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Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung is a 11th to 12th Century Khmer structure that is located near the town of Buriram in the Isaan region of Thailand. Buriram is located 56 miles east of Nakhon Ratchasima. To reach the historical park from Buriram travel south on Highway 219 to Highway 24, there are signs for the park once you reach Highway 24. Or if you are coming from Bangkok, Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) or Khon Kaen, exit off of Highway 2 onto Highway 24, then follow Highway 24 east. The park is located about an hours drive south of Buriram. There isn’t much in the way of luxury accommodations in Buriram, so your best bet is to spend the night in Nakhon Ratchasima then drive the couple of hours east on Highway 24 to the park.

The park does not disappoint. It is much larger than the ruins at Phimai and there are several souvenir vendors available in the area with every type of souvenir imaginable with very affordable prices, along with a very impressive museum which gives information on the history of the site in English as well as Thai. Entrance to the museum is free and open daily from 9am to 4pm. The park itself is open daily and there is a fee of less than $2 American (about 50 baht) per person. I have seen conflicting reports on the park’s hours with the earliest listing 6am and the latest listing 8:30am – most information has generally agreed that the park is open until about 5:30pm or 6pm. Shoot for mid-day and you should be fine! However, many bus tours arrive here throughout mid morning until late in the afternoon. For such a large attraction in Thailand there is suprisingly no contact information to be found either on the Internet or in other guidebooks. There is only one public restroom available to the best of my knowledge, which is inside one of the shops that sells souvenirs, snacks and drinks, and there is a small fee of 2 baht to use the toilet.

The prasast sits atop an extinct volcano and once you trek up the elaborate series of steps to reach the prasat, you will be treated with a grand view of the valley below. During the Songkhran festival in April (look for a future entry about Songkhran) the local people have their own Phanon Rung Festival. This is to commemorate the restoration of the prasat. The name “phanom rung” in Thai means “big hill.” Aptly named considering that the rest of the surrounding topography is quite flat. This prasat is probably the one that most resembles and rivals the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The park was restored in the 1980′s at an approximate cost of 2 million dollars and is one of the few Khmer sanctuaries without later Thai additions. Though the park is off the beaten path from other destinations in Isaan, if you are here to see prasats, there are many other prasats located along Highway 24 with signs in English. In fact, Prasat Meuang Tam is a mere 8km from Phanom Rung and it too has been restored. Unfortunately, due to time constraints I have yet to visit this prasat, but I plan to on a future trip. A word of caution however, as I haven’t yet explored any of the other smaller and more decayed ruins, I can not comment on which ones are worth visiting. I have heard rumors however, that some of the prasats may still have buried land mines and unexploded grenades from past military conflicts which would remain hidden amongst the overgrown vegetation. So a definite word of caution if you decide to venture off the main road to explore some of these more obscure prasats.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Isaan, Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.