Ubon Ratchathani: A First-Timer's Guide
Ubon Ratchathani — plain "Ubon" to everyone in Thailand — is the great city of the far east, where the Mun River finishes its long journey across Isan and pours into the Mekong. It is a city of temples and wax candles, of Vietnamese-influenced breakfasts and prehistoric cliff paintings, and it is the last big Thai city before Laos. Bangkok is about 630 km west; the Mekong, and some of Thailand's strangest and most beautiful landscapes, are on the doorstep. Where It Is and What It's Known For The Candle Festival — at the start of Buddhist Lent (usually July), Ubon parades enormous, intricately carved beeswax candles through the streets around Thung Si Mueang park. It is one of Thailand's great festivals. Wat Phra That Nong Bua — a dazzling white-and-gold chedi modelled on the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya in India, unique in Thailand. Pha Taem National Park — prehistoric rock paintings, some 3,000 years old, on cliffs above the Mekong — and the first sunris...