Phanom Rung

Prasat Phanom Rung rides the rim of an extinct volcano above Buriram's rice plains - a pink-sandstone Khmer sanctuary to Shiva, built mainly between the 10th and 13th centuries and restored into one of Thailand's finest Angkorian-era monuments. The architecture is a pilgrimage made stone: a long processional avenue climbs through naga bridges and terraces to the central tower, and the axis is cut so precisely that four times a year the rising or setting sun pierces all fifteen aligned doorways in a single shaft - windows in early March, April, September and October that fill the hilltop with watchers. The celebrated Narai lintel above the eastern door shows Vishnu reclining on the cosmic ocean, and the April festival dresses the causeway in costumed procession. Below the hill, the moated temple of Muang Tam waits with its lotus ponds - the essential pairing.

What you actually see

• The processional causeway - naga bridges and terraces climbing the volcano rim.
• The central sanctuary - the pink-sandstone tower and its carved halls.
• The Narai lintel - Vishnu reclining above the eastern doorway.
• The fifteen-doorway alignment - the sun's four annual appointments.

When to go

November to February is coolest for the climb; the alignment windows in early March, April, September and October and the April festival are the spectacles - arrive very early for a doorway view.

Honest expectations

Buriram is deep Isan - you need wheels or a driver, and distances between sights are real. Alignment mornings are shoulder-to-shoulder and haze can soften the beam; on ordinary days you may share the hill with almost no one.

Nearby

Prasat Muang Tam below the hill, Buriram city and Surin's temple country.