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Udon Thani ( Thai อุดรธานี) is one of the north-eastern provinces (changwat) of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Nong Khai, Sakhon Nakhon, Kalasin, Khon Kaen, Nongbua Lamphu and Loei.
1 Geography
Udon Thani is located in the heart of the Khorat Plateau. It is located between Khon Kaen and Nong Khai on the railway line that goes north from Khorat to the border of Laos, Vientiene. The provincial capital, which we'll just call Udorn ("Ooh-dorn") to prevent confusion, is Thailand's fifth-largest MSA. In English, Udon/Udorn can be spelled either way.
2 History
The province is most famous for the archeological site Ban ChiangBan Chiang is an archeological site located in the Udon Thani province, Thailand. It is listed in the UNESCO world heritage list. Discovered in 1957 it attracted enormous publicity due to attractive red painted pottery. The first scientific excavation was with its remains of the Bronze age, located in what is now a hamlet about 85 miles east of Udorn. Udorn is one of the more bustling markets for agricultural goods in the relatively dry northeast of Thailand, and received its biggest economic boost in the 1960s when the US built a joint-force military base there during the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a war fought between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos See Secret War) and in bombing runs ( Rolling Thunder) over North Vietnam. See also the timeline of the Vietnam War. Fighting on (the Mel Gibson film Air AmericaAir America is a 1990 film starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr as Air America pilots in Vietnam War era Laos. They discover that airline planes are being used by government agents to ship heroin and who then must avoid being framed as a patsy. 1990 f refers to Udorn and includes shots from the Udorn military base).
The U.S. turned the base over to the Thai military in 1976, but there were three significant afteraffects of the base's US presence. First, a number of the natives in the area were paid well and learned English, which helped them become more marketable to the outside world (a significant percentage of the more educated group now work in the Middle East oilfields). Second, the base created ties, including a US Consulate in Udorn which was closed in 1995, and a VFW (veterans of foreign wars) Post. Finally, the base and the consulate caused the city to be viewed as a regional hub, and this impression has continued.
3 Symbols
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| The provincial seal shows a hindu mythological giant ( yakshaYaksha (Sanskrit; Chinese and Japanese: ) originally from Hindu mythology, a class of nature gosts or demons. Also: demigod attendants of Kuvera Also: twelve heavenly generals who guard the Buddha of Medicine (Sanskrit: Bhaisajya; Tibetan: sangs-rgyas sma in Thai yak), referring to Thao Kuwane ( Vaishravana or kuvera), the god of the North.
The provincial tree is the Teng ( Shorea obtusa ), and the provincial flower is the Flame of the forest ( Butea monosperma ).
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