Advertisement
Date of visit: December 18-22nd 2007.
Introduction:
For the research of this graduate project, I have chosen to visit four destinations within Thailand that I think will provide me with the data I need for my project. The first destination is Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. For this profile destination I will introduce Ubon Ratchathani as a province and as a destination. I will also show some typical 3-4 days packaged tour information to the destinations local cinema. Usually you will not find any because most tour operators operate on a fixed schedule and they would want to take advantage of natural resources as the main attraction to the destination. Traveling privately is different from taking part with a tour group. Private traveling gives more freedom to explore potential areas that are not proposed by tourism companies and also its a lot more fun. However, on the downside, you will still need a guide that knows the territory well. I was lucky that my driver knows these up-country destinations and with research from the internet I have created my own tour package to explore. Service it to say that the experience was very interesting and
Pha Taem National Park
Cave paintings dated back to approximately 3,000 - 4,000 years ago by cave dwellers. it gives the the opportunity to explore the regions of Thailand that even I haven't yet explored or visited.
About Ubon Rachathani:
Ubon Rachathani is a province in the eastern most I-san province of Thailand. From Ubon province you can also explore Laos and Cambodia as an off the track adventure. My journey began on December 18th and ended on the 22nd of 2007 as the first destination to explore for the project. My first night was near Pha Taem national park, where you could see many sights but the foremost feature of this national park is that you could glimpse the first sunrise/sunset in Thailand. I started off from the house from 8:00 AM and arrived at Pha Taem National Park just before sundown, because it was too dark to see anything we set off to find dinner and accommodations. (A word of advice, the accommodations needed to be booked by telephone or online in 24 hours of advance and also if you have time, visit this place and stay at the near by guest house. The stars at night are astronomical I even get a chance to see a shooting star.)
Pha Taem National Park
is the eastern most national park that is nested on a very high precipice over looking the Laos boarder. The morning schedule was simple, I visited some of the most talked about sights in the park which was the 3,000 year old cliff painting. It is accessible through a passageway with about a 1200 kilometer hike down to the cliff paintings. Another famous sight in Pha Taem is the Sao-Cha-Liang which is a weird old stone fossil formation that looked like mushrooms that is worth viewing. After visiting Pha Taem National Park I headed into the city center of Ubon Rachathani to begin my research project, mean while, also exploring other potential sights in and around Ubon city. Other places that I have visited are Mae Nam Song Si, Sirinthon Dam, Phoo Jong Nayoi and the Emerald Triangle.
For more information you can visit the following website:
1) http://www.thailandguidebook.com/provinces/ubon_ratcha.html
2) http://www.thailandvacation.net/provincial/ubon_ratchathani.html
3) http://www.infohub.com/vacation_packages/8530.html
When compared to a typical upcountry tour package usually go more than a week say 1-8 days at most. But during these 1-8 days you wont get to explore all of what Ubon Ratchathani has to offer for example:
Day 4: Arrive in
Delivering profitable value
This table describes the list of profitable value for the specific location at the destination. Ubon Ratchathani from Nakorn Ratchasima.
Explore Pha Taem National Park which includes cave paintings, Sao Cha-liang and Kaeng Tana. (However there is no viewing the sunrise at 5:30-6:00 AM, which is the real highlight of this park)
Afternoon: Explore; Wat Nong Pa Pong.
Day 5: Arrive Udon Thani from Ubon Ratchathani.
According to this tour schedule, you would at most spend one day exploring Ubon Ratchathani and you will not get the most out of the trip. For more information on this packaged tour please follow the link www.infohub.com.
Ubon Ratchathani Cinemas:
Upon arriving at the city center of Ubon Rachathani I checked into the local hotel called Nevada Grand Hotel. Adjacent to this hotel is the Neveda Grand Cinema and another hotel belonging to the same property. Also, across from the local university there is another cinema which is famous nation wide called Major Cineplex, however this Major was on the downscale compared to other Major Cineplex's through out the country. My investigations of the local cinemas took place over the next couple of days before heading back home. I first took a look at the Cinemas at the Nevada Grand entertainment complex. Comparing
to all the other local-local cinemas I have seen. I gotta say that this is the most upgraded local cinema you can find, however significance improvements needed to be made for more attractions.
Nevada Grand Cinema Multiplex7:
First off all, if you have never been to Thailand's movie theaters, you should know that they don't stand alone. The whole point of a plex or cineplex that is what they are called here is to be surrounded by other businesses. Usually Major Cineplex also comes with Major Bowl and now with a Karaoke lounge to fully entertain you. The night of December 20 2007 as the second day of my exploratory trip I went to watch the movie called the warlords at the Nevada Multiplex. The movie was good, however it is the experience that I am more interested in. It is what ever you would expect to experience at any movie theater in and around Bangkok, clean and comfortable with good picture and sound quality. The table to the left explains the details of the valued services that you could expect to find when you visit this particular movie theater. However, there are no shows shown in English
soundtrack and only few of the Thai shows have English translations. Thus this disadvantage takes away some potential foreign market share and the potential to up-grade the facilities for a higher end of the market segment. The pictures below shows what the lobby of the cinema was like and should give you an idea if you decide it was worth the visit, it was certainly worth it for me.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0476s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb