Hundred-Pillar Pagoda

Wat Sarsar Moi Roi, the pagoda of a hundred pillars, stands beside the Mekong at Sambor, and the name comes from an older wooden temple on the site said to have rested on a hundred columns, connected in local tradition with a story of a king's daughter taken by a crocodile. The original was destroyed in the twentieth century and the present building is a large modern reconstruction, brightly painted, with a great many columns and a vividly decorated interior; a few original pillars and a small older stupa survive in the grounds. The setting on the river bank in a quiet town is much of the appeal, and it is usually visited alongside the Irrawaddy dolphin pools on the same stretch of the Mekong.

What you actually see

• The column hall - the reconstructed pagoda on its forest of pillars.
• Painted interior - brightly decorated walls and ceilings.
• Surviving fragments - a few original pillars and an older stupa outside.
• The Mekong bank - the river setting at a quiet town.

When to go

November to March for the roads and the river. Buddhist holy days bring the community out. It combines with the dolphin pools upstream from Kratie on the same day.

Honest expectations

The building is a modern reconstruction, not a historic monument, which visitors expecting an ancient temple find disappointing. The road north from Kratie is rough in places. There are no facilities beyond the town.

Nearby

Kratie lies south; the dolphin pools are between them.