Your Thai Villa's guide to Udon Thani Province, Thailand

The history of Udon Thani, both ancient and modern, is mired in confusion and interpretation.

Early History

Many profess that the Thais originated in China's north western Szechuan province approximately four and a half thousand years ago, and later migrated south to the kingdom known formerly as Siam - and today as Thailand. However, when an American citizen accidentally stumbled upon extraordinary prehistoric remains in the village of Ban Chiang (near Green Gecko, in Nong Han district), this theory was soon to be challenged. Could a precocious Bronze Age civilization have evolved here, and could Ban Chiang be the ancestral home of the modern day Thais - some of whom later migrated to China?

The small village of Ban Chiang lies a little to the east of Udon Thani and is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site of the same name. It is often claimed that this hamlet was the site of the world's first Bronze Age civilization more than 5,000 years ago.

Further archaeological remains are evident at Phu Phrabat National Park north-west of Udon Thani, where strange sandstone structures remain to this day and house Bronze Age cave paintings.

Modern History

Just as unravelling the ancient history of the province leads one to conflicting interpretations of events, a review of its more recent history is equally cloaked in Byzantine mystery. It is common knowledge that Udon Thani grew considerably in size during the Vietnam war, playing home to a major joint forces Air Force base, an important front lines facility of the US Air Force from 1964 to 1976. However, the Air Force base also comprised the headquarters of Air America, the professed passenger cargo airline secretly owned and operated by the CIA. Air America was in fact involved in ensuring provisions to, and support for, covert operations in S.E. Asia during the Vietnam War. The Hollywood film Air America, starring Mel Gibson, refers to Udon and features shots from the Udon military base.

And even recently, the controversy continues into the cloak and dagger world of American politics and Guantanamo Bay. Sources including The Washington Post have reported that one of the USA's secret facilities for interrogating terror suspects is located at Ban Dung (about 65kms from Udon Thani airport), to which suspects are secretly transported. This base, it is claimed by some, was developed in the 1970s to monitor China, and camouflaged as the regional relay station of the Voice of America.

Thailand's former army chief however has denied that the Americans operated a secret prison where prisoners were tortured: ”I can confirm you that there is no such place in Thailand,” he has said, thus countering the details in documents submitted to a court in New York as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Udon Thani province encompasses the  districts of  Kumphawapi, Nong Han, Phen, Ban Phue, Ban Dung, Si That, Nam Som, Nong Wua So, Kut Chap, Non Sa-at, Wang Sam Mo, Chai Wan, Nong Saeng, Sang Khom, Thung Fon, Na Yung, Phibun Rak, Ku Kaeo and, Prachak Sinlapakhom - the latter being home to Green Gecko.