Khong Chiam, a little piece of Thailand at the gates of Laos

After our stop in Surin/Prasat and the local national parks, our next stop for this stay in Issan was Khong Chiam, also spelled Khong Jiam. The district includes a group of 14 villages for around 8 inhabitants. It is a quiet corner, ideal for the rest of our stay towards the Mekong, Khong Chiam itself being on the banks of the river.

A quick trip to the Laotian border

Before going to our destination of the day, we took advantage of being independent with our car and decided to go for a ride to the border with Laos at Chong Mek. Continuing on the road 217 direct from Ubon Ratchathani, we followed the beautiful road that passes along the artificial lake of Sirindhorn, then instead of turning left on the road 2173 we continued our route some 11km further.

It's a nice pleasant road with the lake as a backdrop, however the Chong Mek market was relatively uninteresting so we didn't stay there long. When preparing this trip, we were considering going for a trip to Laos since the city of Paksé is only 43km from Chong Mek, but faced with the paperwork required to pass through customs with the car, we ran out of time and gave up. So, we left again, not without stopping near a small dirt road in order to walk to the edge of the lake.

On the banks of the Mekong

Then we will join Khong Chiam. Time to go and drop off our things at the hotel. Once settled in we will enjoy the atmosphere on the banks of the river with all these Thai families at picnic time.

The opportunity for us to eat in one of the local restaurants. Be careful though because if you don't like seafood and don't particularly like fish, the choice will be less.

It's really nice to find yourself on the banks of this mythical river that is the Mekong and its large majestic trees that line the small road along the small peninsula that forms Khong Chiam. After enjoying this healthy air, me photographing as usual at all costs and my wife drawing on her souvenir notebooks, we went to see a small national park. Crossed a few km before arriving, direction Kaeng Tana National Park.

How to get to Ubon – Khong Chiam?

The direct route Ubon Ratchathani – Khong Chiam is only 77km normally but with our detours we had 115km, this is where I still appreciate the freedom of having your own means of transport. During this stay I was thinking, how to proceed with local means to move around the region?

While Ubon is easy to reach from Bangkok by plane, bus (from Mo Chit terminal) or even by train, it is not the same to move easily in the surroundings. There is a bus that goes from Ubon to Khong Chiam (30 baht) but you will have to find vans or taxis to visit the national parks in the area.

If Kaeng Tana National Park is not very far downstream from the village, Pha Taem National Park, the main park in the region and Sam Phan Bok (which is not a national park) are respectively 50 and 80km away. The best option remains, I think, car rental even if it is probably not, I grant you, the most economical, in any case for a single person or a couple, for a family I would think a little more about it.

Where to sleep in Khong Chiam?

We had stayed at the Ban Kiangnam Hotel, a small family hotel near the “main street” (I call it that because there is a 7/11 and the morning market on this same street…). We had paid 500 Baht per night.

Concretely we would have liked a little better because this stay also marked our 5th wedding anniversary but as we left it to the last minute the hotels that were a little better were full...

If you visited this region, how did you get around? Did you like it?