Sala Kaew Ku – Nong Khai

Sala Kaew Ku in Nong Khai ought to be one of the priority attractions when visiting the Udon Thani region, as it is one of the most impressive places in northeastern Thailand. Keeping it simple, Sala Kaew Ku is a site full of statues, of a spiritual nature of course. The park is actually quite bizarre, as it does not appear to have been ‘planned’ with large sculptures placed here and there. The park came in to being in 1978, by the mystic Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat, who was kicked out of his native just across the river. There is a similar park of his earlier work in Vientiane if you are heading up that way.

The park is a mixture of Buddhism and Hindu ideologies, multi-armed goddesses, Buddhas, Naga Snakes and human-animal hybrids dominating. You can easily spend several hours here, and while the park is not actually a Wat, there are of course a number of ‘lucky’ Buddhist activities that are performed for the locals and visitors alike. There are stalls where you can buy ‘lucky stones’ and ‘lucky charms etc, and these are often enthusiastically browsed by the Thai’s looking for something to change their fortunes. One of the most striking features of Sala Kaew Ku is the view that greets you as you enter the car park, where you are offered the chance to see the scale of these ‘monuments’. many of them are simply huge.

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