Mar. 9, 2008
Phu Kradueng National Park
The overnight train from Bangkok (2nd class non air-conditioned sleeper, 429 baht) was almost 2 hours late, as usual, when it arrived at Khon Kaen station about 7:30 a.m. The main bus station is about 1 km north of the train station. With the help of a nice guy doing some cleaning in a temple, it was not difficult for me to walk there, enough to catch the 8:00 a.m. air-conditioned bus to Phu Kradueng (89 baht). It took about 2.5 hours to reach the town of Phu Kradueng, on highway 2019 about 3 km off highway 201. Due to the lack of tourists, I had to chart a songtaew to the national park entrance for 100 baht. Perhaps because of the basic Thai I spoke, the staff decided to charge me the local fee of 40 baht (instead of the foreigner fee of 400 baht). Although I totally disagree to the ridiculous foreigner fee, I did appreciate the Issan kindness of the staff.
From the national park entrance to the mountain top is some 5.5 km climbing. There are about 10 stations in between, several of which provide services like food and beverages. It took me 2 hour and 45 minutes to get to the top with several reasonable rest/drink stops on the way. The first and last lags are the most exhausting ones but nothing dangerous. The mountain top is actually a very large and flat area with many accommodations. Since I planned to get back on the same day, I just rented a small bike (30 baht) to check out Makdook Cliff (15 minutes one way). After spending around one hour on the top, I started to descend, and it took me only 1 hour 45 minutes to get back (including a meal stop!)
I was able to bargain to 70 baht for a charted songtaew back to Phu Kradueng town to catch the air-conditioned bus to Loei (53 baht, 1.5 hours).
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| Phu Kradueng National Park |
Mar. 10, 2008
Loei
After getting up at 8:00 a.m., I paid my respect to Loei River near my hotel (Phu Luang Hotel, 330 baht), bought some food for breakfast, including the local specialty Khai Ping (10 baht) from the market, and went to the bus station south of the town by Tuk-Tuk (30 baht) to catch the 9:00 a.m. air-conditioned bus back to Bangkok for 429 baht by Air Muang Loei Co., Ltd. (there are many buses from Loei to Bangkok throughout the day, including a 8:30 a.m. VIP bus, so advance booking is not necessary). The bus uses highway 201 mostly and passes Chaiya Phum. It arrived in Bangkok 9 hour and 20 minutes later.
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| Loei River |
Overview
Having seen so many national parks around the world, I have to say that Phu Kradueng National Park is nothing outstanding. It looks rather dry. However, the kindness of the Issan people makes the trip a pleasant one. The majority of the tourists are Thais (I only saw 3 foreigners). An interesting note is that I was asked by fellow tourists on the way the same question (in Thai) more than10 times: “are you traveling alone?”
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