Nakhon Phanom Province

[Braveheart]

Nakhon Phanom (Thai นครพนม) is one of the north-eastern provinces (changwat) of Thailand. To the north-east it borders Khammouan of Laos.

 

The province is located at the valley of the river Mekong. Beside the Mekong River, the important water resouce is the Songkhram River.

 

The name Nakhon Phanom, meaning "city of mountains", was given to the city by King Rama I. It should be noted that there are actually no mountains in Nakhon Phanom itself; the limestone mountains are concentrated in the city of Thakhek of Laos, which is on the other side of the Mekong. Nakhon Phanom should then mean a city where you can see mountains.

 

The area was long settled by Lao people and belonged to the Lan Xang kingdom. Also after it came under the control of Ayutthaya the population stayed predominantly Lao.

 

Nakhon Phanom saw some of the most serious fighting between North Vietnamese insurgents and the US Army during the Vietnam War (or American War as the Vietnamese called it). During the 1960s, the province of Nakhon Phanom was divided into 131 amphoes. As 73 of them were said to be infiltrated by the Vietnamese communists, it was known as the "heartland of insurgency".

 

In 1967, almost all of the communists surrendered and towards the end of the Vietnam War, American forces retreated from Khorat and moved all their Indochinese military operations to Nakhon Phanom.

 

Another point of interest: Ho Chi Minh stayed at this city between 1928 to 1931, you can still visit his old house there.

 

The provincial seal shows the pagoda of Phra That Phanom in Amphoe That Phanom. This highly revered religious building was originally constructed around 535 BC.

 

The provincial tree, as well as flower, is Fagraea fragrans.

 

The province is subdivided into 11 districts (Amphoe) and one minor district (King Amphoe). The districts are further subdivided into 97 communes (tambon) and 1040 villages.

 

extracted from Wikipedia: Nakhon Phanom Province

[pattayadog]

Once met a nice Vietnamese lady from NP on a bus. Beautiful hair.

 

NP has excellent soup and hot pots. Make sure no dog meat though (like in Sakon). The town itself is nice and relaxing but not much happening.

 

SOuth is Tat Panom. The spiritual center of all Laotians. There is a nice place on the river to stay, NOTTTT the guest house that is lauded in all guidebooks.

 

The temple has some khmer artifacts and is more of interest for current religious practice.

 

It pays to take a songtaew north in the direction of NP to see Renu Nakon. Really nice handicrafts made by the PU Thai minority. CHeap ride and does not take long.

 

Renu has a copy of the original chedi in Tat Panom. The latter had collapsed and was reconstructed in Thai stile. Not much respect for Laos culture in Thailand it seems.