Nong Prajak Park

by **Martyn** » November 6, 2011, 6:32 pm

I'm drafting a blog post about Nong Prajak Park and I've hit a brick wall.

I visit Udon Thani three times a year (I live in the UK) and have been to Nong Prajak many times before but only in the morning. The main purpose of going to the park has been to eat at the outside cafe's opposite, and then to walk off those magnificent minced pork rolls with a stroll around the park. I have plenty of photos of Nong Prajak but lack real information about activities that take place there. I've never been to the park in the evening and what little information I've gleaned from the internet and forums about Nong Prajak is a year or so old. Could someone provide a bit of background and information about the park along the lines of:

What year was Nong Prajak Park opened?
Does it ever hold a day or night market?
I've read there is evening massage there, is it still there and what type of massage? (foot or body, or both)
Does it ever hold any concerts or exhibitions?
Can you still feed the fish by the bridge?
I know joggers run around the park but are exercise classes held there?

Any information would be most helpful and very much appreciated.

Thanks

by **rick** » November 6, 2011, 8:26 pm

What year was Nong Prajak Park opened?

- That i do not know.

Does it ever hold a day or night market?

- Every night there are many stalls open, less in the day. I wouldn't strictly call it a night market - mainly food and massage.

I've read there is evening massage there, is it still there and what type of massage? (foot or body, or both)

- A whole row of them, foot and body.

Does it ever hold any concerts or exhibitions?

- Certainly Music entertainment is available during other events, such as Loy Krathong.

Can you still feed the fish by the bridge?

- Yes.

I know joggers run around the park but are exercise classes held there?

- Aerobics in the evening.

by **old-timer** » November 6, 2011, 8:50 pm

Martyn wrote:I know joggers run around the park

OT has jogged around Nong Prajak in the early morning many times trying to get over a thick head and a belly full of beer from the night before. In my state I've run the wrong way into on coming chinese athletes who mutter something whilst chewing on their cucumber. By the time I make to the fire station I u turn back to the pavement foodstalls and get stuck into half a dozen vietnam rolls. If you get caught running in the cycle lane you will get ten years in prison so be careful.

OT............ $\:D/$

by **papaguido** » November 6, 2011, 9:26 pm

Besides jogging, biking and aerobics there are other activities such inline-skating, skate boarding and BMX cycling.

by **parrot** » November 6, 2011, 9:48 pm

A quickie translation of http://www.udonthani.com/nongprajuk.htm, says the park was referred to as the "salty swamp (Nong Na Gleuah)" before the city was established. It's located in the western part of the city. The park was established to honor Prince Prajak Silapakom who founded the city. The park was given a make-over in 1987 to honor King Bhumibol's 60th birthday (5th cycle).

A look over 200 google pages in Thai reveals no date when the park was established.

by **Martyn** » November 7, 2011, 5:02 am

Rick, old-timer, papaguido and parrot.

Thank you for the information, a billion bytes and 24 hours of my time surfing the net wouldn't have produced as many facts.

If I may, I'd like to ask one or two more things.

Am I right in assuming any concerts take place on the large paved area facing the fire station.

Am I right, to assume once again, that the 'night market' is along the road where the hospital is. Is the market just food stalls or are there other things. I read something about paint-your-own pottery stands.

Are the aerobics held on the paved area or in the garden area?

I read a reference to hiring rowing boats on the lake and I'm sure I've seen pedalo's too. Can you take a boat or pedalo out onto the lake?

Once again a big thank you for all your help.

by **trubrit** » November 7, 2011, 6:43 am

You might be interested to know . The park and surrounding streets have been declared a "No Alchohol" zone. There is a big fine to pay if caught with a bottle inside and the many food vendors around the area are forbidden to serve it. Your not even allowed to take your own, that's why I stopped going. :-"

by **parrot** » November 7, 2011, 3:51 pm

I finally gave up on finding the date that Nongprajak was dedicated. My search on google tells me that plagiarism is rife in Thailand as there is, what seems like, one paragraph that talks about the history of the park on the web. I reviewed university papers, city announcements, tour guide descriptions, and individual trip reports of the park. To a word, they're all the same.
So......inquiring minds.......led me to the Udon Museum where I posed my question to a bevy of young girls at the front desk. They didn't know. I suggested that there might be someone older (phuyai) who works in the museum who might know. There was some mumbling and eye movement to the upstairs area, but no one volunteered to inquire further. They asked why I wanted to know........and I told them 'curiosity'.
I asked if they might be able to find out, could they call me. I got blank stares and they asked if I could come back to inquire with some of the seniors when they're available. I left. Sigh!

by **greatsnake** » November 7, 2011, 4:43 pm

trubrit wrote:You might be interested to know . The park and surrounding streets have been declared a "No Alchohol" zone. There is a big fine to pay if caught with a bottle inside and the many food vendors around the area are forbidden to serve it. Your not even allowed to take your own, that's why I stopped going.

No problem, a few meters from 7/11 is one of the cheaper places in Udon to drink. Can't see the lake, but I've spend several nice afternoons there.

It is a pity about the drinking ban though.

by **Shado** » November 7, 2011, 5:20 pm

parrot wrote: "I asked if they might be able to find out, could they call me. I got blank stares and they asked if I could come back to inquire with some of the seniors when they're available. I left. Sigh!"

I guess asking them about the name origin of "Nutty Park" would be out of the question then. :roll:

by **Martyn** » November 7, 2011, 6:21 pm

Trubrit - Thanks for the information about Nong Prajak being an alcohol free zone. That's definitely worth including in my review.

Parrot - Thank you for doing your best to find out when the park was first opened, I guess we'll never know. I have been to the museum myself and enjoyed the experience, albeit for an hour or so. I have written a post about the museum but I don't know if I'm allowed to supply the link. If not, it will be moderated out which is fair enough. You may have problems loading it up because my host server is having problems at the moment. Hopefully they'll have sorted it by now.

http://www.thaisabai.org/2011/07/udon-thani-provincial-museum-an-old-relic-and-new-shoes/

Cheers

by **stargate** » November 7, 2011, 8:55 pm

martyn, the paint a pot stalls are near the massage booths, the paved areas near the firestation and the main entrance on the other side of the lake are for concerts and aerobics.opposite the Udon hospital the road is used as a car park for hospital visitors, there also food stalls. never seen boats on the lake , to me it seems ideal for them.

by TJ » November 8, 2011, 6:01 am

The somewhat upscale Good Everything restaurant is located a hundred meters from the park. Jan Condotel hotel (500 baht rooms) is just off the park across from theThai museum. Other decent hotels nearby.

Hundreds of candle lit lanterns will be floating away from the park during the night of Loy Krathong.

by **old-timer** » November 8, 2011, 1:14 pm

Martyn
If you check out this thread you will find some great pictures lee posted of loy krathong at nong prajak.
loy-krathong-t2710.html

They have the same thing every year with what seems like the whole of Udon Thani in attendance

The thread is from a few years back and to save any confusion trubrit was know as Valentine then, it was before he had a sex change.

OT................. $\:D/$

by **trubrit** » November 8, 2011, 1:50 pm

old-timer wrote:Martyn
If you check out this thread you will find some great pictures lee posted of loy krathong at nong prahttp://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforu ... t2710.html

They have the same thing every year with what seems like the whole of Udon Thani in attendance

The thread is from a few years back and to save any confusion trubrit was know as Valentine then, it was before he had a sex change.

OT................. $\:D/$

Nice flashback OT. God how gentlemanly we all were in those days . :lol:

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