Udon Thani is a northeastern province covering an area of 15,589 square kilometres. The provincial capital is 562 kilometres northeast of Bangkok. Udon Thani is probably best known for its archaeological wonders, paramount among them the hamlet of theBan Chiang where the world's first Bronze Age civilisation is believed to have flourished more than 5,000 years ago

Attracrtions In Udon Thani
Prachak Silpakhom Lake
Known locally as Nong Prachak, this vast stretch of water is named after the founder of Udon Thani, and is decorated with colourful flowerring plants that lend the area much of its pleasant atmosphere.
Huai Luang Reservoir
This scenic spot, 25 kilometres from the provincial capital along the Udon Thani-Nong Bua Lam Phu route unit km. 15, and a further 10 kilometres by road, is ideal for fishing, rafting and cruising .

Na Yoong Nam Som Forest Park

Located some 100 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital, beyond Phu Phar Bat Historical Park, in Amphoe Nam Som, this park is best known for the 40-metre high Yung Thong Waterfall which cascades down a steep cliff in verdant surrounding from the Phu-Pan and Phu Ya U ridges.
Historical sites & Museums
Ban Chiang National Museum  Ban Chiang

   Located some 56 kilometres east of the provincial capital along Highway No. 22 (until Km. 50 and then along Highway No. 2225), this museum is currently open to the general public every day. Ancient artifacts, including tools, utensils, pottery and jewellery, between 4000 and 7000 years old, were unearthed in the immedite vicinity. the distinctive pottery, with its fingerprint whorl decorations, is belived to be the world's oldest decorative earthenware. Nearby burial pit, left as they were after excavation, in the compound of Wat Po Si Nai, show how valuables, including earthenwere pots, were buried with the dead. Evidence of primitive bronze casting technology was discovered in the aera, and in 1992 Ban Chiang was decalred a World Heritage site by UNESCO.
Phra Buddha Bat Bua Bok
Phra Buddha Bat Bua Bok    This stupa, local point of of the historical park, and probably constructed during the 1920s, shelters a Buddha footprint (Phra Buddha Bat in Thai), not far from the shrine many interesing caves and rock formation. The cave are belived to have been the homes of Stone Age human being who left 3,000-year-old rock paintings of hands, human, animals and geometric designs. 

Prince Prachak Silpakhom Statue
   This monument in the heart of the city commemorates the military governor who founded Udon Thani in 1894 as part of what was then referred 'The Northeast Province'.
Pu-ya Shrine
   As the chinese God and Goddess of Mercy, Pu-yu Shrine revered by poor people and those encountering personal problems, believing they will be grandted favours they seek, Two lakeside is located near the railway on the east of the provincial capital. Out-of-city Attraction

Wat Pa Ban Tad
   This forest monastery is located 16 kilometres south of the provincial capital via highway No. 2 towards khon kaen for 7 kilometres and a rigth trun at the Ban Dong Khen crossroads for a further 9 kilometres. the complex is situated on a densely wooded hilly area surrounded by rice paddise. the monastery precincts are defined by a concrete wall which prevent easy encroachment by abundant forest wildlife. The monastery is ideal for meditation and contemplation. The monastery is under the strict guidance of a disciple of Phra Acharn Man Phurithatto, a widely respected northeastern Buddhist ecclesiastic.
Phu Phra Bat Historical Park

   Located some 68 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, in Amphoe Ban Phu, via Highway no. 2021 and 2348, this extensive area lies at the Phu-Pan mountain range and contains caves, natural rock formations, rock terraces and has an 'other-worldly' atmosphere that hints at ancient civilisations.

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THAILAND'S northeastern region has seen civilizations come and go over the centuries. In the 1970's, an archeological excavations at Ban Chiang, 50 kms cast of Udon Thani, unearthed the remains of a Bronze Age civilization that flourished over 5,000-7,000 years ago. A thousand years ago, the area was also part of the ancient Khmer empire that gave birth to Angkor Wat. The Khmer ruins at Phimai and Phanom Rung are fine examples of this great civilization that preceded Sukhothai-Thailand's first established capital.

But even before human begins roamed the plateaus of "Isan", the region was once home to a more ancient species of animal-the dinosaur. The discovery of new dinosaur bones at the Phu Wiang National Park in Khon Kaen province has brought excitement to the world at large. Thai people are even more excited to learn that the fossils are the "grandfather" of all tyrannosaurs, the oldest example of the fierce, mcat-eating dinosaur ever found.

The discovery was reported by a team of Thai and French researchers. The report has just been published in the well-known science journal "Nature". Researchers have named this new species of dinosaur the Siamotyrannus isanensis. It is 20 million years older than earliest known Tyrannosaurus rex, the feared beast of the popular movie "Jurassic Park". The meat-eating dinosaur was first found at the Phu Wiang National Park in Phu Wiang district,Khon Kaen province in 1987. The study on its hip bones, spine and legs was completed early this year and published in the latest issue of the journal "Nature".
The Department of Mineral Resource says the new dinosaur found in Thailand is only 6.5 metres longs, about half the size of the Tyrannosaurus rex. The excavation and study on the fossils of this dinosaur were conducted through cooperation between Thailand's Department of Mineral Resources and the University of France. The project started in 1979, and a plant-eating dinosaur was discovered in Phu Wiang in 1984 . It was named Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae in honuor of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
The new discovery of dinosaur fossils in Phu Wiang has made a name for Thailand. It may prove that this tyrannosaur evolved in Asia and spread to North America. The story of dinosaurs has always attracted people of all ages and nationalities. The first dinosaurs fossils were found about 175 years ago in Connecticut,USA. Since then, a great many others have been found in other parts of the world. These fossils are mainly dinosaur bones, teeth and eggs. Scientists can put the bones together into whole skeletons and from the skeletons they can tell what the dinosaurs actually looked like. By studying fossil teeth, scientists can tell whether a dinosaur ate plans or meat. Meat eater has pointed, sharp teeth for teaching meat. Dinosaurs that ate plants had flat, blunt teeth designed for chewing.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Department of Mineral Resources and other agencies concerned are joining hands in establishing a dinosaur museum will be completed by the year 2,000. When completed, the museum will become a tourism attraction in Khon Kean. It will also serve as a study centre for these who are interested in the ancient dinosaurs, which died out millions of years before the first humans appeared on Earth.
Information About Phu Wiang

Phu Wiang National Park
Phu wiang is a name of a mountain and Amphur in Khorn Kean. Royal Forest Department declared this national park on December 8,1991, becoming 71th national park of Thailand, covers an area of 325 km2 Dinosaurs' skeletons and steps are found in this park. Beside this, human sheletons, Iron equipment, the sleep Lord Bhuddha in Thawarawadee Period and also point in before history. The topography on the mountain is a big hold of a volcano peak, which covered by dipteracarp and dry evergreen forest.
Phu Wiang National Park
P.O.Box 1, Nai Muang Sub-district, 
Amphur Phu Wiang   Khorn Kaen
Thailand 40150
Tel. 08 5852 1771   E-mail reserve@dnp.go.th

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In the northeastern part of Thailand, at the confluence of three small tributary streams in Udon Thani province, lies the Bronze Age village and cemetery site of Ban Chiang.

As may things in life, the revelation of Ban Chiang started as a accident. In 1966 Steven Young was wandering around a small village in Northeastern Thailand when he tripped on a tree root and fell. On the ground he saw rings, which turned out to be pottery shards. Further investigation revealed more fragments which had been revealed by gradual erosion.

Legend has it that Ban Chiang was discovered by a clumsy American college student, who fell in the road of the present town of Ban Chiang, and found ceramics eroding out of the road bed. The first excavations at the site were conducted in 1967 by archaeologist Vidya Intakosai, and this and subsequent excavations by the Fine Arts Department in Bangkok and the University of Pennsylvania under the direction of Dr. Chester F. Gorman and Pisit Charoenwongsa have revealed evidence of prehistoric occupation beginning possibly as early as 3600 B.C. and continuing, probably intermittently, until about A.D. 200.
The Fine Arts Department of Thailand teamed with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to begin the excavation of the site. Major excavations in 1974 and 1975 turned up the evidence that made anthropologists rethink the development of human civilization in Southeast Asia.
Ban Chiang makes a nice day trip from Udorn Thani. A museum has tools, pottery, artifacts and human skeleton on display. Spend some time looking over the site and then take a walk around the village.
The discovery has commercialized Ban Chiang somewhat, but it is still a very pleasant part of rural Thailand.

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