

T2T International Volunteering: Over 70 Programs, in 30 Locations, in 11 Countries, on 3 Continents
Two's Company!
Apply together with a partner or friend and save 250€.
Thailand Discounts
Julie and Ryan, San Francisco:
"My husband and I decided to take an extended trip to Southeast Asia for 3 months. While we were deciding where to go and what to do we both felt it was important to give back to our world and volunteer during our trip..."
Read Julie and Ryan's volunteer story
South East Asian Combination Stays:
Combine volunteering in Thailand with stays in Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia
Combination Stays
Maggie, Holland:
"Is 51 years too old to volunteer? Of course not, I had the time of my life in Namsom and enjoyed it from the first to the last minute. It's a great challenge and you get so much in return. Just go ahead and do it!!!!"
Read Maggie's volunteer story
Alexis, Luxembourg:
"Unlike many volunteer stories, this one begins at the end of my stay in Thailand. It was late at night when I took my taxi to the airport and the shock of going back to ordinary life. As I stepped into the taxi I looked back at the people I had made and shared some of my greatest moments with..."
Read more about Alexis’s time with Travel to Teach
Nongkhai Summer Discount - Volunteer in Nongkhai anytime between May and August and receive our summer discount of €100.
Two's Company - Apply together with a friend or partner and save €250
Nongkhai
provides a perfect setting for a first time volunteer. Not unknown to
backpackers, there is plenty here to cater for the western needs while
losing none of its rural charm. Nongkhai is the home of Travel to Teach
and therefore our most established volunteer location. Over three
hundred volunteers have passed through here, many staying longer than
they had originally intended. Nongkhai acts as our Thai headquarters and
the base for our home stay volunteers. Many projects are trialed here
making it the ideal placement if you are unsure what project area to
dedicate your time to.
As our name suggests our initial volunteer work was all teaching and Nongkhai still boasts the largest selection of teaching projects. English language for all abilities and ages, TOEFL training, computer teaching, sports coaching and restoration camps are just some of the things you can assist with.
More volunteer images from Nongkhai
Michai School. English teaching, restoration
camps, summer camps.
Michai is a poor primary school 2 km from the center of Nongkhai and
situated next door to our Michai volunteer dorm. Michai has been our
most involved and possibly most successful project. We've run 2
restoration camps which completely renovated the school and saved it
from possibility of closure and our volunteers have taught English and
run a number of summer camps here. View the Michai School Restoration Gallery
CBAT Tourism and Business College. English
teaching
The tourism college is around 30 km out of Nongkhai on the way to Udon
Thani. Students are aged 15-19 and the level of English is relatively
high as many of the students are aiming for careers in which English is
likely to be especially important.
Wat Si Sumang. Teaching monks
Wat Si Sumang is temple next to the Mekong and about 2 km west of our
volunteers Green Dorm. Young men often go to be monks in Thailand to get
an education if their families are unable to support them during their
studies. We teach English to novice monks in the evenings four days a
week. Teaching is for 2 hours a night with the first hour usually
grammar and the second hour coversation. The general standard of English
of the monks is pretty good so conversation can be very interesting for
both volunteers and monks.
Jommenee Primary School, English teaching
This small primary school is located on the outskirts of Nongkhai
underneath the Friendship Bridge. Students range from nursery age
through to 12 and there are around 30 students in each class. There are
usually 2 volunteers working at the school at a time.
The Scorpion Primary School. English teaching
and restoration camps.
The Scorpion school is a small and very poor primary school located in
the grounds of a temple 2km from Nongkhai. There are around 150 students
at the school aged between 5 and 12 in classes of approx 25. We have
previously run a restoration camp at the school. View the Scorpion
School Restoration Camp Gallery
Nongkhai Special School
The Nongkhai special school houses children aged between 5 and 20 with
various physical and mental disabilities including autism, down syndrome
and muscular dystrophy.
