Khao Phra Wihan National Park: a unique panorama of Cambodia

Our goal for this day was to continue on the national road 24 before turning onto road 221 then 2248 in order to visit the Phu Chong Na Yoi national park before reaching Ubon Ratchathani to spend the night there.

If we do go to the national park in question, seeing a sign indicating the famous temple of Preah Viharn only 10km straight ahead instead of taking our road 2248 on the left, I said to myself why not go there for a look.

Preah Viharn, or how to flirt with Cambodia

So here we are, taking the extension of the small road n°221 where we arrived at the top of the local hill where the temple of Preah Viharn is perched there at 500m high. We almost only came across Thais, often with their families and even in picnic mode right on the edge of the parking lot.

Knowing that the places are part of a national park, access is therefore paying. Normally 200 Bahts for foreigners + 20 Bahts for Thais, this should have made 220 Bahts but as normally when you prove that you are in Thailand for a long time (in this case I showed my Thai driving license) you can get discounts, or sometimes even the same rate as the Thais (even if rarer, especially in Issan...) we finally paid only 150 Bahts.

If the temple remains inaccessible to the public (due to the recent conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, I will come back to this later in the article) the hill of Pha Mo I Daeng, whose name is relatively untranslatable apart from Pha which means cliff and Daeng which means red, is therefore the main local attraction, in addition to being able to see the temple.

Normally if the border is open, you have to pay a small tax to make the jump to Cambodia (without a visa) and then also 200 baht to visit the temple itself. Knowing that for the moment even if the places are calm there was no sign of a reopening soon.

Pha Mo I Daeng Plateau

From the top of this rocky plateau, it gives a superb view of the Cambodian plain opposite, a plain which is relatively wild since you can only see a small road passing below but which is composed of a huge forest as far as the eye can see.

Going up the hill towards the temple, it is possible to see figures carved into the rock slightly below the hill. Discovered late in 1987 during a patrol by Thai rangers (paramilitary units responsible for border surveillance), they have since created access via a wooden staircase, the bas-reliefs having been protected by a grid in order to stop damage. They are said to date from the XNUMXth century, even before the construction of the Preah Viharn temple, which is estimated to have been founded around the XNUMXth-XNUMXth century.

The appearance of the rock on the plateau, more black than red to my eyes, is quite particular. The steep cliff that runs along the Pha Mo I Daeng plateau is part of a mountain range called Dangrek (also spelled Dong Rak), which acts as a natural border between Thailand and Cambodia, except for the temple, which although located at the top of the hill is considered Cambodian property.

Confusion at Preah Viharn Temple: What's happening?

For the record, this conflict was rekindled after the site was added to UNESCO's world heritage list in 2008. Thailand did not accept the judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 1962, awarding the temple to Cambodia on the basis of a map dating from 1907, a map drawn by French officials, Cambodia being then under the protectorate of France in what was known as Indochina.

It so happens that at the time of drawing this map, officials had met with representatives of the Kingdom of Siam (which became Thailand) in order to jointly demarcate the border.

Border which at the time had naturally been determined by the presence of this mountain range including this hill as mentioned previously. If France abused by giving this distorted map to Siam, the international court gave its judgment in favor of Cambodia at the time on the faith that the Thai authorities never contested either at the time of the drawing, or in the years that followed, the delimitation made on this famous map of 1907…

Thailand therefore, following the inclusion of the monument in the UNESCO heritage, wanted to reclaim the temple as being located in Thailand by appealing the 1962 judgment. There was therefore a new trial recently, the ICJ (International Court of Justice) has just confirmed its 1962 judgment, ordering the Thai troops (and Cambodians too) to leave the premises without delay, because the two armies had been clashing regularly since 2, sometimes jumping on mines still present in the area. Judgment rendered on November 2011, 11 and access to the summit is now possible but without being able to approach the temple, it is also forbidden to take a photo of the temple (normally).

Khmer temples and waterfalls

In the end, we will see the temple in the distance, knowing that if there is now a possible access route from Cambodia (since 2003), the main access is in Thailand... In other words, we must technically enter Thailand from Cambodia to visit it...

Note the presence in the area of ​​other Khmer ruins such as the Don Tuan, a small temple located a few kilometers away, the "twin stupas" and 2 waterfalls in particular that we will not visit because we will focus on our objective, the Phu Chong Na Yoi national park, some 73km from the junction that I mentioned at the beginning of the article.

If you are interested the 2 waterfalls are Tham Khun Sri located above a cave, and Phu La-ô

If you had the chance to visit the temple before it closed, I'm interested in your testimonies!