A tour from Chiang Khan to Nong Khai

The wild nature

For this trip in the Isan Country, my objective was to discover the Nong Khai region and to follow the Mekong River to Nakhom Phanom... a region completely unknown to me and about which I had several times heard quite favourable comments.

While leafing through my old Michelin guide, I noticed that Route 212 linking these two cities was classified as a "tourist route". With this information, I was determined to follow the Mekong River for 300 kilometres.

But that wasn't enough for me and, consulting the road map, I told myself that Route 211 further west linking Chiang Khan to Nong Khai could also be "tourist"... so here I decided to go through Chiang Kahn, a small village located about forty kilometres from Loei before reaching Nongkhai.

200 kilometers on the 211, then 300 kilometers on the 212, would allow me to get to know more about this rather mythical river that is the Mekong....

So here we go for a trip in the northeast of Thailand, in the middle of Isan country from Khon Kaen, we join Chiang Khan....

Discovering Chiang Kahn

We arrive in Chiang Khan, a small village on the banks of the Mekong River and whose existence I had never known existed until then.
At random, we go to a restaurant to get some strength. The visit of the village will be for later...

 Few rare tourists are sitting at a table on a beautiful terrace with a direct view of the river... and Laos

Just across the river, Laos

Young girls with an absolutely charming smile...

To see these tourists, the region seems well suited to cycling...

We walk in the quiet street to admire these old buildings that have a charm I like.

Older and more recent houses, the two complement each other superbly

Chiang Khan
A small village full of charm... A true haven of peace!

One of those famous traditional "SamLo" that can take you anywhere you want....

Nice meeting at the exit of Chiang Kahn

At the exit of the village, meeting with a group of young people supervised by an English teacher, a photographer and an educator....

Photo session on the banks of the Mekong River

 Highway 211 from Chiang Khan to Nong Khai

We leave Chiang Kahn in the direction of Nong Khai... a superb road which skirts the Mekong, fantastic landscapes with by places really desert parts.

This beautiful road 211 which will take us along the Mekong for 185km, to Nong Khai....

Very wild landscapes where fishermen can be seen from time to time on both sides of the shore

Small villages here and there, composed of just a few houses a little lost all along this beautiful road.

Our day's ride is coming to an end... we arrive in Nong Khai, passing under the "friendship bridge", which links Thailand to Laos...
Our day's ride is coming to an end... we arrive in Nong Khai, passing under the "friendship bridge", which links Thailand to Laos...

Route 211


This 211 road linking Chiang Kahn to Nong Khai (185 km)
in excellent condition is very pleasant to walk through,
and makes you discover the Mekong plain without ever leaving it,
by offering you very wild landscapes.