The white tower
A forerunner of Angkor Wat's.
Mastertongapollo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · กสิณธร ราชโอรส — CC BY-SA 4.0 · กสิณธร ราชโอรส — CC BY-SA 4.0 · กสิณธร ราชโอรส — CC BY-SA 4.0 · กสิณธร ราชโอรส — CC BY-SA 4.0
The largest and most complete Khmer temple in Thailand, in the heart of the small town of Phimai north-east of Korat. It was built in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries as a Mahayana Buddhist sanctuary, when the region was part of the Khmer empire, linked by an ancient road to its capital at Angkor, and many scholars see its central tower as a forerunner of Angkor Wat's. You enter over a causeway guarded by lions and seven-headed mythical serpents, then through sandstone gates and galleries into the inner court, where the white main tower rises, carved over its doorways with scenes from Buddhist and Hindu myth, with two red-stone towers beside it. The temple was reassembled stone by stone between 1964 and 1969. The fee for foreigners is about two hundred baht in the latest listings, a hundred in older ones, and it opens from seven in the morning until six in the evening. Each November the Phimai Festival brings boat races and a light-and-sound show among the ruins. The heat is fierce from March to May, so early morning is best. Allow two hours and combine it with the national museum steps away and Sai Ngam, a giant banyan tree on the river near town. Phimai is an hour by car or bus from Korat.
A forerunner of Angkor Wat's.
Seven-headed serpents at the entrance.
Buddhist and Hindu myths.
Centre of Phimai town, about 60 km north-east of Nakhon Ratchasima city
It was a temple of the same Khmer empire, joined to Angkor by an ancient road, and its central tower is seen as a forerunner of Angkor Wat's style.
