If you are like me then you may have passed Nong Khai several times while on a visa trip to Vientiane, Laos, but never bothered to actually spend a couple of nights in this town. During my recent 2 week trip around Isaan where I completely updated my nightlife guides on Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Korat see the nightlife section in the top menu I decided to spend some time in Nong Khai to check out the day- and nightlife.
It only takes a couple of nights until you have a good overview of this small town on the border to Laos. There are two girly bar areas in Nong Khai and they are located just a minute walk or 1 minute motorbike ride from eachother. Anchor Bar is relatively small but very neat, well managed and with the nicest girls on the small strip in my opinion. Like you are welcome to choose the next song on YouTube computer is connected to the TVs.
Seems like the more attractive ones prefer working down in Udon or if they are really diligent in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. Most of the guys in those bars are retired and you only see a few travelers who really want to be entertained. Many of these bars are so sparsely visited that they already close at midnight and the ladies heading to the night clubs to really start partying β and maybe find some company for the night. If you want to drink with the local Thai guys and girls in Nong Khai there is no shortage of places to go.
The majority of bars are found along the Mekong River Promenade eastern side, see map below. Prachacheun deserves its own mention. The Thai guys usually order a bottle of whiskey and some plates of Thai food to share with two or more girls. Prachacheun is owned by Country Club next door see nightclub section below and as soon as the bar closes at around midnight most of the hot chicks are hitting the club unless their customers want to take them somewhere else. When I think back about my trip to Nong Khai the first thing I remember is drinking a cool Beerlao Dark 90 Baht at this bar while soaking up the views over Thailand, the Mekong River and Laos on the opposite river bank.
I took a video on the rooftop that you can find at the end of the guide. It almost looks like a typical Tawan Daeng the Isaan style bar and restaurant with Morlam Performances on stage , means lots of wooden tables around where people not just share bottles of whiskey but also have some food.
