says you can put baskets on the street (to sell something) from 16:00 to 24:00.) |
Around the city 7 (Tuk-tuks in Nong Khai. I heard that they are called not "Tuk-tuk" but "Skylab". Looks a little different from those in Bangkok.) |
|
[Nong Khai] Wat Khaek (Sala Kaew Ku) |
|||
| The mysterious temple in Nong Khai, the Northern East of Thailand,
Wat Khaek (Sala Kaew Ku). (It seems that "Sala Kaew Ku" is more understandable among people in Thailand.) The temple "Wat Khaek" was built by a monk, Luang Puu, in 1978 who came to Thailand from Laos in 1975. In this temple, there are giant and various fantastic figures of deities of Buddhism and Hinduism in the wide space. Although the pictures below can not show the real atmosphere, the images are huge, mysterious and overpowering.
|
|||
Deities 1 |
|
|
|
| Deities 2 (The figure that stands to the sky around the entrance. The picture right is a welcome board. It says that if you are a good person, you are welcome, but if you are not, we will run away.) |
|||
|
|
||
| Deities 3 (The view of the site.) |
Deities 4 (Like this image, each figure has an explanation under the image.) |
||
|
|
|
|
| Deities 5 (You can tell how tall the figure is, comparing it with people.) |
Deities 6 | Deities 7 | Deities 8 |
|
|
|
|
| Deities 9 | Deities 10 | Deities 11 | Deities 12 |
|
|
|
|
| Deities 13 | Deities 14 | Deities 15 | Deities 16 |
[Nong Khai] Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge |
|||
Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge was built over the Mekong river to connect Nong Khai of Thailand and Vientiane,
the capital of Laos.It opened on 8th, April in 1994, and 1170 meters long. Because I saw a railroad on it, trains can go and come someday. After coming back to Japan, I got to know that the bridge is the first one and there are two more Thai-Laos Friendship Bridges.
- The Royal Thai Embassy in Tokyo (in Japanese) |
|||
|
|
|
|
| Let's go to Laos (Going over the border of the country. A lot of people are in the row to have passport checks.) |
Friendship Bridge 1 (This is coming back to Thailand from Laos. The road is not so wide.) |
Friendship Bridge 2 (There is a railroad on the bridge. Trains will run on it someday but thinking of the width of the bridge, car traffic may be closed once while a train is going on the bridge ... ?) |
|
|
|
|
|
| Friendship Bridge 3 (The landscape of Mekong river from the bridge.) |
Friendship Bridge 3 (The landscape of Mekong river from the bridge.) |
Toll fare (You have to pay if you want to go across the bridge. Coming and going by taxi is 800 Baht.) |
By car (You can walk across the bridge. They go and come by car in the picture.) |
[Nong Khai] Indo-China Market |
|||
Indo-China Market in Nong Khai is along the Mekong river. It's called "Tarad Tha Sadet" or
"Indojin Market" as well.(If you are a Japanese, you might think Indojin is a Asian Indian but not. "Jin" means "China" in Thai language.) The picture left shows a lot of shops gather here along the narrow arcaded path. Various goods can be sold which are from next countries such as China, Laos, and Vietnam, and also from in Thailand. When we visited this market, it was still early morning and it was not crowded. If you visit Nong Khai, visit here to find wonderful exotic gifts for your family, friends and of course, yourself. |
|||
|
|
|
|
| When hungry (You can get some food !) |
Various Goods 1 (Various goods are sold.) |
motorbike runs (A bike is running because not so crowded ?) |
Various Goods 2 (You will see swords as well as figurines.) |
|
|
|
|
| A little wide (After a walk for a while, you'll come out to a wider street. Still shops and shops.) |
Outside (Outside of the arcaded path. You'll see other shops.) |
Various Goods 3 (Musical instruments. They have interesting shapes and looks like they are from northern part in Thailand.) |
Tuk-tuk (Tuk-tuk can run here ?) |
Home
General Info
Photos (Thailand)
Column
Links