Three days Northwestern Eesan

[Gerhardveer]

It was a nice 1100km-Trip from Roi Et - route and roads you can see in the first picture. The main points ChiangKhan - Erawan-Cave - Nong Khai are in red letters, the other letters show the highway-numbers.

First day we drove from Roi Et to Chiang Khan. It is a nice small town with beautiful old wooden houses and many guesthouses. Most interesting times are the evening with night market and good food and the early morning ( about 6am ) when many people are sitting in the street waiting for the monks.

If you have time, drive the "highway" 2195 westernly from Chiang Khan till the crossroads with road 2115. Many holes, sometimes narrow, but one of the most beautiful roads I drove in Thailand! About 50 km's - first part with about 16 km's along Mekong river with beautiful view to Laos and large forests. Deplorable is the massive increasement of rubber plantations in the last years - I fear the rests of natural forests will diappear the next years. It's the northwestern Eesan outback with no tourism - noone looks there for nature's protection...

When you reach the crossroads with road 2115 (17.703680, 101.412771 ) , follow this road till crossroads with 2399 (17.625045, 101.422334 ) and drive there till road 203 (17.446282, 101.466633 ) - there drive eastward to Loei (2115-203: 33 km's). Those 33 km's lead you through beautiful wooded mountains with many curves - don't drive fast but enjoy the landscape, sometimes there are big "waves" in the road caused by underwashing....
Next station maybe Loei for a break - we drove through to the Highlight of our trip: the huge and awesome-impressive Erwan-Cave ( Point "H" in the map - 17.34533 102.01906 ) As there is already much written, see the links below! Only some few words: Take water with you - it is a thirsty trip / good shoes aren't a mistake / take care walking in the dark cave, there maybe slippery spots...

English:
http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/erawan-cave-t14797.html
http://www.showcaves.com/english/th/misc/Erawan.html
Deutsch:
http://udon-news.com/de/blog/erawan-cave

We continued driving via Nong bua Lamphu / Udon to Nong Khai. Because it's well known, also here only a few words: Every saturday evening from 17-20h there is a night market with a beautiful atmosphere at the Mekongpromenade. What you should see is the bizarre Wat Kaek or Sala Keaw Ku
See my album:
https://www.facebook.com/gerhardveer/media_set?set=a.589348101129270.1073741856.100001622563665&type=3)

English:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Nong_Khai
Deutsch:
http://wikitravel.org/de/Nong_Khai

And now have pleasure looking the pics or visiting those beautiful places...






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[KTMphil]

Gerhard, your photography is superb, I love this one

 

[Gerhardveer]

I had much fun when I took it - soooo cute...

 

[2wheels]

Very, very nice Gerhard.
Lots of 'mood' in your superb pics; thank you.

 

[marcusb]

Great pics! I enjoy those roads in that little pocket, between Pak Chom and Loei, Sangrom and Nam Som, it's very good for doing as you suggested, driving slow and taking it all in.

 

[Gnasher328]

Nice pics. I haven't seen much about that area and was under the impression it was a bit dull but you have shown otherwise.
T.

 

[Captain_Slash]

Very beautiful photos Gerhard and some great side roads you took as well especially the 2195 and the 2399