Visit Wat Sirindhorn Wararam (Wat Phu Prao) (Ubon Ratchathani)

Located in the Chong Mek district near the Laotian border, 90 kilometers from Ubon Ratchathani, this charming little temple on a hill mostly attracts visitors in the evening when the paintings of its back façade and its tree and symbols on the ground illuminate. A difficult moment to photograph without a tripod and a long exposure because it is not really illuminations but phosphorescent paintings that ''load'' in daylight and reveal themselves as soon as night falls. It's beautiful to look at and make great photos as long as you do what it takes to immortalize it (which was not really my case). The best time to see the phenomenon is during the dry season (December to late April) because the sun is more present. In the rainy season, if the weather is to cloudy before dusk, as it was the case for me -it was raining when I took my night time pictures), the paintings will be less luminous. But even by day time, the temple is beautiful, it just takes a fairy dimension at night.

There is also near the parking lot, a small promontory with a view over the Mekong river.

Free admission
If you can, avoid coming on weekends, there are many more people. I also recommend spending the night, see 1 or 2 days in Khong Chiam about thirty kilometers away. This is a small town very nice that I will soon add in the list of main destinations of the site.

Wat Sirindhorn Wararam (Wat Phu Prao) is a temple and when you visit a temple in Thailand there are some rules to know and follow:

• Dress properly (knees and shoulders should be covered)
• Take off your shoes when entering the buildings
• Be quiet
• Don't hug or kiss
• Don't point your feet to Buddha's image
• Don't smoke