Udon Thani (, ) is a city in

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

(

Northeast Thailand Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

), the capital of Udon Thani Province and the sixth largest city in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. The city municipality (''thesaban nakhon'' /

city proper A city proper is the geographical area contained within city limits. The term ''proper'' is not exclusive to city, cities; it can describe the geographical area within the boundaries of any given locality. The United Nations defines the term as " ...

) had a population of 130,531 people as of 2019, while Udon Thani's urban area, Mueang Udon Thani, has a population of approximately 400,000. Udon Thani is one of four major cities in Isan, the others being

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima (, ) is the capital of Nakhon Ratchasima province, the largest city in Isan, Northeastern Thailand and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, third-largest city in Thailand. It is 250 km (1 ...

Ubon Ratchathani Ubon Ratchathani (, ) is one of the four main cities in Thailand's Isan region, alongside Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat), Udon Thani, and Khon Kaen, collectively known as the "big four of Isan." Located on the Mun River in the southeastern Isan, ...

, and

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen (, ) is the capital of Khon Kaen province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, fourth-largest city in Thailand. It is one of the four major cities of Isan, Northeast Thailand, also known as the ...

. Together they are known as the "big four of Isan".

Location

Udon is approximately 560 km from

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

. It is a major official and commercial center in northern

, Thailand, and the gateway to

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...

, and

southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...

History

The city's economy was boosted by the proximity to

Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (Udorn RTAFB) is a Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) base, the home of 23rd Wing Air Command. It is in the city of Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand and is the main airport serving the city and province. The RTAF 23 ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and retains reminders of that time in the form of bars, coffee shops, and hotels. "Udon sort of became like

Pattaya Pattaya is a city in Eastern Thailand, the second-largest city in Chonburi province and the List of municipalities in Thailand, eighth-largest city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, and h ...

when the

GIs A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

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." 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 Abu Zubaydah ( ; , ''Abū Zubaydah''; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi citizen and alleged terrorist born in Saudi Arabia currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He is held unde ...

, Saudi-born Palestinian, believed to be one of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

's top lieutenants. In December 2014 the

United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...

(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. Earlier reports alleged that a

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

relay station in a rural area of Udon Thani Province,

Ban Dung District Ban Dung (, ) is a district (''Districts of Thailand, amphoe'') in northeastern Udon Thani province, Isan, Thailand. Geography Neighbouring districts are (from the south clockwise) Thung Fon district, Thung Fon, Phibun Rak district, Phibun Rak, ...

, was the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

black site.

Administration

Udon Thani town municipality (''

thesaban mueang Thesaban (, , , Pali: desapāla (protector of region) are the municipalities of Thailand. There are three levels of municipalities: city, town, and sub-district. Bangkok and Pattaya are special municipal entities not included in the ''thesaban'' ...

'') with an area of was established on 15 March 1936. On 27 May 1953, the area covered by the municipality was increased to . As a result of the town's continuing growth, the total area of the municipality was enlarged for the second time to . on 31 December 1993. On 25 September 1995 Udon Thani was upgraded to city municipality (''

thesaban nakhon Thesaban (, , , Pali: desapāla (protector of region) are the municipalities of Thailand. There are three levels of municipalities: city, town, and sub-district. Bangkok and Pattaya are special municipal entities not included in the ''thesaban'' ...

''), and is divided into 21 sub-districts (tambons), which are further subdivided into 248 villages (mubans). (''chumchon''), 130,531 people in 60,659 households.

Transport

Udon Thani International Airport Udon Thani International Airport is in the Nong Khon Kwang subdistrict, Mueang Udon Thani district, Udon Thani province in northeastern Thailand. It is approximately northeast of Bangkok. It currently has domestic flights to and from Bangk ...

, close to the city centre (within the ring road), serves a number of domestic airports:

Chiang Mai International Airport Chiang Mai International Airport is an international airport in Suthep subdistrict, Mueang Chiang Mai district, Chiang Mai province in northern Thailand. It is a major gateway that links northern Thailand to the rest of the region and is cur ...

U-Tapao International Airport U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International Airport , also spelled ''Utapao'' and ''U-Taphao'', is a joint civil–military public international airport serving the cities of Rayong and Pattaya in Eastern Thailand. It is in the Ban Chang distri ...

(Pattaya), and Phuket, with approximately 24 daily flights to Bangkok ( Don Mueang International and

Suvarnabhumi Airport Suvarnabhumi Airport is the main international airport serving Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. Located mostly in Racha Thewa subdistrict, Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan province, it covers an area of , making it one of the biggest intern ...

). During the 2020-2021

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

flights were reduced to 10-14 daily to Bangkok airports only.

Udon Thani railway station Udon Thani railway station is a railway station located in Mak Khaeng Sub-district, Mueang Udon Thani district, Udon Thani province. It is a class 1 railway station located from Bangkok railway station. It is the main railway station of Udon T ...

in the city centre receives four trains daily from

Bangkok railway station Bangkok (Hua Lamphong) railway station (, ) is a list of railway stations in Thailand, railway station in Pathum Wan district, Pathum Wan, the former central station, central passenger terminal in Bangkok and the former railway hub of Thailand. ...

(Hua Lamphong) including overnight sleepers.

Economy

Mining

Asia Pacific Potash Corporation (APPC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Italian-Thai Development PLC, owns the concession to the Udon North and Udon South

potash Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

mines and plans to develop them. Potash deposits in northeast Thailand are believed to contain the world's third-largest—after Canada and Russia—unexploited potash reserves. Potash is one of the main components of agricultural

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

Climate

Udon Thani has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Aw''). Winters are fairly dry and very warm. Temperatures rise until April, which is hot with the average daily maximum at . The

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

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 to .

Sister cities

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Isan Populated places in Udon Thani province