Chiang Khan, Loei Province, Thailand

Chiang Khan is a small town to the north of Loei City (Loei Province) and is just an hour drive from the city. The mighty Mekong river flows through the city, separating Thailand from Laos. Though it is written in english as Loei, it is pronounced something like "Leuh-ay" in thai. I miserably failed all the time in pronouncing it correctly.

I arrived the town on a saturday afternoon (24-12-2016) and my first priority was to find a place with a view of the Mekong river, to stay. The road parallel to the river is called Chiang Khan walking street. There were a lot of beautiful homestay and guest houses overlooking the river, along the walking street and unfortunately all of them were fully booked. Most of the houses in Chiang Khan are basically made up of wood and are beautiful, especially the wood houses on both sides of the walking street. The small town was heavily crowded (99.9% Thais) with holidaying people, especially due to the weekend and also this will be last week of the year 2016. Wherever i went, i only heard "tem", meaning "fully booked" in thai. After a few hours of search, I ended up settling for a place with no view, slightly far away from the river and walking street. However, it was a wonderfully built wooden house, with beautifully laid, shiny (almost look like slippery) wooden floors. The place was managed by a kind old man who was very helpful and speak very little English.

Wat Pra Putthabat Phu Kwai Ngoen temple

Threw my bags in the room and head towards the Wat Pra Putthabat Phu Kwai Ngoen temple. The temple is approximately 20 mins drive from the town, situated on the sloping side of a small hill with a quiet and serene atmosphere. It is a beautiful tall white temple with golden art works along the corners and top. Wat Pra Putthabat means "Temple of Buddha's footprint". The main installation within the temple is a big foot print and is believed to be of Budha’s. As it was almost sunset time, there were very less people in the temple.

Wat Pra Putthabat Phu Kwai Ngoen temple

Budha Footprint in Wat Pra Putthabat Phu Kwai Ngoen temple

If you walk up along the side of the administrative office, there is a view point on one side of the temple. Amazing view of the valley from there. Spend some time there, taking pictures and watching the valley.

View of the valley from Wat Pra Putthabat Phu Kwai Ngoen temple

Panoramic view of the valley from Wat Pra Putthabat Phu Kwai Ngoen temple

Sun goes down around 5.30pm here and it will be very dark within 30mins of sunset. Drove back to the walking street. Mekong was quiet after sunset, not much traffic along the river, except for a few boats. Only a very few lights were seen on the Laos side. Still, the view of the wide and heavily muddy river is absolutely amazing. One of the things i missed to do is to go for a boat trip along the river, probably cross over to Laos for a meal or so and come back.

Mekong river, at night

Street view, near the river

I took a stroll along the walking street after spending some time at the river. Walking street is blocked for any kind of vehicles after sunset. The street was so lively, filled with holidaying people, 99% thai. I rarely met any foreigners. Happy faces everywhere, wondering what to eat or what to buy. Some performances can also be seen, along the street, singing and dancing by kids, and various thai instrumentals as well. One that really attracted me was four or five boys singing to some tribal tune, sound like chinese.

Chiang Khan walking street

Chiang Khan walking street, after 10pm

Lot of shops selling various thai foods and souvenirs on both side of the street. Lot of restaurants as well, managed to get into a decent looking place for a green curry chicken and steamed rice. It took a while to get a seat in a restaurant and another long wait for the actual dinner.

Chiang Khan walking street, Various Food shops

Chiang Khan walking street, roasted crabs

Chiang Khan walking street, shrimp and some edible insect

Chiang Khan walking street, beer drums

Chiang Khan walking street, performing artist

Chiang Khan walking street, artist playing Ranad ek

Phu Thok

Phu Chok is a small hill to the southeast of Chiang Khan town and is famous for the sea of fog or clouds of fog in the morning. Wake up at around 5am and go to Phu Thok. It was really tough driving on foggy morning, rules were simple, go slow, keep low beam, fog light on. One can only drive up to the foot of the Phu Chok hill, then get songthaew for 25 baht to the top of the hill. For those who dont know, songthaew is a vehicle in Thailand and Laos adapted from a pick-up or a larger truck and used as a share taxi or bus and is quite common mode of transport in smaller cities. There were 4 or 5 long rows of people and i joined one, patiently waiting for my turn. It was almost 5.30am, still very dark, foggy and cold. The songthaew driver was really crazy, he was racing up full speed to the top of the hill through those curvy roads, just like this is a fun ride. The top of the hill was already full of people, even at 5.30am in the morning, more and more pouring in as well. Somehow managed to squeeze through the crowd to find a place to see the clouds to take photos. The view of the sea of fog was breathtaking.

Sea of fog, Phu Thok

After sunrise, it started to get hot and i queue up to take the same transport to go back to the foot of the hill. It was still foggy and dark when i come down, even after the sunrise, as the sea of fog is still strong enough to hide the sun.

I come back to Chiang Khan and went to the walking street searching for breakfast. Street was very quiet, except for a few tourists and locals to going to the nearby temple. While walking along, i saw a street shop frying bananas wrapped in some kind of flour, a kind of banana fry, really loved it.

Chiang Khan walking street, in the morning

Making banana fry, Chiang Khan walking street

After a proper breakfast, i went back to the river and spend a good part of the morning on a rented bicycle, cycling along the Mekong river. The mighty Mekong was still covered with fog and Laos on the other bank is barely visible. fog was there almost until 9-10am.

Cycling path along the river in the morning, covered with fog

Mekong river in the morning, covered with fog

Cycling path along the river in the morning, covered with fog

Watch tower, Chiang Khan

Mekong river in the morning, mist slowly disappearing

Mekong river late in the morning, mist slowly disappearing

Later, drive to down to the west of the town where there is a big Budha statue overlooking the Mekong. This is a place where a thin, greenish Hueang river joins the mighty and muddy Mekong. The Hueang river acts as the border between Thailand and Laos at this place. The view from here absolutely amazing.