Visit Thailand - Udon Thani

<body>  <p><p> Udon has a variety of sights although most visitors make a beeline for Laos or the bronze age excavations east of Udon at Ban Chiang.</p> <ul> <li> <b>Udon Sunshine Orchid Farm</b>. Famous for a variety of orchids, orchid derived perfumes, and plants that "dance to music".</li> </ul> <ul> <li> <b>Nong Prajack Park</b>. A large recreational area within the city and the primary site for locals to exercise and chill out. Consisting of a large lake/reservoir with several small islands, it features pleasant grass areas and activities such as nightly aerobics (to Thai pop music) and feeding bread crumbs to the fish. For the more active, it's also popular for jogging around the outside of the lake.</li> </ul> <ul> <li> <b>Nong Bua</b>. Another park with a lake just to the east of the railway line. It is noted for its Chinese pagodas over the lake and the dragon pole.</li> </ul> <ul> <li> <b>Ban Nakha</b>, 15 km north of Udon along Route 2. A village famous for selling home woven silk and cotton garments. It is somewhat commercialized but a walk back from the highway into the village can net some great bargains on silks and cottons.</li> </ul> <ul> <li> <b>Phu Phrabat National Park</b>, 60 km north-west of Udon near the Amphoe of Ban Phue. A marvelous ridgeline with numerous sandstone edifices several thousand years old. Bronze age cave paintings are also within the park.</li> </ul> <ul> <li> <b>Phu Foi Lom Eco-Park</b>, 40 km south-west of Udon, located high on a ridgeline. Numerous trails and rainy season water falls are within the park. South of Udon is a large wetlands area/lake called Khumpawapi. In the October time frame traditional dragon boat races are held on the lake. Within Khumpahawapi is a city park with a large troupe of monkeys that have been living there for over a hundred years.</li> </ul> <p> <a name="Do"></a></p> <h2> <span class="mw-headline">Do </span></h2> <p> <a name="Buy"></a></p> <h2> <span class="mw-headline">Buy </span></h2> <ul> <li> There is a large Night Market that opens from about 5PM to 10:30PM next to the train station.</li> </ul> <ul> <li> <b>Chareonsri Center</b> is Udon Thani's biggest and fanciest shopping mall, featuring five floors of shopping, including a large <b>Robinson's</b> department store and a <b>TOPS Supermarket</b>.</li> </ul> <p> Further out east from the centre is a <b>Makro</b> store, cheap for bulk purchases) and a <b>Big C</b> shopping complex (both groceries and assorted goods) with much cheaper pricing than Robinson's.</p> <p> On the ring road east-side are several large home improvement stores; Home Mart, Global House, and Tool Pro. Also on the east-side ring road is the new Bo Bei Clothing Market.</p> <p> On the ring road north-side is a Tesco Lotus superstore.</p> <p> Within the city itself are numerous 7-11's as well as many mini-marts with western snacks and goods.</p> <p> <a name="Eat"></a></p> <h2> <span class="mw-headline">Eat </span></h2> <p> Udon Thani has a range of buffet restaurants, featuring Korean-style cook it yourself BBQ in a raised dish over a charcoal burner in the centre of your table. Around the outside of the dish, water is placed allowing vegetables to be boiled. An all you can eat buffet ranges from 39 baht to 89 baht.</p> </p> <p>Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0</p>  <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-119091-1"; urchinTracker(); </script> </body>