Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [434]
Another option is to kayak the river (1500B per person, minimum four) with Mekong Culture & Nature Tours (see Click here).
Most guesthouses also hire bikes (50B to 70B) and motorcycles (200B to 250B), and Huub at Chiang Khan Guesthouse and Pascal at Rimkong Guesthouse can also set you up with maps if you’re a do-it-yourselfer.
Sleeping & Eating
Chiang Khan doesn’t quite have a backpacker scene, but there are many traveller-focused guesthouses, so you may want to stroll Th Chai Khong before deciding on your digs for the night.
Sangthong (0 4282 1305; thepbluesthai@hotmail.com; 162/1 Th Chai Khong; s/d 200/300B; ) Not the cheapest rooms on the river, but pretty close; and though simple, with shared bathrooms, they’re much cheerier than anything cheaper. The whole chaotic place is stuffed with the owner’s art, and the terrace restaurant is one of the town’s most attractive.
Rimkong Pub & Guesthouse (08 7951 3172; http://rimkhong.free.fr; 294 Th Chai Khong; r 200-500B) This heartily polished teak house has good rooms (with shared bathrooms) that, unlike most of the wooden oldies in town, still radiate some historic charm on the inside. French expat Pascal will tell you all you want to know about the area over breakfast or beer.
Chiang Khan Guesthouse (0 4282 1691; www.thailandunplugged.com; 282 Th Chai Khong; r 300-400B; ) Run by a Dutch tour guide (you’ll never be short of local info) and his affable Thai wife (you’ll never stop laughing), this traditional-style place with shared bathrooms is all creaking timber and tin roofing. Scores of pot plants and bucolic views from the terrace round out the scene. Meals with the family are available, as are ohng·lahng shows (3000B) performed by local students, who keep all the cash to put towards their studies.
Loogmai Guesthouse (0 4282 2334; 112/1 Th Chai Khong; r 300-450B) Combining some minimalist modern artistic styling with oodles of French colonial class, this old-school villa offers a handful of sparse but atmospheric rooms, an airy terrace with river views and a real sense of history. The owner leaves the villa at 5.30pm (you get the key) and chances are you’ll have the place to yourself. Bathrooms are shared in all but one of the rooms.
Mekong Culture & Nature Tours (0 4282 1457; mcn_thailand@hotmail.com; 407 Th Chiang Khan; campsites per person 150B, r 800-2500B; ) If you want some Siamese serenity, head 1km upstream to this riverside home with bungalows and shared-bathroom guestrooms out in the forest. Rooms are quite pricey for what you get, but you’re paying for the setting, and off-season discounts are available. If you’re travelling by bus, staff will pick you up in town.
Chiang Khan Hill Resort (0 4282 1285; www.chiangkhanhill.com; r 800-3000; ) The best views of Kaeng Khut Khu are from the town’s only swanky resort. Skip past the 800B level and the rooms are nice for the price. The Thai and Isan restaurant (dishes 25B to 250B) specialises in mushrooms, since they grow their own, and Mekong River fish.
Guesthouse restaurants serve a mix of Western and Thai food, but generally speaking if you want the latter you can eat more authentically along Th Chiang Khan at a place like Leeaw Laa (no roman-script sign; 08 6240 2350; 127/5 Th Chiang Khan; dishes 30-200B; lunch & dinner), a simple food-to-order shop with a few favourites on an English menu.
Getting There & Away
Srng·ta·ou to Loei (35B, 1¼ hours) depart about every 20 minutes from a stop on Rte 201, while eight buses (45B, 45 minutes) leave from Nakhonchai Air’s bus terminal 250m further south. The buses continue to Khorat (2nd/1st class 231/297B, seven hours) via Chaiyaphum (2nd/1st class 165/212B, five hours).
Three companies, departing from their own offices, make the run direct to Bangkok (10 hours). Air Muang Loei (0 4282 1317; Rte 211), with an office at the Shell station, has 1st-class (479B) departures at 8am and 6.30pm. The other choices are 999 VIP (0 4281 1706;