Our First Trip to Loei (August 11 – 14, 2007)
REMARKS:
* I first posted this blog at my Yahoo!360 site on Aug-18-2007. ( Too bad the site was no more...)
* I "regenerated" it at webs.com (this page ) on Dec-18-2009.
* On Feb-17-2011 I updated the links and embedded the slideshows.
* In Aug 2019 I revised the codes and moved the page to neocities.org ( that is, THIS page).
We went to Loei Province during Aug 11 – 14.
It is 520 km from Bangkok (520 multiplied by 5 and divided by 8 = ____ miles). Before the trip we did not know much about the province, except that it was mountainous, could be very cold in winter, and its wine was well-known in Thailand.
Here is the screenshot of an introduction to the Province of Loei on the Tourist Authority of Thailand's webpage:
More readings here if you are interested:
The article below was from the Amari Hotels and Resorts' website.
And don't miss Wikipedia.
Anyway, we left Bangkok in the afternoon of Aug-11 and reached Petchaboon at night.
At Kosit Hill Hotel, Petchaboon:
To my boys' surprise, this hotel had huge collections of small pieces of the toys from McD's and KFC's!
Their gorgeous wooden antiques and furniture were also very impressive.
Chateau de Loei winery, Aug-12-2007
The next day around noon we arrived at Chateau de Loei winery. It was about 60 km from the town of Loei. Its restaurant was open. Their grape icecream (sherbet) was good, so were their cappucino and cheese cakes. The garden was beautiful, so was the playground. But the winery was closed and we could not get inside. We took a look at their vineyard : no grapes. Behind the vineyard there was a deserted runway. We took some photos there. Please see the slideshows at webshots.com.
Remarks added on Aug 2019: No slideshows as webshot.com is long gone. I therefore embedded the photos here.
Phu-Rua, Loei, Aug-12-2007
Before reaching Loei we arrived at Phu-Rua national park.
"Phu" = mountain, "rua" = ship, boat,
It was very foggy and windy: 22 °C when we got there at 1 pm.
Cold for Bangkok kids.
The last photos above:
It says the area used to be under the sea some 400 million years ago before it gradually rose up.
They say the top of Phu Rua is the coldest place in Thailand. I think it could be true!
We had lunch at a restuarant called Buussaba. A beautiful place with great views:
In the afternoon we arrived in the town of Loei.
It was a quiet town.
So small.
We did not see any big department stores.
There was a Tesco-Lotus superstore ready to open but we were told later that the place would not be open for a while because of some problem of the contract or something.
There was a KFC's next to the unopened Tesco-Lotus.
No McD's or pizza places at all.
What a surprise!
Loei Palace Hotel (Amari group) Aug12-13, 2007
We stayed at Loei Palace Hotel.
The hotel had a shape of a huge ship.
It was the most modern hotel in town!
Our suite was on the 7th floor.
We got a suite of 2 bedrooms and a living room.
There were, altogether, 3 TVs, 2 fridges, and 3 bathrooms!
There were scales in the two bathrooms!
Amazing to see such a luxurious hotel in the middle of a small and quiet town among the paddy fields.
On a wall in the lobby there was the mark of the flood level 5 years ago when the hotel was just opened. It was more than 2 meters high (= more than 6 or 7 ft)!! Boats were used during those days. There were pics of the floods on the wall. Anyway, that was the past. It did not leave other traces at all.
There were two private karaoke rooms and we went to one after dinner. Ken was so unbelievable at his first karaoke! Too good! And too crazy!
Gang Kood-koo, Loei, Aug-13-2007
The next day we went to Gang kood-koo not too far from the town of Loei. "Gang" means riverside, I guess... Mae Khong river during rainy season looked very muddy! The other side was Laos.
We hired a boat for a 30-minute cruise along the "border".
We saw groups of the Laotian kids playing Tarzan happily!
They did not seem to mind the muddy water.
The trees along the bank on the Laotian side were huge!
We saw huge garbage dumps among some bushes, too.
Yikes!
After the cruise, we ate at an open air restaurant on the Thai side.
Sticky rice and charcoal grilled chicken were good BUT there were too many flies! ! ! ! !
Big Buddha, Loei, Aug-13-2007
Big Buddha was on top of a hill in Loei.
(* One photo is displayed on top of this page.)
From up there we could see the muddy Mae Khong river.
The Buddha statue was constructed not too long ago. Our former PM Thaksin had contributed 100,000 baht. We saw his name among the names of other well-known people that made this contribution..
There were many rubber trees around Big Buddha.
See photos on the right in the above.
It was probably the time for the rubber tree fruits to ripe.
We kept hearing the noise of those nuts crashing the cemented ground!
At first we did not know those were rubber trees.
But we noticed small buckets attached to the tree trunks, and there were
cutting marks.
On the way back we passed by a customs.
We did not go in there.
It looked more like an unattractive check-point.
Was told later that the Thai-Laotian border at that point had no river running through.
Kun-ming of Thailand in Loei, Aug-14-2007
The mountainous area around here is like Kunming in Yunnan, China., thus the name. There were waterfalls. We stopped by one of them. That one was below the road level.
Phu Kradueng, Loei, Aug-14-2007
Phu Kradueng in Loei is a famous place. It is a huge mountain with flat, flat top - as if it were chopped off. Camping up there is possible. VK said he had been there a couple of times when he was in Thailand. It was closed during these months so we just went to the visitor center. The only way to get to the top of this mountain is to walk up there. Maybe next time.
See the entrance fee?
It is always very expensive for the foreigners.
Not that they would ask for your ID but if you do not look like a Thai....
Oh, well.
We left Phu Kradueng in the afternoon around 3 or 4 pm and came back home stopping only at gas stations.
Except for dinner we stopped at Chokchai steakhouse in Pak-chong, a well-known town near Kao-Yai.
The restaurant was air-conditioned and very clean.
No need to worry about the flies.
LOL!
We arrived home at 10pm. It was a good trip.
REMARKS: In Sep 2019 I added the Slideshows to Google Photos:
Kosit Hill Hotel, Petchaboon
Chateau de Loei Winery
Phu Rua
Loei Palace Hotel
Gang Kood-koo
Big Buddha
Kun-Ming in Thailand
Phu Kradueng
