Volunteer Thailand  |  Nongkhai

Young men often go to be monks in Thailand to get an education if their families are unable to support them during their studies. During your stay in Nongkhai you will be asked to teach English at Wat Sri Sumung for an hour one or two evenings a week. The general standard of English of the monks is quite high making conversation interesting for both volunteers and monks.

The below video shows volunteers conducting evening temple teaching: Volunteer temple teaching video.

Thai close for school holidays in the middle of February and do not resume until Mid May. They are also closed for holiday in October. During this time your placement will be at various English camps and/or Restoration Camps in and around Nongkhai.

Every semester we try and improve the structure and quality of these camps. A typical day teaching at a camp involves two/three hours of English lessons followed by an afternoon of either restoration or games & activities. The aim of these camps is to improve the students learning environment and allow them to practice their English skills in a fun and interesting way. 

Rong Rhian Piset (Nong Khai 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 with some basic English teaching.

We have created a video showing an typical days teaching at the Special School in Nongkhai.

Read how your fees are spent or compare our prices with other volunteer organisations.

View our prices in other volunteer locations's or combine your stay in Thailand with stays in other locations as part of a combination stay.

What you receive

• "T2T Welcoming kit" containing: T-shirts, Thai language book, Info booklets on Teaching, on T2T and on Thai culture
• A two day orientation upon arrival
• Thai Language and cooking lessons
• 24 hour support from T2T (Thai and western) staff living in the same town
• Accommodation in T2T dorms according to specifications in your "Placement information"
• Regular follow-up meetings
• Transportation between projects
• At some teaching placements you join the school for lunch.

Apart from our fees, you must pay for:

• Your ticket to either Chiang Mai or Nongkhai
• Vaccinations
• Travel and health insurance
• Visa to Thailand
• Food (about 2 €/day) and other personal expenses

Our application process typically takes two or three weeks, but can be speeded up if there is a need for that. When we receive the initial application from you, we will send you our full application form.

(1) Complete the Initial Application Form:
The first stage of the application process is to fill out the brief initial application form. Upon receiving this we will send you the full application form.

(2) Complete the Full Application Form:
Fill out the application form. After receiving this we will assess your suitability and place you on one of our programs.

(3) Placement info:
We will return detailed placement information and an invoice. If you accept the placement you should pay the invoice and send us receipt of payment by email or fax.

(4) Program Fee:
The program fee should be paid to us at least 2 months before you are due to start your placement. However please be aware that we have a limited amount of placements, so placements will only be secured when we have received your payment.

(5) Communication:
Once you have made your traveling arrangements you should mail your time of arrival and the means of transportation and we will confirm pickup.

You can join us for any amount of time, from a week to six months. We do recommend a trip of three to six months since it offers the best value. Regardless of the length of your stay, you will be able to learn some Thai and you will have time to get to know a new culture, come to know its people, and form relationships that will outlast the duration of your stay.

Dates of arrival: All teaching will start on the Monday after the introduction.

Whilst you are in Nongkhai you will live in one of Travel to Teach's two volunteer houses, the Green Volunteer House and the Meechai Volunteer House. All bedrooms have beds and fans. Volunteers will normally have to share a room. Each house has a TV, DVD player, DVD’s, a terrace, one western toilet and one Thai toilet with showers, with the western toilet having a hot water shower.

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.

Most schools will provide lunch for you whilst you are teaching. You will have to provide your own breakfast and dinner.

Each dorm has a fridge, toaster and water boiler, but no cooking facilities. However, the streets of Nongkhai are filled with places to eat and within a five minute walk from the Green Dorm you have at least fifty restaurants that serve food around the clock. Around the Meechai dorm you can also find food stalls and smaller shops, with more restaurants and street food a few minutes bike ride away.

There are many convenient supermarkets and small store where you can buy bread, milk, cereal and other basics.

There are also are some twenty or so "Western restaurants" in town for some home comforts, and maybe 300 Thai ones.

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 November and February and the brief monsoon rains and Mekong river breeze throughout the summer months provide a welcome respite to the heat.

Trains
There are 3 trains a day from Hualamphong train station in central Bangkok, departing at around 18.30, 20:00 and 20.45. 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 700 baht and most people manage to sleep reasonably well on them in comparison to the buses.

General information on trains can be found at http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm#Train times or
http://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 then there are 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 buses from the airport that depart in the morning and evening. There is a free shuttle bus from the airport that takes you to where the bus leaves from. We recommend the VIP bus that leaves at 20.30 and costs 700 baht. There are also regular buses from Bangkok's northern Mawchit Bus Station although this is extremely 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.

There are many options for your visa depending on the length of your stay.

One month tourist visa (free)
This is valid for 30 days and is granted free on arrival in Thailand by air. If you arrive at a land border you will currently only be given a 15 day visa. Please note you can only have three free one month visa stamps in any six month period.

Two/Three month single entry tourist visa (1,200 Baht - approx. 24€)
This is valid for two/three months after your arrival in Thailand. If you leave the country during this time your visa will become invalid. This can be arranged in advance at any Thai Consulate/Embassy. For a list of Thai Embassy's around the world see www.thaiembassy.org.

If you are staying in Thailand for more than a month and do not have time to arrange a 2 month visa, you can simply get your free stamp on arrival and then cross over into Laos after 30 days and apply for it there.

It's quite a simple process:
To revalidate your visa you will have to come to Nongkhai. Simply catch a tuk-tuk to the friendship bridge where you will be able to get a bus across to Laos. On the far side of the friendship bridge you will get your Laos visa (approx $35).

Once in Laos you have two options, you can either return directly to Thailand receiving a 15 day visa extension or if you want a two month visa you will need to visit the Thai Embassy in Vientiane and spend one night in the city. Please note that for your Laos visa and for a two month Thai visa you will need passport photos and a photocopy of your passport. Vietiane is a 30 minute bus or taxi ride from the border.

You can also use your time in Laos to explore the country further and there are regular buses running from Vientiane to most of Laos including Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang.

If you are planning to work in Cambodia then you will need to obtain a police records background check before starting your placement. For details on the application procedure in your home country please take a look at: www.travel-to-teach.org/CRB-information.php

At all other locations you will be required to abide by the Travel to Teach Child Protection Policy.

You should tell your doctor that you are likely to go on a jungle trip in Northeastern Thailand and that you will live in villages in Isan. Keep in mind, Nongkhai is considered to be an urban area and one need not worry about malaria pills for staying exclusively in Nongkhai.

One of the conditions of entry onto our programs is that volunteers have travel insurance. Most importantly the insurance needs to include medical treatment and repatriation in case of unforeseen accidents or illnesses. Volunteers should purchase insurance independently and bring a copy of their insurance certificate with them for their local co-ordinator to check before starting their program. Read our terms and conditions.

You will get a Travel to Teach certificate stating the time and place you have been teaching.