Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [406]
Nam Tok Soi Sawan, a 25m-tall waterfall flowing from June to October, is another popular spot. It’s a 19km drive from the visitor centre and then a 500m walk, or you can hike (with a ranger) for 9km along the top of the cliff. What the park calls Thailand’s largest flower field (blooming brightest in December) lies just beyond the falls. The far north of the park, where roads are really bad, holds many more waterfalls and wonderful views. Pa Cha Na Dai cliff also serves Thailand’s first sunrise and amazing Nam Tok Saeng Chan flows through a hole cut into the overhanging rock. Scattered across the 340-sq-km park are several areas with Sao Chaliang, mushroom-shaped stone formations similar to those found in Mukdahan’s Phu Pha Thoep National Park.
Pha Taem has campsites (per person with own tent 30B, tent hire 150-225B), cabins (4 people 300B) and five bungalows (0 2562 0760; www.dnp.go.th/parkreserve; 6-person bungalow with fan 1200B, 5-person with air-con 2000B). Vendors sell snacks and fast food near the visitor centre.
Pha Taem is 18km from Khong Jiam via Rte 2112. There’s no public transport, so the best way to get there is to hire a motorcycle in Khong Jiam (150B to 200B).
Chong Mek
South of Khong Jiam, at the end of Rte 217, is the small border town of Chong Mek, the only place in Thailand where fa·ràng can cross into Laos by land (that is, you don’t have to cross a river). The southern Lao capital of Pakse is about 45 minutes by road from Vangtao, the village on the Lao side of the border, where you can buy a 30-day visa (see Click here for details) on the spot. The crossing is largely hassle free – buses crossing here wait for passengers to complete the paperwork – though some Lao officials still try to extract a 50B ‘stamping fee’.
The opening of the bridge in Mukdahan has reduced traffic on this route and stolen much of the bustle from the Chong Mek market, which used to be a big hit with Thai tourists.
If you get here after hours, the Nonthaveth & Ounchith Guesthouse (0 4547 6144; r 200-400B; ) is clean and friendly, though a little overpriced.
Buses from Ubon (2nd /1st class 80/100B, 1½ hours) are infrequent, so you may want to first get to Phibun Mangsahan and then take a srng·ta·ou (35B, one hour, every 20 minutes until 5pm) from there. If you’re in a hurry, there are also three morning and two late-afternoon buses direct to/from Bangkok (2nd class/32-seat VIP 421/632B). There’s no public transport between Chong Mek and Khong Jiam; either go through Phibun or hire a túk-túk for about 350B.
For continuing on to Pakse, it’s easy to catch a ride on the Lao side.
Phu Chong Nayoi National Park
Sitting at the heart of the ‘Emerald Triangle’ is the little-known Phu Chong Nayoi National Park (0 4541 1515; admission 200B), one of Thailand’s wildest parks and healthiest forests. Resident fauna includes Malayan sun bears, barking deer, gibbons, black hornbills and endangered white-winged ducks. Elephants and tigers spend most of their time in Laos, but often make their way over the border into the park.
The park’s primary attraction is Nam Tok Huay Luang, which plunges 40m over a cliff in two parallel streams. A short trail leads to the top, and you can walk down 274 steps to the bottom. Another 170m downstream is little Nam Tok Jum Jim, also a pretty picture. You can swim below both, though they dry up around March. Rangers love taking visitors on short bamboo-raft trips (price negotiable) above the falls, where they insist you might see a python. Unfortunately, water levels are often too high or too low to allow the trip, especially from February to April. At the far end of the 687-sq-km park, from atop Phu Hin Dang, there are superb views of the surrounding countryside, which looks much like the view from Pha Taem cliff, Click here, but with jungle instead of the Mekong at the bottom of the valley. It’s a 50km drive from the main park entrance and then a 2km hike.
Stargazing is superb here, so consider spending the night. There are three bungalows (0 2562 0760; www.dnp.go.th/parkreserve; 4-/6-person