First stop after lunch was the Cambodian (or Khmer) temple of Phanom Rung. For those of you who have been to Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the similarities are pretty obvious, and for those of you who haven't, watch this space. It's the most dramatic site in Thailand, with a long processional walkway, climbing up an imposing staircase to the temple complex itself. It was built as a part fort, part Hindu temple, since Cambodia (and Thailand) were originally Hindu before converting to Buddhism about a thousand years ago. It's part fort because it formed part of the military network Cambodia built when it occupied Laos and much of Thailand in the 11th and 12th centuries. When the Thais beat back the Cambodians to their present borders, most traces of Cambodian culture disappeared in Thailand, except this series of ruined temple forts.
A couple of photos from the top of the complex, showing the main temple building which is supposed to be Mt. Meru, where the Hindu gods live. One interesting feature of this temple is there are fifteen doorways (where you see some monks in the photo above) and on Songkran, the Thai new year celebration I talked about hundreds of posts ago so I'm sure you remember, the sun shines straight through the all fifteen doors at sunrise.
