Buriram Thailand Guide

Khao Kradong Forest Park: Buriram's Extinct Volcano and Giant Buddha Buriram town sits on flat Isan plain — and right at its southern edge, a volcano rises. Khao Kradong is an extinct volcano, dormant for hundreds of thousands of years, and it is one of the most unexpected sights in north-east Thailand: a proper volcanic cone, complete with a crater lake, a short drive from the city centre. At its summit stands one of the province's most famous landmarks, a large golden Buddha watching over the town. A Volcano in the Middle of Town Khao Kradong is one of several ancient volcanoes in Buriram province, part of the same volcanic landscape that put Phanom Rung on its hilltop. This cone has been quiet for hundreds of thousands of years, and what remains is a distinct crater, now holding a small reservoir and ringed by forest, with the crater rim as the park's high ground. Because the hill stands alone on the plain, the views are far bigger than a height of only about 265 met...

Every visitor to Buriram knows Phanom Rung, the great hilltop temple that crowns an extinct volcano. Far fewer make the short trip down to its quieter neighbour, and that is a shame. Prasat Muang Tam, in Prakhon Chai district, is one of the most beautiful Khmer sanctuaries in Thailand. It is not built on a mountain, and it does not need to be. It is built around water: five brick towers ringed by four lotus ponds, with carved gateways and lintels that still hold their detail after a thousand years. นักท่องเที่ยวที่มาบุรีรัมย์ส่วนใหญ่รู้จักปราสาทพนมรุ้งบนยอดภูเขาไฟที่ดับแล้ว แต่มีน้อยคนที่เดินทางต่อมายังปราสาทเมืองต่ำในอำเภอประโคนชัย ซึ่งเป็นปราสาทขอมที่งดงามที่สุดแห่งหนึ่งของประเทศไทย ปราสาทแห่งนี้ไม่ได้ตั้งอยู่บนภูเขา แต่สร้างล้อมรอบด้วยน้ำ มีปราสาทอิฐห้าหลังและสระบัวสี่สระ พร้อมซุ้มประตูและทับหลังแกะสลักที่ยังคงความงดงามแม้เวลาจะผ่านไปกว่าพันปี An enclosure pond at Prasat Muang Tam, its still water reflecting the gopura gateways. Photo: Michael Gunther, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4....

Chang International Circuit: A Race Weekend Guide to Buriram A generation ago, Buriram was a quiet Isan farming town few travellers could place on a map. Then came a world-class racetrack and a top-flight football stadium, and everything changed. Chang International Circuit — also known by its earlier Buriram International Circuit name — is Thailand's only FIA Grade 1 circuit, built to host the very top level of motorsport. It has welcomed MotoGP, the Superbike World Championship and major Asian car series. If there is a race on, Buriram becomes one of the liveliest towns in Thailand. The Circuit in Brief The track opened in 2014 on the edge of Buriram town. The main layout is about 4.55 kilometres long with 12 corners, designed by Hermann Tilke, the architect behind many modern Formula 1 circuits. A long main straight rewards top speed, while the middle sector tests braking and balance. Grandstands are concentrated so that many seats can see a large share of the lap — unusually...

From the plain of southern Buriram, a dark green hill rises alone against the sky. It is the cone of an extinct volcano, and on its summit stands Prasat Phanom Rung, the finest Khmer temple in Thailand. Built of pink sandstone between the 10th and 13th centuries as a Hindu sanctuary to Shiva, it is a temple you climb to — up a long processional causeway, past naga balustrades and lotus ponds — and the climb is the point: every step was designed to lift you from the human world toward the home of the gods. Photo: Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons A Temple on a Volcano Phanom Rung means 'big mountain' in Khmer, and the mountain is a volcano that last erupted long before history began. The Khmer chose its crater rim for their temple because a mountain is the closest thing on earth to Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hindu belief. The sanctuary was built and rebuilt over three centuries, from the 10th to the 13th, under kings who ruled this region when it wa...