Backpacking in Thailand - 22 Dec 09

Day 4 : Phimai Historical Park & travelling to Lopburi






We got up early in the morning and got into the Phimai Historical Park before the sun got too bright and the crowd comes in.

This park was a pretty large temple complex. The temple was built a few hundred years before Angkor Wat. The main prasat is similar to those found in Meuang Tam and Phanom Rung.




The temple has three prasats which make it look quite similar to Angkor Wat.

This is a Hindu-Mahayana Buddhist temple. Most of the carvings and shrines are Hindu. However, there are also some Buddhist elements. In one of the chamber, there is a Khmer styled statue of the Buddha with the Naga hood.

There is also a sitting statue of Angkor King Jayavarman VII (a replica, the original one is now in the Phimai National Museum), which looked exactly like the one found in Cambodia.


We checked out of the guesthouse and had lunch before heading to Lopburi. We have to take a bus to Korat. From there, we took a 3 hour bus ride to Lopburi.

It was dark by the time we got into Lopburi. We checked into the Noom Guesthouse. Noom Guesthouse only had 3 "bungalows" and we took the remaining 2 for 350 and 450 baht.

The street by the railway was a night food street. We ate at a stall which had a "katoi" cook. We had a bit of problem communicating what we want and the food that turned up on our table wasn't quite what we ordered but it was delicious anyway.

The ruins in Lopburi are scattered all over the town. We are practically eating our dinner right next to the ruins.