Udon Thani & Ban Chiang

Suan Luang

Nam Tok had been brilliant and it was a wrench to leave, especially when I got a photo of Grey-headed Parakeets that had arrived the day after we left, sent by our neighbours who had stayed on for a few more days! But we had to go as we were due to meet up with our friends at the Gift Of Happiness charity in Bangkok. First we spent a night in the Suan Luang district of Bangkok. Just another suburb but there's everything you need in places like this, we got an excellent a/c room for £14 and ate well for under a fiver for two. I took a walk to a nearby mall to change back some Vietnamese Dong and the route took me along a concrete walkway along one of the many klongs (canals). Even in this unremarkable part of the city I saw Plaintive Cuckoo, Little Cormorant, Common Kingfisher, Brown Shrike, Plain Prinia, Black-browed Reed Warbler and more.

Udon Thani

Common Tuft Bearing Longhorn Aristobia approximator

The following day we travelled with the charity to the provincial town of Udon Thani in the northeast of the country near the Lao border to put on a few shows and distribute donations at rural schools in the area. See here for a full report on this roadtrip.

Again wildlife took a back seat but I did get a distant photo of this huge insect from the hotel balcony; the Common Tuft Bearing Longhorn. Also from the balcony, watched evening roost flights of Black Drongos and mid-sized bats passing at dusk. Asian Barred Owlet sang during the day and other birds seen here included Ashy Minivets, 1 Thick-billed Warbler, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, Black-naped Monarch, Verditer Flycatcher and Brown-throated Sunbird. Swiftlets were a challenge here with some birds showing characteristics of Himalayan Swiftlet but most looked like Germain's Swiftlet.

One afternoon we visited the Ho Chi Minh Historical Park 12km west of the town. This curious shrine to the Vietnamese revolutionary leader's 3 month sojourn here in the late 1920s includes a small museum and some reconstructed houses in the style of the time. Surprisingly interesting and interpreted by an enthusiastic guide.

Ban Chaing

Being so close to a world heritage site proved too much of a temptation so when work with the charity was over we moved to a small resort in the SE of the city for a couple of nights and hired a car and driver to take us the 50km east to the site.

UNESCO World Heritage site number 76 for me is a museum centred on an extensive area of archaeological discoveries (mainly pottery) documenting evidence of early civilizations dating back around 4,000 years. There is also a preserved dig site a short way from the museum. A fairly underwhelming and low key place with few visitors and even less wildlife during our visit.

Back in Udon Thani I headed to the station to get the tickets for the train to Ayutthaya, passing a Buddhist temple procession and, at the Chinese-Thai Cultural Centre, some dragon dancing. The message of solidarity with Wuhan, where the pandemic had so far hit hardest, was a poignant symbol of what was still to come globally.