Thread: LOEI Province

Forgot to post these pictures with Post No 46.

Just outside the entrance to the resort is this OTOP place, picked up some good earthenware plants pots there



And beside that a nice little Mum and Pop food place. Had a real nice Pat se Aiu (sp) there plus some nice cold beers



They also have a little side business of selling the plants in front of the photo. Couple of pics looking out the rear of the place



I understood via the g/f that they were going to try and make this area into a garden nursery.

I started my first bio-diesel plant just outside of Loei . . . perfect customer base of lots of farmers and their older tractors and trucks.

Shame the manager got pissed, stole 300.000 baht and was never seen of again . . .

Originally Posted by panama hat

stole 300.000

Lucky it wasn't 300,000 Baht!

You say tomato, I say . . .

I say tomarto.

well I'll be arsed, or is it assed . . . confusing language . . .

I'm heading there this weekend. Will be visiting some conservation projects in the province. Will I need to bring my winter willy warmer or is it warming up yet?

^ found it a little bit chilly some evenings, and with a light dew in the morning.

It warmed up a little yesterday but Sunday & Monday were dammed cold, in fact the coldest days I have experienced in Thailand, wore a jacket inside all day and even with that on, I started on my evening ride down to the local "pub" and turned back half way, it was too cold to continue.
Normally wild horses couldn't keep me away from my evening beer with the lads. In a month every one wil be whinging about the heat

It seems that you can find a number of lake eateries in the Loei Province, but they are usually off the beaten track. This one is on the 2400 between Nong Hin and Erewan. About 5 km from Huai Hin Lat and only just off the main road, but the entrance is not easy to spot. Once found this is the view









So having ordered the food and having a couple of beers whilst waiting on the raft, some arrived



Followed by the 'dancing' or 'jumping' shrimps




Ensuring that there was enough beer for us, and enough food for the ladies it was a haul to the middle of the lake








A real pleasant way to spend a lazy afternoon. Note to self must remember fishing rods next time. This shot was taken just as we were leaving and then spent the next half hour chasing the sun to get the sun set picture.




Sunset over the hills

^ Thanks for sharing the photos. Looks as if there's some nice nature up there.

I was told by a fellow farang before I came to Thailand that Loei was an ideal place to go.

Looks like fun. How far is Loei from Korat in hours by car?

I just downloaded and gave it a try. Excellent! What a time saver.

Do you know of any hotels that are right on the Maekong?

(Where did you find my picture.)

Are the people of Loei largely ethnic Lao?

Originally Posted by who

How far is Loei from Korat in hours by car?

About 350 kms say 4 hrs.

Originally Posted by who

Do you know of any hotels that are right on the Maekong?

Number of hotels on the Maekong, do you mean in Loei or anywhere on the river, Nong Khai etc?

Originally Posted by who

(Where did you find my picture.)

What picture

Originally Posted by who

Are the people of Loei largely ethnic Lao?

Pass

Go out of Loei and up to Chiang Khan.

Stay in one of the nice guest houses on the river - if they haven't been washed away.

Sam's guest house was the newest one there with balconies onto the Maekhong.

I like Pim's place - Maekhong Guest House - old wooden place - get the corner room and it's really nice.

Nice post. Thanks for sharing!

Because of the unusual ammount of rain the rice harvest here was late. Many fields of rice battered down by the rain, but this one didn't look to bad



Seeing that we had had a fair amount of rain I went out to the Waterfall near Nong Hin as I had not seen it with a good amount of water flowing through it.

This is a nice view going towards the falls. That a ruddy big tree in the forground.




Near the top of the falls



Many locals come here for picnics at the weekend



Ideal spots to try and get that better picture



looking up towards the top of the falls



Finally the name of them, I think, which I am hoping someone can translate

Just found you on the map, a very nice part of the country. Nothing, in nature, beats the sound of water falling over rocks and gurgling, as it navigates it's downwrd path. Lovely photos Props, I must get up there one day.

Originally Posted by Loombucket

Lovely photos Props, I must get up there one day.

It would be my honour to give you a tour round

I like to get in the motor and find all these out of the way places. A lot of these would never be found unless for local knowledge. Although this place is not in Loei Province it is only about an hours drive away from Phu Kradueng.

