Wolfgang's photos with the keyword: Nong Khai

Nearby the northern city Nong Khai at the river of Mekong fishing is the pleasure of locals and tourists from far away. Fishing the Mekong River was formerly Nong Khai's biggest earner. Thai and foreign, visit the city every year and come for fishing. Other side of Mekong river is Laotian territory.

Sala Keoku (etc. Alternative name: Wat Khaek) is a park featuring giant fantastic concrete sculptures inspired by Buddhism and Hinduism. It is located near Nong Khai, Thailand in immediate proximity of the Thai-Lao border and the Mekong river. The park has been built by and reflects the personal vision of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat and his followers (the construction started in 1978). It shares the style of Sulilat's earlier creation, Buddha Park on the Lao side of Mekong, but is marked by even more extravagant fantasy and greater proportions.

China is engaged in an extensive program of dam-building on the river itself: it has already completed one at Manwan, a second is under construction at Dachaoshan, and another twelve are under consideration. The Mekong River Commission, a panel of the region's nations, has accused China of blatant disregard for the nations downstream in its plans to dam the river in an effort to stop the dams, but to no avail. Since the building of the first Chinese dam, many species have become endangered including the Mekong dolphin and manatee, water levels have dropped as ferries get stuck, fish caught are small and the catch is less than half of before the dam, the turnover at Chiang Rai port is less than 1/4 of previous years, and crossings from Chiang Rai to isolated Luang Prabang have lengthened from 8 hours to 2 days due to inadequate water levels. Despite all these problems, new dams planned will have significantly worse impact if carried out as planned. All nations downstream and the environment will suffer from added pollution (due to development and relatively lax regulation and enforcement in China compared to Thailand, poisoning the food supply from pesticide runoff and heavy industry, as well as promoting algal blooms from organophosphates from agriculture, as well as water hyacinth infestation), river blockage problems as fish cannot swim upstream to spawn, and potentially devastating very low water flow.

It is the bridge over the Mekong, connecting Nong Khai province and the city of Nong Khai in Thailand with Vientiane in Laos. Opened on 8. April 1994, it was the first bridge across the lower Mekong, and the second on the full course of the Mekong. The bridge was built by Australian companies as a demonstration of the capabilities of their ability to complete major infrastructural projects in southeast Asia. The cost was about US$30 million, funded by the Australian government as development aid for Laos.

This believed to be 650 years old Buddha image and the remains of the historic wall and collons are protected under corrugated sheet iron against heavy weather conditions. Its necessary but it gives a feeling you stay in a railway station hall, not at a holy ancient place.

This monastery is located at Ban Phutthabat, Tambon Phra Phutthabat, Amphoe Si Chiang Mai. Phra Achan Thet Thetrangsi established this place to be utilized as a meditation practice center for monks, nuns, and the general public. The surroundings of this monastery are clean and peaceful, and it was appraised to be a 'Model of Developed Monastery' in the year 1960. The monastery is about 83 kilometers from Nong Khai and about 20 kilometers from Amphoe Si Chiang Mai.

Only a few temples in Thailand deserves the honor of being a "Royal Temple". The monk Phra Achan Tet (1902-1994) settled in "Wat Hin Mak Peng". Due to his presence, The Holy compound is now a major temple with royal distinctions.

The gardens of "Wat Hin Mak Peng" are beautfiul and peaceful. It is a scenic and quiet location with trees and bamboo groves.

The temple compound has a big man-made pool in which the library house is built on pilars and connected with a footbridge to the lakeside.

It is a forest temple. The forest way is a way of life coming from the "ISAAN" area. The monks living in the forest are called "PHRA THUDONG".

The riverside on the Mekong is a peaceful place where priests come to practice their meditation. Across the Mekong is Laotian territory.

... no words to say about this beautiful evening mood.

on the way to Nong Khai town we passed a temple with an unusual beautiful temple gate

Along the way from Mukdahan to Nakhon Phanom the stupa in front of the coloured afternoon sun short time before it set.

Statue in a Buddha Park near Nong Khai at the laotian border. Some of the Sala Keoku sculptures tower up to 25m in the sky. Those include a monumental depiction of Buddha meditating under the protection of a seven-headed Naga snake. While the subject (based on a Buddhist legend) is one of the recurrent themes in the religious art of the region, Sulilat's approach is highly unusual, with its naturalistic (even though stylized) representation of the snakes, whose giant protruding tongues beautifully complement the awe-inspiring composition.