Baan Rabiang Dao resort near Khao Yai

Normally I don't write about resorts or hotels here, as for me these are mostly the places to spend the night and I prefer to explore the attractions around. So we don't go to the expensive resorts and choose a plain hotel room instead. But since it was a nice and special place we stayed together with the Thai family two years ago I'll give it a try to deviate from the normal contents here this time. Just to make it clear - I wasn't paid for this posting, nor am affiliated in any way with the resort.

The resort is named Baan Rabiang Dao, yet the part we stayed was named Ban Ruea Resort (บ้านเรือรีสอร์ท), literally house boat resort. The name and the photos already explain the theme of the resort - the rooms are inside traditional styled houseboats. As we were traveling with all family we filled a large boat completely - actually we were even more than the 6 persons normally planned for a single home. As it is a relatively expensive resort we only stayed one night, but it was definitely a pleasant stay. Especially the children liked the pool a lot, and luckily we could borrow swimming suits from the resort as not all of us did bring our own.

The resort is located near Khao Yai national park, and it was very quiet around it. Only when I now searched to pinpoint the location exactly I learned that very close to the resort is the Gran Monte winery - we visited a winery next day, but that was the Vin de Ray in neighboring Saraburi.

Prasat Phanom Wan

Prasat Phanom Wan (ปราสาทหินพนมวัน) is a Khmer temple ruin located between the more famous and big one in Phimai and the city Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat). It consists of a about 50x50 m big area enclosed by a stone wall, with a single shrine in the middle.

I went there on the return way from Phimai, so this much smaller and less reconstructed site failed to impress me that much after seeing Phimai, but the fact that I was the only one exploring there and the more ruined state also has a lot charm. Since I did a lot of photos in Phimai already, I only did very few there, and only one turned out good enough to show here. But on Wikimedia Commons it has several more from other visitors.

I only came to go there because I bought a book on Khmer sites in Thailand in preparation for the visit to Phimai, and noticed that there a second place which nearly on the way. According to that book, this temple was built between the late 9th and late 11th century, and was used for Shiva worship, and at other times Vishnu worship and finally Buddhism was practiced there. It was rediscovered by the French explorer Henri Mouhot in 1861.