Udon Thani Red Lotus Lake Nong Harn Talay Bua Daeng

Udon Thani Red Lotus Lake Nong Harn Talay Bua Daeng

The sea of red lotus is located in north eastern province of Udon Thani. The actual name of the lake is called Lake Nong Harn or also known as Talay Bua Daeng (sea of red lotus) by the locals. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in North East Thailand as the Miracle Lake of Red Lotus Lake.

You probably seen the picture of thousand red lotuses painting the lake red in colour. A story covered by CNN in 2014 named Lake Nong Harn is the second strangest lake in the world after the Jellyfish Lake in Palau.

With the new name, the lake received tremendous attention and many new tourists and visitors too. The red lotus will grow in October after the rainy season and turn the 8,000-acre area into the Red Lotus Lake.

By right the flowers are supposed to bloom in December but due to global warming and the climate change, the red lotuses open their petals in January this year. Charmed by the pictures of the red lotuses on the Internet, we joined a tour to discover this hidden beauty of North Eastern Thailand.

The journey started from Vientiane Laos and we headed South into Nong Khai area in Udon Thani. This is the best way and best access to this north eastern part of Thailand.

The best time to visit the lake is in the morning and the weather didn’t go easy on us. It was the coldest day of the year with the temperature hitting 10 degree Celsius. When the wind hit us and we shake our body like PSY. We prepared our cold jacket but didn’t anticipate such cold weather and even the locals were caught off guard. The lake is 45 kilometres from the city and it takes a while to reach to the lake.

The best time to visit is from 6 to 10 am. The boat can accommodate seven to ten people. The big boat cost around TB 300 for one hour and TB 500 for two hours. Smaller boat is TB 100 for half an hour and TB 150 for an hour. These rates might change so please check with them when you visit them.

Everyone are required to wear the life jacket. It is compulsory and you must give credits to the tour operators. Safety first as always.

Like we mentioned, it was a cold windy winter. Without glove, the hands shiver like mad. It is one of the coldest days Udon Thani had embraced for a very long time. It is hard to believe Thailand is so cold.

After 15 minutes of boat riding, we reached the main focus of the lake, the red lotuses. It didn’t bloom as many as it is supposed to be so we don’t get to see so many red lotuses. The red lotuses are scattered around but you still get to see heaps of them in the lake.

The boatman will try to park the boat at the best spot for view. Since its windy, the boat will not rest still and it was really cold too.

The strong winds kept the leaves and flowers moving so you need to use higher shuttle speed to take a good pictures of the red lotus.

Everyone will try to get the best spot for pictures while some will be busy selfie with their smartphones and cameras. Just be aware of your surrounding when you taking selfies and even you are wearing the life jacket no one wants to see someone falls into the lake for that.

We spent at least half an hour around the lake enjoying the view and snapping pictures. Even though we are at the peak season, there are not many boats. Probably less than twenty of them. There are quite a number of China tourists and they really love Thailand, even to places like Udon Thani.

Please take note that the red lotus bloom depending on weather. On our visit, not all of the flowers bloom due to the change of weather. You probably googled and seen many beautiful pictures of the sea of red lotuses but that is probably when all the flowers bloom at once.

This is our experience of Red Lotus Lake of Nong Harn or Talay Bua Daeng in Udon Thani. We read many write ups but not many are they own experiences. We hope our story helps in planning your next trip to Red Lotus Lake of Nong Harn or Talay Bua Daeng in Udon Thani. If you never visit Udon Thani and the north-eastern of Thailand, you probably can plan a trip or follow a local tour.

Most pictures are taken with Sony RX10II.