I can't tell you the name of the place but could drive there again. It is somewhere near Huai Yang about 20 kms west of Chum Phae. My companions for the day were the local Kharioke owner, a girl he was trying to make his 3rd wife, a ladyboy and my current bed warmer.

First view of the place



This appears to be the header pool, and to be some type of spring, no water was running into here




Following the stream for about 15 mins


as you can see it was fairly fast flowing



good eneogh for a dunking




The motley crew




After this walk you come across this area



where one can settle down for a nice local meal. From memory for half a dozen large Leos, BBQ fish, BBQ chicken and other hot spicy dishes, came to a total of 600 baht, and with quite a bit left over for the doggy bag.



The local wildlife was contented after being fed some scraps






A pleasant spot to while away a few hours



Plenty of good opportunities for photos



and me being thanked for the drive out

Great pics Prop. The Kerr's might be passing through merry old Loei in a few days, although will likely head straight for Chiang Khan. Up for a few beers old mate?

I am always up for a few beers, but unfortunately back in cold blighty now.

Originally Posted by Propagator

It would be my honour to give you a tour round

Right ho, I will bung that info on the bit of paper next to the callendar, where all the important things go. Things that have a time frame, actually go in the book.

Nice update Props, I love all those roots that seem like they are trying to escape the clutches of the trees. Gives the place an additional magical quality that you can't quite put your finger on. Great stuff.

thanks for the pics of Loei. I'd love to visit there, and to see the Phi Ta Khon festival, but i was told there isnt a set date. normally in a 3 month window, and normally the date is given out a month in advance.

Can any member who resides there in Dan sai, or Thai wives give as a deffo date for 2009 please?

TAT website has nowt

Great thread. Tnx for the pictures and your comments.

I arrived at Phu Kradung with my buddy in december `95.
Getting off the bus we were brought to the foot of the mountain by motocycle taxis.
Upon paying the driver we were asked if we wanted a few lassies to join us for the ascent. We were very innocent these days and replied that we were very capable of carrying our own stuff thank you very much.
We would later regret that as we were crashing out in tents at night where the temperature dropped to 5 degree centigrades and neither of us brought anything but shorts and T-shirts.

Upon registering at the park office we noticed that we were the only visitors on that day. Wow, an entire np all to ourselves.
Later we would find out that thai nationals didn`t have to register and we would meet a couple of hundred thai youngsters at the camp site on the mountain top. They were doing what youngsters do best, drinking, singing, playing guitar and generally making as much noise as possible.

But at least they didnt move many feet away from the camp site, so the trails were empty.
There were a tame sambar deer at the camp site, it would be begging for food at the restaurants. I offered some veggies to it, but it refused. The owner of the restaurant said that it would only eat cookies Not with this guy.

Ascending. Took like 4 hours. Of course all the locals had hired porters to bring their stuff to the top.




For those who are in doubt: Phu Kradung mountain top.



The views were unfortunately not great. Too hazy, I suspect the slash and burn agriculture was the reason.

Time for an update on this thread.

Whilst on my last visit the current girlfriend wanted to go to Kumming. She knew it was in Loei but didn't know where, so I took her to this place that I had visited before, and this was the place, The Suan Him Pha Ngam park. I had erroneously said before the it was in the Phu Luang area but was wrong.

To get there take the 201 toward Phu Kradueng and then continue on to Nong Hin. It is not signposted so at Nong Hin get into the frontage road and then turn left, where there is a sign for the police station. Continue along this road for about 20 kms and you arrive at the park. There is no entrance fee (at present)

This is a limestone garden aged about 230 - 280 million years acrueing from an aggregation of beach deposits and an uplift of the earths crust. It is called Thailands Kumming and sometime referred to as Kumming Mountain in reference to the place in China. It has been made much better since my first visit with pathways extended and enhanced, and can be followed to the two waterfalls here. A guide can be hired as I presume that one could easily get lost following the various tracks.

About 5 kms from the park there is this view point overlooking the valley and mountains





A nice house nestled here





and three more views along the vallley











and the 4 photos joined to form a panorama