My 21 days - Overland Border Crossing Train Rides from Malaysia > Thailand > Laos > China (Feb 10 > March 2 2025) Udon Thani, Thailand - Feb 14 2025 (Day 5)

Phu Foilom Botanical Garden, Ban Chiang
Udon Thani, Thailand

 

Red Lotus Lake, Udon Thani
Thailand 

Ban Chiang National Museum
Udon Thani, Thailand 

Friday, Feb 14 2025 (Day 5 - Udon Thani, Thailand) - after a morning breakfast nearby our hotel, using a hired car (self drive by my travel buddy, KF Wong), our group took a leisure drive from Udon Thani to Ban Chiang & the surrounding area (55km) & visited Phu Foilom Botanical Garden, Red Lotus Lake & Ban Chiang Archeological Site (UNESCO) before returning back to Udon Thani in the late afternoon. Thailand currently has 8 UNESCO sites & I have thus far visited 3 of them ie Historic City of Ayutthaya, Historic Town of Sukhothai & Ban Chiang Archaeological Site.    

Ground Transport + Food + Entrance Fee: 672bht

1. Car Hire (24 hrs): 1,000bht @250bht = US$ 7.50 per pax  (cost sharing of 4) 
2. Petrol: 448bht @112bht (cost sharing of 4)
3. Entrance fee (Ban Chiang): 150bht = US$4.50
4. Food: 40bht + 55bht + 20bht + 45bht

1) Early morning walk & breakfast in downtown Udon Thani, savoured a bowl of pork / bamboo shoot soup (40bht = Rm5.20) for a food stall in front of the Udon Thani Morning Market. 

2) Bought our train tickets (235bht = Rm31 x 4, airconditioned seat, Class 2) from Udon Thani Railway Station for our next destination ie Udon Thani, Thailand > Kamsavath, Laos departing day after tomorrow (09.05), less hassle for our direct train ride from Udon Thani (Thailand) > Kamsavath (Laos) instead of going to Nong Khai (a border town in northern Thailand) ! 

3) Bought finger food (40bhts) from roadside stalls in downtown Udon Thani, Laos 

4) Countryside scenery as viewed from the moving car from Udon Thani > Phu Foilom Garden

5) Phu Foilom  Botanical Garden, Udon Thani, Thailand - an eco-tourism tourist destination for nature lovers, located in Pu Phao Pakho National Forest Reserve in Udon Thani, the garden was established in 1962 to honour the 60th birthday of her majesty, Queen Sirikit. 

6) A viewpoint in Phu Foilom Garden - a panoramic view of  Pu Phao Pakho National Forest Reserve. 

7) Pha Yiap Lok Trekking Trail, Phu Foilom Garden, Udon Thani, Thailand - a 2km trek with a high steep area in dense forest. 

8) Exiting the Phu Foilom Garden > REd Lotus Lake after spending almost an hour in this scenic countryside garden ! 

9) Red Lotus Lake, Udon Thani, Thailand - located 45km from Udon Thani, a large lake with 100,000 acres of red lotus (tropical water lilies ?), as the timing of our visit was in mid-Feb, it was probably at the end of the lotus season hence not many tourists & not much happening around here ! 

10) Exiting the Red Lotus Sea > Ban Chiang Archaeological Park - let the country road (well tarred) takes us to our next destination, an UNESCO site of Thailand !  

11) Ban Chiang National Museum - admission fee 150bht (Rm20 = US$4.50), an important pre-historic settlement, a great exhibits & displays of potteries extracted from the archaeological site, some artifacts dating back to 5,500 > 6,000 years ago ! 

9) Archaeological Pit, Ban Chiang, Udon Thani, Thailand 

10) Wat Pho Si Nai, next to the Bang Chiang Archaeological Pit.  

11) Lunch in Ban Chiang (Pad Thai 50bht) & Takeaway Dinner in Udon Thani (Pancake 40bht) - a simple, no frill meal for our group of 4 during the Ban Chiang outing & in Udon Thani Night Market !