Udon Thani
| Udon Thani อุดรธานี Udon | ||
|---|---|---|
| City Municipality | ||
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City of Udon Thani เทศบาลนครอุดรธานี | ||
 Udon Thani | ||
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  Udon Thani Location in Thailand | ||
| Coordinates: 17°25′0″N 102°45′00″E / 17.41667°N 102.75000°ECoordinates: 17°25′0″N 102°45′00″E / 17.41667°N 102.75000°E | ||
| Country | Thailand | |
| Province | Udon Thani | |
| District | Mueang Udon Thani | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | City Municipality | |
| • Mayor | Itthipol Treewatanasuwan | |
| Area | ||
| • City Municipality | 47 km2 (18 sq mi) | |
| • Metro | 1,095 km2 (423 sq mi) | |
| Population (Aug 2012) | ||
| • City Municipality | 153,329 | |
| • Density | 3,262/km2 (8,450/sq mi) | |
| • Metro | 430,000 | |
| • Metro density | 393/km2 (1,020/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | UTC+7 (ICT) | |
| Postcode | 41000 | |
| Area code | (+66) 42 | |
| Website |
udoncity | |
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Udon Thani (Thai: อุดรธานี, pronounced [ʔù.dɔ̄ːn tʰāː.nīː]) is one of the four major cities (Khorat, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, and Khon Kaen) of the Isan region, Thailand, (known as the "big four of Isan"). It is the capital of Udon Thani Province.
Location
Udon's geographical location 17°25′N 102°45′E / 17.417°N 102.750°E is approximately 560 km from Bangkok. Udon is a major official and commercial center in northern Isan, Thailand, and the gateway to Laos, northern Vietnam, and southern China.[1]
History
The city's economy was boosted by the proximity to Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base during the Vietnam War and retains reminders of that time in the form of bars, coffee shops, and hotels. "Udon sort of became like Pattaya when the GIs arrived," said a local architect...Restaurants serving Western cuisine, hotels and nightclubs sprouted up everywhere to meet their needs. It was an extremely busy city back then."[2]
The BBC has reported that Udon Thani's Royal Air Force Base was the site of a CIA black site, known to insiders as "Detention Site Green", used to interrogate Abu Zubaydah, a 31-year-old Saudi-born Palestinian, believed to be one of Osama Bin Laden's top lieutenants. In December 2014 the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) published an executive summary of a secret 6,000 page report on CIA techniques. The report alleges that at least eight Thai senior officials knew of the secret site. The site was closed in December 2002.[3]
Earlier reports alleged that a Voice of America relay station in a rural area of Udon Thani Province, Ban Dung District, was the CIA black site.[4]
Climate
Udon Thani has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw). Winters are fairly dry and very warm. Temperatures rise until April, which is hot with the average daily maximum at 36.3 °C (97.3 °F). The monsoon season runs from late-April through early-October, with heavy rain and somewhat cooler temperatures during the day, although nights remain warm. The range of reliably recorded temperatures in the city is from 2.5 °C (36.5 °F) to 43.9 °C (111.0 °F).
| Climate data for Udon Thani (1981–2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 37.6 (99.7) |
39.2 (102.6) |
42.0 (107.6) |
43.0 (109.4) |
41.2 (106.2) |
38.7 (101.7) |
37.7 (99.9) |
36.5 (97.7) |
35.8 (96.4) |
36.5 (97.7) |
37.0 (98.6) |
35.6 (96.1) |
43.0 (109.4) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 30.0 (86) |
32.5 (90.5) |
34.9 (94.8) |
36.3 (97.3) |
34.4 (93.9) |
33.2 (91.8) |
32.6 (90.7) |
32.0 (89.6) |
31.9 (89.4) |
31.6 (88.9) |
30.7 (87.3) |
29.1 (84.4) |
32.4 (90.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 22.8 (73) |
25.3 (77.5) |
28.0 (82.4) |
29.8 (85.6) |
28.9 (84) |
28.6 (83.5) |
28.2 (82.8) |
27.8 (82) |
27.6 (81.7) |
26.9 (80.4) |
24.9 (76.8) |
22.4 (72.3) |
26.8 (80.2) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 16.5 (61.7) |
18.9 (66) |
21.9 (71.4) |
24.4 (75.9) |
24.8 (76.6) |
25.0 (77) |
24.9 (76.8) |
24.6 (76.3) |
24.2 (75.6) |
22.9 (73.2) |
19.7 (67.5) |
16.3 (61.3) |
22.0 (71.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 7.0 (44.6) |
9.8 (49.6) |
11.4 (52.5) |
17.2 (63) |
20.5 (68.9) |
21.5 (70.7) |
21.2 (70.2) |
21.1 (70) |
21.0 (69.8) |
14.2 (57.6) |
8.4 (47.1) |
4.2 (39.6) |
4.2 (39.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 6.3 (0.248) |
22.0 (0.866) |
49.7 (1.957) |
74.1 (2.917) |
198.5 (7.815) |
229.0 (9.016) |
210.9 (8.303) |
285.1 (11.224) |
239.5 (9.429) |
90.1 (3.547) |
10.3 (0.406) |
2.9 (0.114) |
1,418.4 (55.843) |
| Average rainy days | 1.7 | 3.1 | 5.5 | 8.0 | 16.9 | 19.0 | 19.6 | 22.0 | 17.3 | 9.5 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 126.0 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 65 | 63 | 60 | 63 | 74 | 78 | 78 | 81 | 81 | 76 | 69 | 67 | 71 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 272.8 | 259.9 | 275.9 | 243.0 | 198.4 | 156.0 | 120.9 | 117.8 | 144.0 | 198.4 | 252.0 | 257.3 | 2,496.4 |
| Mean daily sunshine hours | 8.8 | 9.2 | 8.9 | 8.1 | 6.4 | 5.2 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 6.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 6.9 |
| Source #1: Thai Meteorological Department[5] | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: Office of Water Management and Hydrology, Royal Irrigation Department (sun and humidity)[6] | |||||||||||||
Population and demography
The city alone has 399,535 inhabitants of the 1,572,786 for the province.
