Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
shaped head ornament) is set with rubies. Due to a great number of dubious miracles
people attribute to it, this royal temple is a mandatory stop for most visiting Thais.
Luang Po Phra Sai was one of three similar statues made for each of the daughters of
Lao King Setthathirat, and they were taken as bounty after King Rama I sacked Vientiane
in 1778. The awesome murals in the
bòht
depict their travels from the interior of Laos to
the banks of the Mekong, where they were put on rafts. A storm sent one of the statues to
the bottom of the river where it remains today. It was never recovered because, according
to one monk at the temple, the
naga
like having it. The third statue, Phra Soem, is at Wat
Patum Wanaram next to Siam Paragon in Bangkok. Phra Sai was supposed to accompany
it, but, as the murals show you, the cart carrying it broke down here, and so this was taken
as a sign that it wished to remain in Nong Khai.
Tha Sadet Market
MARKET
(Th Rimkhong; 8.30am-6pm)
It is the most popular destination in town, and almost everyone
loves a stroll through this covered market. It offers the usual mix of clothes, electronic
equipment, food and assorted bric-a-brac, most of it imported from Laos and China, but
there are also a few shops selling quirky quality stuff.
Village Vocational Training Center
( 8am-5pm)
Run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, this workshop 7km south of town
(take Hwy 2 and turn east just after the Km 2 pillar) provides training and jobs for locals.
Most of the time you can see women weaving
mát·mèe
, and it also has a pottery work-
shop and mushroom farm.
WORKSHOP
Wat Noen Phra Nao
( dawn-dusk)
This forest wát on the south side of town is a respected
vipassana
(insight meditation) centre on pleasant, tree-shaded grounds. Some extremely ornate
temple architecture, including perhaps the most rococo bell tower we've ever seen, stands
in contrast with the usual ascetic tone of forest monasteries. There are many Vietnamese
graves here and some of the statuary wouldn't be out of place at Sala Kaew Ku.
BUDDHIST TEMPLE
Phra That Klang Nam
(Th Rimkhong)
The 'Holy Reliquary in the Middle of the River' (sometimes called Phra That
Nong Khai) is a ruined Lao-style
chedi
submerged in the middle of the river that can only
STUPA
