Phu Kradung National Park - Away from the tourists

Where ever I go, I’m always in search for the spots that have very few, or no tourists. I believe it’s a much better way to see the country for what it really is. In Thailand, those rare locations/experiences are becoming harder to find.

My first experience of being the only foreigner with 2000 or so Thai’s was on a trip to Phu-kadung National Park in Loei. I went along with a Thai friend and his friends from work and it turned out to be an amazing experience.

Phu-kadung National Park hosts one of the biggest mountains in Thailand, standing at 1360 meters high with a 60 square kilometer plateau at the top. The best time to go is during the cold season, around September/October time.

Firstly, you need to get to Loei either by bus which takes 10 hours from Bangkok or you can fly with Nok Air to Loei airport which takes an hour. We choose to fly.

After landing at Loei airport we got a tuk tuk to Loei bus station and boarded a bus to the outskirts of Phu-kadung national park. When we got dropped off we had to que for maybe an hour to get a ride in a tuk tuk to the park entrance. Here you can grab something to eat and have the opportunity to pay someone to carry your bag up the mountain! Most people choose this option as the hike to the top of the mountain takes around 8 hours.

The mountain is split into 5 or 6 sections, where each level has a selection of shops where you can buy food and drink. This was my first real mountain hike, and I’ll be honest, it did take a lot more energy out of me than I first thought. Some stages are more difficult than the others, with the most difficult stage near the top. This involved real climbing, with people helping each other holding their hands out to pull people up.

When you get to the top, it is very rewarding. The view, as expected, is amazing. Once you reach the plateau you need to walk about 2 miles before reaching the camping site. Here you can rent tents and bedding. You then go and set up pretty much where you want.

During the evening we had some dinner at the many market style restaurants, grabbed some beers and headed over to the man with the guitar. It was a very memorable night sitting there slowly but surely getting drunk, under the stars with 100 or so Thai’s trying to get to know me.

I was woken up at 5am by my friend who wanted to go and see the sunrise, to be honest I was too tired from the previous days walking and beer so I gave it a miss. Around lunch time I queued up for an hour or so at the shared showers, cold showers!

We then went exploring around the plateau, seeing the different views in all 4 directions and then proceeded to the tip to watch the sun set. I can clearly remember the walk back. It was a real struggle putting one foot in front of the other, with the inside of my thighs sore from so much walking.

The next day we hiked back down the mountain, which was a lot easier than I originally thought. The hike down took us around half the time it took us to go up.

If you enjoy hiking, or want to experience being the only foreigner amongst 2000 or so Thai’s, I highly recommend visiting Phu-Kradung mountain.