Sights in Loei Province
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Kaeng Khut Khu
The gorgeous rapids at Kaeng Khut Khu is about 5km downstream. It’s most beautiful in the dry, hot season, but worth the trip anytime. The surrounding park has a bevy of vendors selling Isan food into the early evening. The local speciality is coconut candy (má·prów gàaw), and you will also find gûng đên (dancing shrimp), little bowls of live shrimp meant for slurping down just as they come, on the menu. Sŏrng·tăa·ou rarely come out here, so take a túk-túk (50B), or better yet, hire a bike.
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Phu Reua National Park
Phu Reua means ‘boat mountain’, a moniker that owes its origins to a cliff jutting out of the peak that’s sort of in the shape of a Chinese junk. At only 121 sq km, Phu Reua National Park isn’t one of Thailand’s most impressive reserves, but it does offer some dreamy views from the summit of the mountain it surrounds. Few visitors do more than make the easy 30-minute hike from the upper visitor centre through pine forest to the summit (1365m), where in December and January temperatures can drop below freezing at night. If you want more solitude, strike out from the lower visitor centre instead. Arguably the park’s most scenic waterfall, 30m-tall Nam Tok Huai P…
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Phra That Si Songrak
The most highly revered stupa in Loei Province, this whitewashed Lao-style chedi stands 20m high and was built in 1560–63 on what was then the Thai–Lao border as a gesture of unity between the Lao kingdom of Wiang Chan (Vientiane) and the Thai kingdom of Ayuthaya in their resistance against the Burmese. A pavilion in front of it contains a very old chest that supposedly contains an even older carved stone Buddha about 76cm long. Despite use of the name Phra That, there are no Buddha relics here. You can't wear shoes, hats or the colour red, or carry food or open umbrellas if you climb up to the chedi. Down below is a modest museum with random artefacts donated by loca…
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Tham Erawan
High up the side of a beautiful limestone mountain, Tham Erawan is a large cave shrine, featuring a giant seated Buddha. Gazing out over the mountain-studded plains below, the Buddha is visible from several kilometres away and can be reached by a winding staircase of 600 steps. The views are superb, especially at sunset. More stairs and a line of lights lead you through the massive chamber and out the other side of the mountain. Be sure to get out of the cave before they turn the lights out.
The temple is along Rte 210, just across the Nong Bualamphu Province line. Buses from Loei (25B to 35B, 1¼ hours, every half-hour) to Udon Thani will drop you 2.5km away. A motorcycle…
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Wat Neramit Wiphatsana
Built on a wooded hill overlooking Phra That Si Songrak, this gorgeous (it almost looks like a Buddhist-themed resort) meditation wát features buildings made of unplastered laterite blocks. Famous Thai temple muralist Pramote Sriphrom spent years painting images of jataka tales on the interior walls of the massive bòht, which also hosts a copy of the Chinnarat Buddha in Phitsanulok's Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat. The wát is dedicated to the memory of the late Luang Pu Mahaphan, a much-revered local monk.
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Phu Kradung National Park
Capped off by its eponymous peak, Phu Kradung National Park covers a high-altitude plateau, cut through with trails and peppered with cliffs and waterfalls. Rising to 1316m, Thailand’s second national park is always cool at its highest reaches (average year-round temperature 20°C), where its flora is more typical of a temperate zone. There are mixed deciduous and evergreen monsoon forests as well as patches of cloud forest.
Atop the mountain there’s camping space for 5000 people plus lots of bungalows.
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Sirindhorn Art Centre
Sirindhorn Art Centre can be found at the unlikely location of Wang Saphung, 23km south of Loei. It was built to honour Sangkom Thongmee, a famous local teacher (since retired) at the adjoining school whose students, mostly farmers' children, won thousands of awards for their work. Student works (and sometimes professional pieces) are always on display and often for sale. There's also a nice sculpture garden in front.
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Wat Si Khun Meuang
Chiang Khan’s wáts are modest, but have a particularly idiosyncratic style of architecture featuring colonnaded fronts. Many have sweeping Lao-style roofs and there’s often a touch of French influence. A good example is Wat Si Khun Meuang, which contains a Lao-style chedi and bòht, fronted by interesting murals, plus plenty of topiary.
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Wat Pa Klang
Chiang Khan’s wáts are modest, but have a particularly idiosyncratic style of architecture featuring colonnaded fronts. Many have sweeping Lao-style roofs and there’s often a touch of French influence. Wat Pa Klang contains a Lao-style chedi and bòht, fronted by interesting murals.
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Wat Thakhok
Chiang Khan’s wáts are modest, but have a particularly idiosyncratic style of architecture featuring colonnaded fronts. Many have sweeping Lao-style roofs and there’s often a touch of French influence. Wat Thakhok contains a Lao-style chedi and bòht, fronted by interesting murals.
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Wat Tha Khaek
Wat Tha Khaek is a ramshackle, 700-year-old forest temple housing three 300-year-old stone Buddha images. They sit on a ledge over a larger, modern Buddha in the wát’s still unfinished bòht. The temple is 2km before Kaeng Khut Khu.
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Loei Cultural Centre
The little Loei Cultural Centre is found 5km north of town at Rajabhat University. There are Phi Ta Khon festival masks and photos to see. Ask in the office down below and someone will open the door for you.
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Dan Sai Folk Museum
The Dan Sai Folk Museum has a collection of costumes worn during the celebrations at the Phi Ta Khon Festival, a demonstration of how the masks are made and a 20-minute video from the festival.
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Wat Mahathat
Wat Mahathat, in the centre of town, is Chiang Khan’s oldest temple. The bòht, constructed in 1654, has a new roof over old walls with faded original murals on the front.
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Phi Ta Kon Museum
Wat Phon Chai, the temple behind the big white gate, plays a major role in the Phi Ta Khon festivities, so it's an appropriate home for this museum. It has a collection of costumes worn during the celebrations, a display showing how the masks are made and video from the festival.
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