Visit Sala Kaew Ku (Nong Khai)

The Sala Kaew Ku sculptures park is located 6 km east from Nong Khai on Highway 212 Its visit is certainly the most suprising one to do when you come to Nong Khai city. In the Wat Khaek's garden, are dozens of huge cement statues. These sculptures are the work of Lao Bun Luang Pu Leua Surirat, who purchased the land in 1978 shortly after being expelled from his native Laos where he started to build a similar park near Vientiane called Buddha park. Synthesis of Buddhism and Hindu ideologies, the park is supposed to be the representation of a fantastical journey into the mind of a shaman. It contains Buddhas images, Vishnu, Shiva, goddesses with multiple arms, Naga snakes and all kinds of human-animal hybrids. The most iconic sculpture in Sala Keoku is the one of Buddha sitting on the body of a seven-headed snake.

All the statues here were erected according to the instructions of Luang Pu Bun Leua Surirat and inspired by his dreams. It took him twenty years to build this park.