From Nongkhai you will take the night train
back to Bangkok. This trip gives you in a short time a very
good impression of life in the Isaan.
Day 1. Bangkok - Khao Yai
Today you will go by private minibus from
your hotel in Bangkok to Khao Yai National Park. After a relaxing
lunch in your hotel the journey through the park begins. The
tour that we have set out is easy going and can be enjoyed by
nature lovers of all ages. The car will drive you through the
most beautiful parts of Khao Yai and you will have ample time
to relax near the beautiful Haew Suwat Waterfalls, where you
can even swim if you like. Later you will visit the volcanic
caves and the bat caves and see more than a million bats swarming
out to hunt for nightly food. Falcons try to seize the bats
as food, an experience not to be missed. Around 19.00 hrs. our
night tour commences through mountain forests and grasslands.
This is the time that most animals come out of their hiding.
From the car, the nightly animal world is illuminated by special
halogen lights. Many species of deer, cats, wild boar and with
a bit of luck, elephants at the salt licks can be observed.
The dinner is not included, maybe in the hotel. Overnight stay
in an air conditioned room, the hotel also has a swimming pool,
a large garden and a cosy and good restaurant (L).
Day 2. Phanom Rung
You will leave Pak Chong in the morning
by car for your visit to Phanom Rung. On top of an extinct volcano,
on the route from Khorat to Angkor Wat in Cambodia lies the
Khmer temple complex of Phanom Rung. It is the largest and best
restored of all Khmer monuments in Thailand. The whole complex
and especially the procession road to the main entrance, the
stairs leading up to the complex and the Naga bridges are beautiful
and impressive. Just being here and absorb the peace and tranquillity
is a wonderful relaxing experience in itself. The whole complex
offers magnificent views over the surrounding area. During Songkran,
the Thai New Year, a special occasion takes place as the rising
sun can then be seen through all 15 gates of the western gopura.
Uphill processions are held during daytime and dance drama’s
in the evening. You will also visit Muang Tam, about 8 km away
from Phanom Rung, where you can enjoy a totally different setting
and layout. We will arrive Surin in the late afternoon / early
evening and overnight at Thong Tharin or Petchakasem Hotel.
Surin is very much off the beaten track, but a very cosy city
(B,L).
Day 3. Surin Elephant Village
Surin is world renowned for its Elephant
Round-up, held on the third weekend in November, putting a focus
on the province’s heritage of raising and training elephants.
Today you will be able to see for yourself how elephants are
trained and educated in the village of Ban Ta Klang. This ancient
Kui village has raised elephants for hundreds of years, since
the time when their ancestors settled down in the dry evergreen
forest at the juncture of the Mun and the Chi rivers. The Kui
reject the employment of elephants in hard work, such as logging
which is more popular in the North. Elephants, like friends
or sons, grow side by side with them. Their bond is indivisible.
Show is held on Saturdays from 9:00 till 11:00 AM. The tour
of the village includes 3 kilometres elephant ride to Wang Talu.
Here as the elephants bathe and frolick in the river, the tour
offers a panoramic view of the scenic landscape.
In the afternoon transfer to your homestay address
in the village Khampom. Here you can experience for yourself
what authentic life on the quiet Thai countryside still is like.
Before dinner is served you can stroll through the village at
your own leisure or accompanied by your guide. During dinner,
prepared by your family host, you will be warmly welcomed by
the local Thai village people. The contact with the local people
and their warmth and hospitality will be among the most memorable
experiences of your holiday (B, L, D).
Day 4. Homestay & village
life
After breakfast you will visit the local
school and see how a school day starts. If you want you can
even enter the classroom and do some teaching of your own. It
will be big fun and the children always love to learn English,
especially English songs. Following the school visit you will
make a bicycle ride through the village. You will be accompanied
by your guide who has a lot of inside information and can tell
you anecdotes about village life. During the ride you will stop
from time to time at peoples homes to observe how they leisurely
spend their day or earn their living. There is, among others,
a "factory" where rice is being processed to "Lao
spaghetti" on a hot stone oven (when outside it is already
over 30 degrees Celsius!), a weaving place for cloths and a
straw mat production area. Later this day you will go to the
rice fields. Your guide will explain about rice farming and
cattle farming. Depending on the season you can see how rice
is sown or harvested. If you want then you can help and do some
manual labour yourself. Lunch is taken along the route at a
local noodle & rice food stall. In the afternoon you will
buy the ingredients for your evening meal at the local village
market. The family host mother will prepare dinner for you on
a stone oven. You can watch or, more fun so, help her do the
cooking while she will show you how. Your guide can do the translation.
This often leads to very comical moments. During dinner you
can observe the village's evening activities and talk with the
Thai people in a relaxing way. Overnight stay again with the
host family (B, L, D).
Day 5. Nongkhai
Today will take you from Khampom to Nongkhai,
a lively and cozy provincial capital on the banks of the Mekong
river at the border with Laos and also the most important border
place of the region because it is connected with Laos by the
Thai-Lao "friendship bridge". Upon arrival in Nongkhai
a lunch is prepared on a roofed balcony overlooking the Mekong
river. There is time to explore Tha Sadet, a lively harbor market
where goods imported from Laos are offered for sale. You can
buy for instance French croissants and baguettes, a remainder
of the French colonial period of Laos. Later in the afternoon
a relaxing walk through Wat Sala Kaeo Ku, a quietly located
park packed with statues from Hindu and Thai culture. Of course
also a visit to the Thai-Lao friendship bridge is planned. You
can walk past the middle of the river, so that you are in fact
already on Laotian territory. Standing on the bridge you have
a nice view over the Mekong river. In the evening you will take
the night train back to Bangkok, a comfortable train with beds
(B, L).
Day 6. Bangkok
In the morning you will arrive at Bangkok
Hualampong central station. Transfer to your hotel and end tour.
Total driving distance approx. 1010 km.
Average transfer distance about 202 km or 3 hours driving per
day.
Longest transfer distance about 280 km or 4½ hours driving
on day 3 ( Surin to Khampom ).
Tour includes: Pick up and drop off at your hotel in
Bangkok, all mentioned transfers by air conditioned private
minibus or coach, excursions and entry fees, 4 nights accommodation
in good tourist class hotels - except during the homestay, where
accommodation is non air conditioned and shared bathroom, meals:
4 x breakfast, 5 x lunch, 2 x dinner, English speaking guide
and the night train ( sleeper ) from Nongkhai to Bangkok. The
tour does not include any beverages and personal expenses.
IS30
- 6 Days / 5 Nights - A taste of Isaan ( private tour )
pls
contact us for further information and price
