Phu Phra Bat Historical Park

Udon Thani town doesn't seem to have much to recommend it to tourists (my old Lonely Planet lists it as a place that mostly attracts sex tourists). I found the town to be weirdly quiet and over-run by aggressive dogs at night, not a nice place to go for a walk looking for a place to have dinner... maybe I was staying in the wrong part of town? 

But I wasn't in town for Udon Thani itself — I'd come to see Phu Phra Bat Historical Park.

Getting there from Udon Thani took a little time, but was relatively simple. I first headed to Rangsina Market at the north end of town (about 3km north of the centre where I was staying, so I walked but you could take a sorngtaew).

From the main street next to Rangsina market, you can catch a sorngtaew to Ban Phue (30 baht each way, maybe 90 minutes or so. My sorngtaew stopped at the new bus station on the Western ring road en route, so the journey took a while (I don't know if they all do that detour, or if I was just unlucky). 

I alighted in Ban Phue by the Tesco Lotus. From there, you can hire yourself a motodop or tuktuk for the return trip out to the historical park. Don't expect a lot of English to be spoken there, but between a little mime, and the help of friendly locals — a young local woman came out of the shop where she worked to help translate for me — I managed to agree to hire a tuktuk and driver for half a day for 400B. From Ban Phue to the park it's about 30 min.

The park is wonderful: 

Mushroom shaped rock formations in a half-forested, half-moonscape landscape. 3000 year old cave paintings. I mean: just look at those pictures!

Prehistoric cave paintings in Tham Khon ("human cave")

Many of the rock formations had been adopted as holy sites, with Buddha sculptures added and folk legends told about them

Udon Thani you can keep, but Phu Phra Bat is well worth the effort of a visit.

A few more practicalities — the parking lot area for the park has a small restaurant that also sells cold drinks and snacks, and a brand new toilet block which is in excellent condition. 

The main pathways around the park had clearly been recently refinished, and were flat, wide, and covered in gravel, and the park offers a golf buggy service to take elderly or disabled visitors to the main sites. Some of the secondary sites are only reachable by foot, as the smaller side paths haven't been refinished yet, and are rutted and uneven in places.