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buad hai

Meuang Tam

buad hai

Ta Meuan Toht











Ta Meuan Thom




Border with Cambodia is just beyond this guard post.

Bexar County Stud

Nice photos. Place(s) look deserted. What time of year did you visit and take these snaps?

buad hai

^Those were all taken in November of 2005. And, yes, very deserted.

Torbek

I visted this place a few months back while also visiting Phimai and Phra Vihaan (and other parts of Isaan).

I was extremely impressed with Phanom Rung...not just the ruins, but the overall maintenance and set up of the site.

I'm sometimes underwhelmed by how Thai authorities maintain and present their historic sites, but I think they are doing a great job here.

Although having just visited Phra Vihaan and seeing how the Cambodians present that probably left the Thais looking good regardless!

I also thought the ruins themselves were pretty impressive. I was surprised that I had never heard of it before. I think TAT could well present it as an iconic image of Thailand, up there with Sukhothai and Ayuthayya, albeit on smaller scale.

I think a three (or four) day trip around Isaan in a loop taking in the three sites and maybe a stop along the Mekong gives a visitor a great glimpse of Thailand different to shopping malls and highway billboards you get in the more central and oft travelled parts.

Smeg

Are you kidding?

Seeing as how the place was built by Khmers in the Khmer empire centuries before the Thais entered the region and decided to invade Ankor and push the Khmers (91% of Cambodians are ethnic Khmer) out of their own lands back to Phnom Pehn, as seeing how it is more impressive and better built than the stuff Thais have put up since, this is the last place they are likely to promote.

My advice - don't go there on a national holiday, as you'll see from a couple of my shots.





















And I dunno who this guy was, but he was with his extended Thai family of several thai men and 100% thai children and drowning his sorrows with a can of Singa in the back of the family pickup at 8am. Poor sod probably paid for the truck but had to sit in the back when it drove off.

Torbek

Point taken, but it seems to me many Thai icons had their origins in other lands...Thai dance, Thai costume, Thai language, Ramakien, etc...

Why not hang their hat on this one as well?

buad hai

You're exactly right. Most people simply don't know how beautiful parts of Isaan can be and how many interesting historical sites there are; most of which are barely visited. (There's no one to collect fees at many of them.) For the first year or so we lived here we did three or four day road trips every month and still haven't been to all the places we'd like to visit.

blackpanther

prasat preah vihean is an amazing temple south of phanom rung just over the thai border. the road up there is sealed and they get a lot of people on day trips. the road up the mountain from the cambodian side is suppposed to be toturous

one of the walkways, there are about 3 of these which bring you gradually up to the top of the mountain.


a sign for the thais to take their photo by



temple at the top..



the incredible view from the cliffs over the cambodian plains..

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buad hai

These are scans of photos I took in 2000 on a trip around Isaan. It was very damp and misty the day I visited Khao Phra Wihann, but I think the weather gives the photos a rather mystic look.

Wayne Kerr

Must agree, overall I was super impressed by how enthusiastic government staff in Isaan are when it comes to looking cultural sites etc

Marmite the Dog

I'm sure there's more to this that WK is letting on...

Smeg

By the way, double pricing entry fee, 40 baht for people born outside of this great nation.

At a smaller ruin nearby with slightly less double pricing differential I asked the two ticket staff why the thai price was written in thai numerals and the foreigner price in roman numerals and yet the opening times written for both thais and was foreigners, 0600 - 1800, were written in roman numerals. They were so impressed with my wisdom that both of them presumed that I was also skilled enough to obtain their reply telepathically whilst they stared at their feet.




So, unless cambodians who want to visit temples built by their khmer ancestors on their own land can read thai numerals, they too will be screwed for a few extra baht.

dirtydog

They don't want the nasty foreigners knowing that the lovely Thai people only have to pay 10baht

Smeg

Sorry about the ruins photos quality, not bad for a phone camera though.

Smeg

Because that would be pushing things a bit too far and would probably end up causing complaints from Cambodia, with Thailand becoming the mockery of historians, unesco etc.

Thais had absolutely nothing to do with this place and didn't even exist as a nationality when the place was built. But as you can see, they still think that thais deserve to see it more cheaply than cambodians, so they are kind of promoting it quietly to themselves (i.e. the fact that they can do whatever they want with it after stealing it rather than any claims towards having built it)

Torbek

What?

They're not already?



I can think of half a dozen classic examples but to list them would place Dirty Dog in a compromising position with the authorities...

Ping

Some great pics in this thread. Been meaning to have a look up there myself for a while. Maybe this year if I can get my finger out.

sabang

I visited Phanom Rung on the way back from Isaan recently. It was early morning- around 7.15am, so no crowds about. And you escape the heat of the day, as theres a fair few steps to climb.

Still 40 bht for farang, 10 bht Thai. Phanom Rung was actually built as a Hindu monument, not Buddhist. It's on the peak of a dormant volcano, so some nice views over the surrounding plains. I only took a few pic's, as the camera battery gave out.





Pretty good view from up here-







Our only company was a mangy stray dog that followed us everywhere, but he was friendly. Well worth a visit, and plenty of other stuff to see around there too.

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Ping

Greens to everyone who posted pics of Phanom Rung. Always had an ambition to get up there myself (but the gearbox has been stuck in 'Lazy'). Hopefully before too long. Thanks to everyone for some great snaps!