Phu Phrabat Historical Park in Udon Thani province

Phu Phrabat Historical Park in Udon Thani province
อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์ภูพระบาท จังหวัดอุดรธานี

In Baan Phue บ้านผือ, wait for songtheo (line 581, orange, Udon Thani - Baan Phue  - Nam Som น้ำโสม). Ride songtheo 13:21-34, 10 Baht, along hwy 2348, get off where hwy turns north (90 degree bent) 17°43'03.1"N 102°23'28.9"E 17.717518, 102.391365. From there, historical park is 4.7 km by road to the north-west. A mocy offers ride to park, wait two hours, and take me back to Baan Phue for 250 Baht, a fair offer which I accept. Entry to the park 100 Baht.

Spend 13:43-15:51 in the park. They have a map (English or Thai) with distances between the interesting sites.

Huge staghorn/elkhorn fern near park office:

The most famous rock in the park, Ho Nang Usa หอนางอุสา:
17°43'58.1"N 102°21'12.3"E 17.732821, 102.353414

It even made it on street signs in Baan Phue town:

There are more weird rocks:

This one has been converted to Wat Luk Koei วัดลูกเขย:

Prehistoric rock paintings:

Even if there is no weird rock, the surface looks interesting:

(Rocks of weird shapes and strange rock surfaces can be found in other provinces as well: Chayaphum, Ubon Ratchathani, Pitsanulok spring to my mind.)

There are many antlion (the funnels are called รูแมลงช้าง in Thai, literally: hole-insect-elephant). I saw antlion holes before in Srisaket province, now I catch ants (put a leave in their way, and then lift if off the ground when the ant is on the leave, and shake it above a hole) and put them in the funnel. Escape rate is about 50%. But those who get caught struggle for seconds and then disappear in the sand. Fascinating, I could spent hours doing this if it wasn't so hot and sunny. Surprisingly, the antlion can live in small areas of sand surrounded by rock (before I saw the holes only in large areas of sand):

On return stop at Wat Phra Putthabaht Bua Bok วัดพระพุทธบาทบัวบก:

Replika of That Phanom:

From Baan Phue return to Udon Thani by songtheo 823 (Udon Thani - Baan Phue - Na Yung นายูง) 16:50-18:11 (slow due to mocy accident on the way and stop to collect fare).  

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