Buddha Park in Nong Khai Province is home to giant fantastic concrete sculptures inspired by Buddhism and Hinduism.
Sala Kaeo Ku, the Buddha Park, which is home to huge, strange and amazing concrete sculptures.
It was built by and born out of the vision of Shaman Luang Pu Bunleua Surirat and his followers in the early 1980s.
There are hundreds of statues in the park, including images of Shiva, Vishnu and Buddha, as well as many other figures from Hindu and Thai culture, amongst others, telling different stories of religious life. It is the scale of the sculptures that is truly awesome, with some towering over 25m high.
Sala Keoku is a park featuring giant fantastic concrete sculptures inspired by Buddhism. It is located near Nong Khai, Thailand in the immediate proximity of the Thai-Lao border and the Mekong river. The park has been built by and reflects the personal vision of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat and his followers.
Address: Wat That, Mueang Nong Khai District, Nong Khai 43000
One of Thailand’s most enigmatic attractions, Sala Kaew Ku can’t fail to impress. Built over 20 years by Luang Pu Boun Leua Sourirat, a mystic who died in 1996, the park features a weird and wonderful smorgasbord of bizarre cement statues of Buddha, Shiva, Vishnu and other celestial deities. The main shrine building is packed with hundreds of smaller sculptures of various description and provenance, photos of Luang Pu at various stages throughout his life, and his corpse lying under a glass dome ringed by flashing lights.
As he told his own story, Luang Pu tumbled into a hole as a child and met an ascetic named Kaewkoo who introduced him to the manifold mysteries of the underworld and set him on course to become a Brahmanic-yogi-priest-shaman. Shaking up his own unique blend of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, Luang Pu developed a large following on both sides of the Mekong in this region. In fact, his original project was on the Lao side of the river, where he had been living until the 1975 communist takeover in Laos.
Some of the sculptures are quite amusing. If you’re travelling with kids, they’ll enjoy the serene elephant wading through a pack of anthropomorphic dogs (which teaches people to not be bothered by gossip). The tallest sculpture, a Buddha seated on a coiled naga (serpent deity) with a spectacular seven-headed hood, is 25m high.
All buses headed east of Nong Khai pass the road leading to Sala Kaew Ku (10B). It’s about a five-minute walk from the highway. Chartered túk-túk will probably cost 250B return with a one-hour wait. You can reach it by bike in about 30 minutes
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