Old 'GI City' now a major hub in Northeast

Post by **Charlieb** » July 14, 2014, 10:34 am

An interesting article in the Nation today. Seems the transformation brings the bad with the good

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 38412.html

Post by **socksy** » July 14, 2014, 11:47 am

I see there is little mention of the previously thriving nightlife.

Post by **moomoo** » July 14, 2014, 12:09 pm

Is this statement true?

Meanwhile, those with money to spare can also take advantage of the many services from Udon Thani International Airport, including flights to Phuket, Koh Samui or even South Korea.

I know there are flights to phuket but the other two are news to me

Post by **fdimike** » July 14, 2014, 6:18 pm

Bangkok Airways flys to Koh Samui from UT. I don't believe there are any flights from UT to Korea without going through BKK.

Post by **pomps** » July 14, 2014, 6:33 pm

Just had a look at bangkokair website and attempted to book a flight for monday 21 july 9.15am flight pg352 to Samui but it said it takes 5 1/2 hours,bloomin longtime

Post by **BobHelm** » July 14, 2014, 6:44 pm

I was trying earlier today for a break later in the year.
It seemed that they were all 1 stop (Bangkok) rather than direct - although they might possibly put any luggage through directly & you can use their lounge in BKK...

Post by **Stantheman** » July 14, 2014, 7:38 pm

Bob is right, even Thai Smile offers flights to Koh Samui from Udon, but you have to spend 5 or 6 hours in Bangkok

Post by **FrazeeDK** » July 14, 2014, 8:12 pm

there was a private business airline that advertised two flights to Seoul a week last year or so.. I guess it didn't work out or never happened...

Udon; "GI City"... Perhaps but NKP, Ubon, Khorat, Takhli, and Sattahip/Samae San/Utapao were also equally large concentrations of GI's back during the Vietnam War.. Most folks don't realize that at the height of the war there were nearly 50,000 U.S. servicemen in this country...

Post by **farlong68** » July 14, 2014, 9:37 pm

peak in 72-73 was I believe 58 thousand don't know if that figure included those that worked in laos cam. and other places that worked out of udorn nkp and takli I had the pleasure to serve for 37 months in vt. ut. tk and others a lifetime ago cheers john

Post by **Jello** » July 14, 2014, 10:16 pm

socksy wrote:I see there is little mention of the previously thriving nightlife.

If the reporter went down Soi Sampam he would have titled the article "Old GIT" city...

Post by **JoeThrows** » July 15, 2014, 12:51 pm

fdimike wrote:Bangkok Airways flys to Koh Samui from UT. I don't believe there are any flights from UT to Korea without going through BKK.

no direct flights to samui, have to stop at swampy first