Our next stop was at Phimai, a historic town located in the Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat) province of Thailand.

The ancient town

The Historical Park

In the past, Phimai held significant importance during the Khmer Empire era. The central temple Prasat Hin Phimai was a major Khmer structure in Thailand and was linked to Angkor through an ancient Khmer Highway.

Even though the Khmer at that time practised Hinduism, the temple was constructed according to the Buddhist tradition due to the fact that the people of the Khorat region had been followers of Buddhism since the 7th century. The site was referred to as Vimayapura, meaning “city of Vimaya”, and eventually became known as Phimai in Thai.

Built by King Jayavaman VI, this was actually even the source of inspiration for Angkor Wat! This is visible by the striking similarities between the two sites.

Inside the main pagoda can be found the statue of that king. A pigeon is now having a good rest on it away from the heat of the sun:

Maybe one of the ancestors of that bird is carved on the walls of the site, among other carvings:

We also saw a girl named Ece walking through some corridors of the ruins:

Sai Ngam

We also stopped by Sai Ngam, near an ancient reservoir built by the Khmer. It is Thailand’s largest banyan tree, and it is… huge. A banyan tree is a fig tree that grows on another tree or structure and has roots that hang down and take root wherever they touch the ground. So what you see in this picture is a whole single tree!

Of course, such a special place contains several shrines: The banyan tree holds great importance in Buddhism since it is believed that the Buddha attained enlightenment while meditating in the cool shade of this tree.

The city of Khorat

Khorat was where we were staying, as this was the closest main city to Phimai, and we spent a bit of time there visiting it.

Statue of Thao Suranari

It is one of the main landmarks of the city. When we saw this statue, we first thought that it was one of some deity, as people were praying in front of it:

It turns out that it is the statue of the spouse of a deputy governor of Khorat in the 19th century. According to the legend, she rescued the people of Khorat from being captured as prisoners of war during a Lao army attack on Siam (Thailand) in 1826.

Some Larb at a local restaurant

We tried a speciality from Isaan and Laos, Larb: It is a mixture of minced pork, fresh herbs, onions, spring onions, and a tangy dressing consisting of lime, sugar, fish sauce, and chilli. All of these elements create a delicious taste. There we ate it with sticky rice and raw pepper and garlic!

After this nice food, we were ready to reach our next destination, another national park!