Post
by lee » July 2, 2007, 12:57 pm
Hi BarkingTurkey, welcome to the forum.
I'd recommend a visit to Phu PhraBat Historical Park. Here's an extract from our magazine:
The area around Udon Thani boasts some unique tourist attractions such as the Phu Phrabat Historical Park, which could be on its way to being declared a World Heritage site. Situated in Ban Phue District, the park covers an area of around 1,200 acres.
Phu Phrabat is famous for its cave paintings and bizarre rock formations, which have been around since prehistoric times. Within the site are many rocks of peculiar shapes which resulted from glacial movement millions of years ago, and one can see odd shaped boulders perched on top of each other as if they had been put there on purpose.
Exploring the park can take anything from 40 minutes to a day depending how much and what you want to see. There are in fact three trails. The first is the shortest and leads directly to the major highlights. The second route passes more attractions and takes around an hour to walk, whilst the last route is a two-hour trek leading to Phu Phrabat itself, a plateau some 350 metres above sea level. Maps are available in Thai and English.
The site is located in a thriving forest called Pa Khua Nam. In addition, it can be seen that most of the ancient buildings and objects found in this area were made from what was naturally available and not built entirely by human beings. For instance, a rock was decorated to make a stupa, or was chiseled into the shape of a foot.
