Thread: Khon Kaen

About 2 kilometres away from the above Wat is Ubol Ratana Dam. The grid ref is shown on the Google Earth screen shot below





Some facts about this Dam. It is a Hydro Electric Dam and supplies power for most of the Isaan Region. Built across the Nam Pong river and is the largest multi purpose dam in the North East. It was completed in 1964 and over 30000 local people were resettled to make way for the reservoir, which has an area of over 12000 sq kms. The dam is 35 metres high and 880 metres in length. It was known as Pong Neep Dam but in 1966 HM the King gave permission for it to be named Ubol Ratana with use of the Princess's name.


There is not much to do there, apart from taking a couple of pictures and ticking it off on the list of things to see. There is a visitors centre and a couple of places to buy snacks etc.

This is at the entrance to the dam



and a view overlooking the dam



Nothing much else to it, but will have a look on the video I took to see if that has more photos.

Originally Posted by BenDoverMax

max likes the one on the left.......

Sorry Max, she is married and has a kiddie.


After over two years of posting on this thread have finally made the century.
A long hard bat but worth it in the end.

Well done props, very enjoyable thread.

Very interesting thread. Now i know there is real life in Thailand and I fancy a trip up there this coming Sept through November. Seems as though you are a local and one to have a few jars with at Erics.

About 3 kms south of the city centre is Bung Kaen Nakhon, a recreational lake covering an area of about 50 acres. From what I can understand this is a man made lake built by the Army some 25 years ago and was originally swamp land.

Below is the view from Google Earth



I have briefly mentioned this lake before, but will this tme take a walk around the lake and hopefully provide more information. Not much goes on around the lake during the day but come 5pm it begins to bustle with activity. As can be seen a ring road surrounds the lake, and the lake is walled off from the road. Inside the walled area a paved jogging/walking track surround the lake. The main entance to the lake is at the Northern end and there is ample parking there.

From 5 pm all the keep fit fanatics, joggers and walkers descend on the place. Some to partake in sports activities around the lake, maybe join an aerobics session, or just to have walk around.

We will start our walk from main entrance. It is here that an open air market springs up just after 5pm. Plenty of food stalls and a number that specialise in fruit juices for the weary joggers, and of course the normal crap ones. There are four temples around the ring road and can easily be visited on the walk round, but more time needs allowed if doing this. We head off in an anti clockwise direction and it is here where the market sets up. There are a number of football areas and a couple of basketball courts. This pictures looks toward the first temple, Wat That and over one of the football areas, early yet so no game in progress




Another view of Wat That just prior to entering the walking path around the lake

A view across the lake looking from west to East. Pedalos may be hired if you so wish to get close up to the water.




There was an area with a numer of boules courts (?). I was really quite surprised at the number of people playing and seems quite popular with teams competing on a regular basis.



Not far from here there is a pedestrian entrance to the lake and opposite that the Chao Por Mahesak Shrine



Some of these photos were taken on differant days hence the evening shots. Close to here inside the lake area there was a large kiddies play area with all many of things for them to climb on. Also here is the second of the aerobics areas, and a few table tennis tables which may be hired by the hour, and bikes to cycle round the lake.

A place where you can feed the birds or fishes



after of course buying the stuff to feed em




There are some big fish in this lake and at times have seen people fishing. Presume you would have to have a licence or pay something for the priveledge.

This is a newish part to the lake attractions, either that or I didn't see them on my last visit in November as it was too dark. There are a number of examples of Isaan style bamboo huts, which you can go into.



also a number of statues around the lake depicting Thai/Isaan rural life, ideal for getting that odd photo shoot.



We are now not far from approaching the halfway point of this walk. Here a picture taken looking at Khon Kaens most famous temple, the 9 story Wat Nongwang. Well worth taking the time to visit this one as you can get some spectacular views of Khon Kaen from the upper levels, lots of stairs to climb though

Someone had said that the fishing had stopped now, before was 100 baht per rod and was in a sectioned off area

Well done Prop! Good to see the new Centan is open, I was up in KK a few months ago and it looked pretty near complete. Great thread.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

A new shopping center opened up in Khon Kaen last Thursday.

Thanks for the update. I have already been informed that I am going 'shopping' there when I get over next month.

Is the underpass completed?

^ not yet,.it is a slow go

I'll try to get some pictures up towards the end of next week of the work

Is this the longest...as in oldest....running thread on TD ?

Couple weeks and it will 4 years old ....or 3....depepnding how you count things

Originally Posted by Nawty

Is this the longest...as in oldest....running thread on TD ?

Some of the threads in the games room are older.

I try to add to this every time I visit Khon Kaen, so there will be new content in a couple of months. If S Landreth doesn't get an update on the underpass I will. It was chaos driving around there last time.

^Still chaotic

Originally Posted by mackayae

Is the underpass completed?

I went out to the site this morning and took these pictures. It is progressing, more than I thought. I didn’t know they had it opened up. The roadway on top of the tunnel looks somewhat completed (?), but no traffic on it.

They were pouring (on one side and tying steel on the other) when I was visiting.

I want to apologize for the bad shots inside the tunnel, but you can see the progress that they have made, kind of.

This is in addition to Propagators post # 30 on this thread relating to a nursery.

Someone suggested we visit a nursery on Khon Kaen’s University campus. They have a wide variety of plants available (many others things also,...some good looking sales women working there). There are also two restaurants and one coffee shop in this area.
I think, as we were told, this area has something to do with the universities agricultural department. There are a lot of small plants geared towards the dorms/apartments that you can purchase here. They also have some larger plants (maybe for the homes on the campus), but not as many. You might have to order them if you are looking for quantity.
There is also an annual fair held at the end of January that the universities agricultural department puts on, where you can purchase plants.

KKU Nursery

enter here and drive straight, until you see the nursery on your left

There is an annual agricultural fair at KKU which is taking place between January 22nd and January 31st , this year (2010).

Here’s the web site (in Thai only):

http://ag.kku.ac.th/academic/agfair-2010/

Today was a bit rainy but we were able to get these pictures,……………

silk worms

Is that you behind the buffalo? Looks like a whitey to me.

Originally Posted by Spin

Looks like a whitey

There was a third one that you don’t see in the picture that was out there with these two other guys (all whitey's). I was behind the camera and I don’t know any of the guys (anyway, I have a slender build). The people watching them were having a good time laughing at/with them.

Originally Posted by grassclopper

ry much enjoyed the report and KK is now on the list of places to visit.

dont khon kaen is shit

can;t remember.. somebody musta spiked me drinks