My exploration of Loei province started in the small mountain hamlet of Phu Ruea. From there, I proceeded to Chiang Khan, a sleepy town situated on the banks of the Mekong River. Chiang Khan has loads of ambiance with its many old wooden buildings, teak houses and Laotian-Thai style temples.

There is a special aura about this town – sort of reminds of old town Xingping in China - as it captures the essence of Thailand of days gone by. As evidenced by the popularity of Chiang Khan with Thai tourists – mostly from Bangkok - it is fast becoming “the hippest” tourist town in Northern Thailand.

Chiang Khan has often been compared to Pai, a small tourist mecca located in the mountains of Mae Hong Son Province. The difference is that Pai caters primarily to a young Western tourist crowd, many of whom are backpackers on the cheap; while Chiang Khan feels like ‘Thailand’, and for now, the tourists are predominantly Thai.

Walking along the main drag, which runs parallel to the Mekong River, I observed numerous guesthouses, chic boutiques and cafes - many of them housed in old wooden and teak buildings. In particular, there are numerous small coffee shops in the tourist zone. Thai people – especially young Thai people - just love to hang out at coffee ships.

Many camera toting tourists (and HiSo Thai girls) from Bangkok paraded down the streets, taking pictures of the old houses and shopping at one of the many cute gift shops. Fortunately, I did not see any Starbucks or KFC outlets. From what I could see, the bar scene has not yet contaminated Chiang Khan – so the town is fairly quiet at night.

There is an abundance of small guesthouses, hostels and homestays- many of them with just a handful of rooms. The room rates in general run from 250 baht – 900 baht or higher depending on the location of the hostel and the size of the rooms. The riverfront hostels command a higher price than those hostels that are 3-4 blocks away.

Unfortunately my visit to Chiang Khan coincided with one of the most popular holiday weekends of the year – the King’s Birthday, a national holiday. As a result, the town was booked solid and I was only able to get a small closet of a room in a guesthouse located about ¼ mile from the main drag, albeit for only one night. Due to the unavailability of rooms, I was forced to relocate to another town/village along the Mekong River for the remainder of my stay in Loei Province. Next - the Adventure continues in Pak Chom….

Chiang Khan is located about 50 kilometers north of the city of Loei. By songtaew, the trip takes about one hour.

I had just boarded a songthaew in the city of Loei to Chiang Khan, a hip tourist town located along the Mekong River in Northeastern Thailand. Especially popular with the younger professional crowd from Bangkok, Chiang Khan has often been called the Thai version of Pai, a popular retreat and hangout with western tourists in Northern Thailand.

Just as the songthaew was about to take off, an elderly couple – backpacker types - walked briskly to the retrofitted truck and hopped on board. Like your typical backpacker, this pair was outfitted with a huge backpack on their back and a smaller daypack on their chest.

As I traded stories with this rather feisty couple (Joe and Judy), I discovered that they were from Western Canada and were in the middle of a 6-month journey that would take them to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Seasoned travelers, they had traveled numerous times to Southeast Asia, South America and around the world.

Typical of backpackers, they had only a generalized travel plan but not a concrete itinerary nor did they ever book a guesthouse or hotel in advance. They did things strictly on the fly - only upon arriving at their next destination, would they look for lodging. In addition, they had a very strict budget which they adhered to. In Thailand, the maximum expense for accommodation was 500 baht per night ($17USD). According to Joe, they always traveled like this and never had a problem finding a decent place to stay.

As it was the King’s Birthday Holiday weekend (Dec. 3-5), perhaps the busiest holiday weekend for Thai people, it would be extremely difficult finding a place to stay in this small tourist town. Shortly before I arriving in Chiang Khan, I cautioned the couple about the shortage of guestrooms. I had called at least 10 places in advance without any luck - I was fortunate to have reserved “a room” a couple of blocks from the river, albeit for only one night for 400 baht. Alas, I was a prepared for a very brief visit in Chiang Khan.

Undaunted about the prospects of finding a place to stay, the backpacker couple were last seen knocking on the doors of all the guesthouses and homestays located along the river. One thing I forget to mention - these backpackers were 80 years old!