Loei & Nong Bua Lamphu Thailand Guide

Every Thai schoolchild knows the name Phu Kradueng. It is the flat-top mountain in Loei province that you climb on foot, carrying everything you need, and that you remember for the rest of your life. The mountain is a national park, a rite of passage and a love letter to walking — and it is open only from October to May, when the cool season makes the climb possible. The mountain is 1,316 metres high, and the climb is 5.5 kilometres of steep path through forest, with nine rest stops (sam) where porters, drinks and snacks wait. At the top is a plateau of pine forest, savannah and cliffs, with waterfalls, a lake and views that run to the horizon. It is not a difficult mountain by world standards, but it is a long one, and the reward is a place that feels like another country. The climb The climb starts at the park headquarters, where you pay the entry fee and hire a porter if you want one. The path is well marked and well trodden, and it rises through dry dipterocarp forest to the fir...

Phu Ruea — the "boat mountain" — is the coolest place in Loei, and one of the coolest places in Thailand. At 1,365 metres, the summit is high enough for pine forests, frosty mornings and a sea of mist that rolls over the valleys at sunrise. The park is a favourite with Thai visitors, who come for the cold air, the sunrise viewpoints and the simple pleasure of wearing a jacket in the tropics. This is the mountain to climb when the rest of Thailand is hot. The Sunrise Sea of Mist The best reason to come to Phu Ruea is the morning. Set an alarm for 05:30, take the park songthaew or drive to the summit car park, and walk the last few hundred metres to the viewpoint. At dawn the valleys below fill with mist, and the sun rises over a white sea, with the peaks of the Phetchabun mountains floating like islands. On a good morning in the cool season — November to February — the mist is thick and the light is gold, and the viewpoint is full of people in woollen hats taking photographs...