Thailand Volunteer Locations: Nongkhai

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.

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Volunteer Work in 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

Arunlangsri Primary School. English teaching
Arunlangsri is a larger primary school located around 2 km from Nongkhai. As well as primary age students there are 3 nursery classes. There are around 300 students at the school with around 25 students to a class.

Namsuaywittaya High School. English teaching
This high school is located around 25 km from Nongkhai on the way to Udon Thani. Although class sizes are large (over 35 students per class) the school is very well organized with supportive teachers, lots of teaching materials and the students that are very motivated to learn English.

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

The Friends for All Children Foundation Orphanage
Our volunteers can assist in the orphanage during afternoons when they have no teaching. The orphanage currently has 11 children aged between 4 months and 3 years. Typically volunteers will help out with daily activities.

We also have English teaching placements at a number of other schools in and around Nongkhai.

More teaching images from Nongkhai

Volunteer Programs in Nong Khai
Teaching English
Restoration projects
Summer Camps
Teaching Monks teaching
Temple Teaching

General Nongkhai Info

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.
Schedules and booking for Thai trains.

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.

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