The city of Chiang Khan is located along the Mekong River and along the Laos Border, about 200 kilometers west of the city of Udonthani which is about a 3.5 hour drive. Google map link.

Chiang Khan is a lovely little city, mostly visited by Thais with very little foreign tourists. The main attraction in Chiang Khan is a 1.5 kilometer long walking street and night market. The Walking Street parallels the Mekong River and has hundreds of shops, bars, and restaurants. Many of the restaurants are situated to give you a great view of the river. 

There is a Temple/school on eastern end of the walking street with fairly large area used by the school as a playground and football pitches during the day and a large parking lot at night for the walking street. A great place to start your walk!

Wat Pa Phu Kon is nestled in the Mountains of Udon Province in the District of Na Yung and approximately 65 kilometers west of Nong Khai.  The drive into the Temple area is amazing in itself providing a beautiful drive through the mountains of the area. The Temple does not have a long history, having only been completed construction in 2013. 

However the artistry that went into every aspect of the Temple is just amazing.  Especially considering the Temple is located high in the mountains.  In fact, in order to transport visitors to the temple, 4X4 trucks are  needed  the last 1.5 kilometers due to the steep slopes of the road. This would make the transportation of construction materials very difficult.

The Temple area is a 2 acre platform holding 5 buildings, all beautifully decorated with Buddhist related statues tastefully scattered about.  The largest building houses a beautifully gold detailed 65 foot long white reclining Buddha. And an  amazing view of the valley below can be found on the southern end of the platform.

Red​ Lotus Lake or Tung Bua Daeng in Thai, is just that.. A big lake full of red lotus. The lake is located south of Udonthani in Northeast Thailand (Isaan) .

Taking good photos and videos at places like this, one should think about the time year flowers are blooming and where the sun will be in the sky. I was there on January 2nd and the lotuses were in full bloom and the sky was clear and blue; a great time to go. I arrived at 7:30 in the morning, in the middle of morning magic hour. Perfect!

Getting there: there are a number of piers to contract boats to tour the lake. The pier I was recommended was excellent and will put a link here and below.

The boats: there are two basic styles of boats, small two person boats (300 baht for two people) and group boats (100 baht per person). The small boats are the longtail boats and are not easy getting on and off if you have bad knees ?.

The boat trip: The boat will stop at a handful of places to see the lotuses up close but another thing to watch for is the acrobatic black and white sparrows playing in the lotus flowers.
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