Sok Phi Dip Sandstone Erosion Site

I visited this so you don’t have to.

Touted as a new tourist destination, the best thing about Sok Phi Dip is that it is free.

The fluvially-eroded sandstone and mudstone rocks at Sok Phi Dip may be of mild interest to a geomorphologist but this gully needed more than a claim to geological antiquity if it were to attract visitors.

Locals were aware of this and determined that the place needed some flair, some pizzazz, some ‘come visit me’ cachet. A snappy toponymic neologism was needed. Rename the ‘sandstone erosion gully’ to Sok Phi Dip (literally Gully of the Undead).

But how and where to get ghosts and zombies?? Enter the marketing gurus.

The story purveyed is that a deadly plague in 1937 killed many residents of a nearby village (do your own research). Amid the chaos and alarm of the plague the bodies weren’t unable to be cremated in traditional ceremonial pyres and were instead unceremoniously disposed of in the gully.

According to local legend the ghosts of these hastily dispatched bodies howl every night in the Ghost and Zombie Gully.

Around 2018 the Governor of Khon Kaen Province got invested in promoting the “terrifying and hair-raising legend” of Sok Phi Dip.

Given the deeply-held superstitious beliefs of most Thais, the legend of Sok Phi Dip may be working against attracting tourists. Or maybe it is just not that interesting? Certainly there was no tide of tourists when we visited. Alone.

As a tourist attraction it is truly underwhelming.  Even the ubiquitous sidecar-mounted Thai fast food vendor replete with teardrop banners and flashing blue and red strobe lights wouldn’t lift it.

My assessment of the tourism felicity of these exposed and eroded sandstone and mudstone rocks is made in juxtaposition to what I saw when I visited Phae Mueang Phi Forest Park in Phrae, Lalu Sand Pinnacles in Sa Kaeo Province and two other sites in Nan.

More photographs.

Rural Khon Kaen

Mudstones aside, the Road Trip to get to Khon Kaen’s “new tourist attraction” is through interesting countryside.

Temple at Ban Sok Nok Ten

Very few photographs of temples appear on these pages, however, I found the Wat at Ban Sok Nok Ten to be very striking. Beautiful clean lines and unusual in being surrounded by water.

Rural Khon Kaen

The many and varied rural activities seen along the journey are part consolation for the lack of appeal of the Ghost and Zombie Gully.

Experimental Farm

A well-resourced experimental farm at Ban Hua Saphan is raising American Beefmaster cattle.

The ~150 kilometre return trip from and to Khon Kaen is about 2½ hours plus whatever time is spent at the site and stopping along the way.

Download GPX file of the route.

To see 15 other Day Trips and Weekend Trips ex Khon Kaen that are ‘way different’ from your usual Wat and Food Tour, follow this link.

 

 

© Kim Epton 2024-2025

569. words, 16 photographs, one image.

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