While strolling through the lobby of the River Resort & Spa, I came across an illustrated map of Sakaeo Province posted on the wall that highlighted the different attractions of the area. I already had plans to visit nearby Pangsida National Park, but was interested in going to at least one other place. There was a little blurb and illustrated depiction of Lalu Canyon - “a new tourist attraction” located somewhere out in the boonies (about 90 minutes north of Sakaeo city), with some very unusual earth pillars caused by soil erosion. After reading about Lalu, I knew I just had to go there and check it for myself.

My impressions of Lalu? I have never seen a more bizarre looking landscape in Thailand nor anywhere else in my travels. Surveying the small canyon with its compacted golden earth pillars and dunes, it looked like the type of scenery that one might expect to encounter in the southwestern United States. No wonder they call Lalu, the miniature Grand Canyon of Thailand. In the late afternoon, the contrast of the gold pillars against the pale blue sky and the green grassy bottom had a stark primitive beauty. And in the far distance, there were green rice paddies. As it was getting towards sunset, we had to return to Sakaeo but I would have liked to stay longer in this extraordinary place.So utterly peaceful and quiet…

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 9:52 am and is filed under Nature, Thailand, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.