Nong Khai

The seven-headed snake Naga, a buddhist mythological creature, is the protector of Buddha and also the symbol of Nong Khai.


After having dropped of my stuff at the Meechai Dorm, one of two places housing volunteers in Nong Khai, I got a quick tour of the city and some general information before it was time for the weekly meeting at the Green Dorm with the rest of the volunteers, new and old.

The city turned out to be a bit bigger than I had expected, but then again I didn't really have any expectations since I hadn't done much research before I left. Normally I would have, but this time it felt more exiting just getting on a plane without knowing where I'd end up.

With a population of about 60.000, located by the Mekong River, Nong Khai is the border town to Laos and is made up by three major streets running parallel to the river which makes it almost impossible to get lost. Biking was the way of transportation I quickly found out, and with my newly rented travel-to-teach bike (that later got stolen) I set out to explore my new home. My first adventure on my own took me all the way to 7-eleven and then back again, since I had just found out that I was being picked up at 07.35 the following day to start teaching at the school I'd been placed at (or is it in?) A good nights sleep seemed like a good idea but before that could happen I was introduced to the local street food along with the other new volunteers. Two months later, I'm surprisingly still not sick of rice...