Volunteering at the school is a mixture of teaching and caring for the children. We do some basic English teaching but more importantly our volunteers look after and give a lot of attention to the students. Yvette a volunteer with experience caring for disabled children in Holland recently built a Sensory room at the school for the children to relax in. View the Special School Sensory Room Photo Gallery
We also have English teaching placements at a number of other schools in and around Nongkhai.
More teaching images from Nongkhai
Accommodation
Our volunteer dorms, as we call them, are actually two very nice four
and five bed roomed houses. Each have large communal areas with
balconies, living rooms and spacious gardens to relax in.
We have no air conditioning but plenty of fans. Both dorms have hot water showers, refrigerators and water boilers. There are also both Western and Thai style toilets in both dorms and a kitchen in the Michai dorm. Thai cooking courses are included in your placement fee but if cooking is not your thing do not worry as there is a huge selection food for sale very close to the dorms. Volunteers are responsible for keeping their accommodation clean.
The green dorm is right in the town center, in a small soi just off the high street surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants. The Michai dorm is a 5 minute bike ride from the town center and is situated in a small suburb.
Food
Nongkhai has an innumerable amount of restaurants and food stalls where
volunteers can buy a variety of food. Local specialties include Som Tam
(papaya salad), Mekong river fish and Vietnamese spring rolls all eaten
with Sticky Rice. There are also many western restaurants to cater for
the less adventurous palate.
Weather
Ask a local about the weather in Nongkhai and they will tell you there
are three seasons, hot and wet, hot and dry and just plain hot. In
reality the temperature can drop to as low as 10 C between October and
February and the brief monsoon rains and Mekong river breeze throughout
the summer months provide a welcome respite to the heat.
Activities
All sorts of activities are available in Nongkhai. Amenities include
swimming pools, gyms, golf courses, tennis courts, table tennis at the
Michai dorm, saunas and spas. For those interested in accruing new
skills there are yoga and Reiki courses, personal trainers and aerobic
sessions. Nongkhai is also famous for producing Muay Thai (Thai Kick
Boxing) champions and volunteers can enroll in Muay Thai training camps.
If the above seem too energetic then you can simply spend your evenings sampling the local cuisine, sipping a beer in one of the many riverside bars, playing pool and enjoying the local discotheques.
Shopping is another favorite volunteer pastime with a relatively large selection of goods to be found in the local supermarket, Indo China market and independent stores scattered around town. Being so close to the border volunteers can also easily take a week end trip to Vientiane, the capital of Laos which is just across the river.
Staff
Travel to Teach has its headquarter in Nongkhai and the volunteers are
taken care of by lots of staff! Check
our Personnel page
How to get to Nongkhai.
Trains
There are 2 trains a day from Hualamphong train station in central
Bangkok, one departing in the early morning and another at around 20:00.
We recommend the night trains since they are quicker and usually more
convenient as most long distance flights tend to arrive in Bangkok in
the afternoon.
The night train costs around 600 baht and most people manage to sleep reasonably well on them in comparison to the buses.
General information on trains can be found at traveller2000.com.
Buses
There are several buses from different companies daily from Bangkok to
Nongkhai. Most buses leave in the evening and arrive in Nongkhai early
in the morning. Although we recommend the trains as they are more
comfortable if you do decide to go by bus the best option is probably
the buses that depart from Kao San Road at around 19:00. These go
directly to Nongkhai (and on to Vientiane in Laos) and are relatively
easy to find. Its costs around 400-450 baht and you can buy tickets from
any travel agency on Kao San Road. There are also regular buses from
Bangkok's northern Mawchit Bus Station although this is extemerly large
and chaotic, and probably best avoided if you've only just arrived in
Thailand for the first time.
Flights
Three airlines fly daily from Bangkok to Udon Thani, Thai
Airways
and the budget airlines Air Asia
and Nok
Air. Nok Air also fly from Chiang Mai to Udon 3 times a week. There is a
"limousine" (actually minibus) service from the airport to Nongkhai
after each flight.
Thailand Locations: Nongkhai |Chiang Mai |Mae Hong Son |Namsom |Temple Stays |Villages Homestays
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