Huai Si Tho Reservoir

Huai Si Tho Reservoir is an irrigation reservoir about 15 km from Amnat Charoen town, built to water the surrounding rice country and doubling as the province’s main lakeside recreation spot. It’s free to enter and open daily 08:00-18:00. A bamboo walkway extends out over the water, giving visitors a place to stand above the shoreline reeds for photos, especially at sunset.

The reservoir draws its water from the hills of Phu Pha Phueng Forest Park, a roughly 16-sq-km watershed area just upstream that feeds the Huai Si Tho stream. Locals fish from the bank and from small boats in the early morning, and the shoreline is wide enough for a proper walk or a slow bike ride around the water’s edge. Small stalls near the bamboo walkway sell grilled snacks and cold drinks — there’s no restaurant or resort development here, just a working reservoir that Amnat Charoen families treat as their weekend spot. Bird activity picks up seasonally as migratory species pass through, though this isn’t a dedicated birding site with hides or checklists — you’re watching alongside anglers and picnickers, not other tourists.

Insider Tip: Arrive before 7 AM if you want the reservoir to yourself — by mid-morning it’s mostly local fishermen and the light has already flattened out for photos.

Wat Si Yaek Saeng Phet, a hilltop temple that’s a fifth-generation branch of the well-known Wat Nong Pah Pong forest monastery (in the lineage of the revered Luang Pu Chah), sits close enough to the reservoir to combine both in a half-day out from Amnat Charoen. The pairing works well: quiet lakeside time followed by a short uphill walk to a working forest-tradition temple with views back over the water.

There’s no shade structure over most of the shoreline, so the cooler early morning or late afternoon hours are the better window — this part of Isan runs hot and dry outside the rainy season, and midday sun on open water is unpleasant fast. Public transport doesn’t reach the reservoir directly; a car, motorbike, or arranged taxi from Amnat Charoen town is the only way in. Bring your own drinking water and sun protection, and if you plan to fish, ask locally about any permit the irrigation project requires — this is a working reservoir, not a park with posted rules at the gate. Combine the trip with Kaeng Tang Lang or the Mekong Scenic Point elsewhere in Amnat Charoen province for more of the province’s river and water landmarks.