In the mid-1900s, about 46,700 Vietnamese war refugees migrated to Udon Thani. Their descendants still reside in Udon Thani.[7] Today, Udon Thani has the largest Vietnamese community in all of Thailand.
Transport
By air: Udon Thani International Airport, close to the city centre (within the ring road), serves a number of domestic airports: Chiang Mai International Airport; U-Tapao International Airport (Pattaya); and Bangkok (Don Mueang International Airport and Suvarnabhumi Airport) with approximately 24 daily flights to the capital by various carriers, Nok Air, Thai Airways, Thai Smile, Air Asia, Bangkok Airways and Lion Air, (2017).[8]
By train: Udon Thani Railway Station in the city centre, four trains daily from Bangkok Railway Station (Hua Lamphong) including overnight sleepers.[9]
Commerce
Mining
Asia Pacific Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Italian-Thai Development PLC, owns the concession to the Udon Thani potash mines and plans to develop them. According to press reports, Udon Thani has enough potash to mine two million tonnes per year for 25 years. Potash is one of the main components of fertilizer.
Retail and cinemas
Udon Thani has three Tesco Lotus stores, two Big C malls, a Makro, and three large shopping malls. The largest shopping mall is CentralPlaza Udon Thani which hosts Udon Thani's largest movie theatre cinema Major Cineplex. CentralPlaza Udon Thani was reopened 27 March 2012 after a massive renovation and expansion. Landmark Plaza has the second largest cineplex in Udon Thani, SF Cinema City. The shopping mall, UD Town, opened in winter 2009. In a park-like setting on an area of 38,000 m² (24 rai), UD Town is Thailand's largest open air shopping center (Chatuchak market in Bangkok may possibly come a close second in size).
Revenue from tourism
Some of the revenue from tourism is related to tourists going to and/or coming from the archaeological site Ban Chiang (forty-seven kilometres from the city).
Hospitals
- Aekudon hospital
- Bangkok Udon Thani Hospital
- Dr. Pairoj Hospital
- Fort Prachaksinlapakhom Hospital
- Udon Thani Hospital
- Udon Thani Municipality Hospital
- Wattana Hospital
Gallery
Chao Pu-Ya Shrine
Central Plaza Udon Thani
Udon Thani Rajabhat University
Prince Prachak monument
Udon Thani city museum
Royal Thai Air Force Wing 23
Udon Thani Thai-Chinese Cultural Centre
Wat Pothisomphon
See also
References
- ↑ "Udon Thani". Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
- ↑ Jablon, Philip (13 February 2017). "Enjoying the Vista". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ↑ "CIA director Gina Haspel's Thailand torture ties". BBC News. 2018-05-04. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- ↑ Crispin, Shawn W (2008-01-25). "US and Thailand: Allies in Torture". Asia Times. Retrieved 2014-11-10.
- ↑ "Climatological Data for the Period 1981–2010". Thai Meteorological Department. p. 9. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- ↑ "ปริมาณการใช้น้ำของพืชอ้างอิงโดยวิธีของ Penman Monteith (Reference Crop Evapotranspiration by Penman Monteith)" (PDF) (in Thai). Office of Water Management and Hydrology, Royal Irrigation Department. p. 43. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- ↑ Paanchiangwong, Songgot (Sep 2009). "A Note On Interference of Thai Reduplication on Vietnamese Spoken in Udon Thani Province of Thailand" (PDF). Journal of the south-east Asian Linguistics Society. 2: 241–245. Retrieved 2014-11-10.
- ↑ "Flight status". Udon Thani Airport Guide. Netmobius publication. 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- ↑ "Train from Bangkok to Udon Thani Schedule and Fares". train36.com. 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Udon Thani. |
- Official website
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