After zig zagging all over the Khmer temples to the northwest, I finally arrived at Ubon Ratchathani, the eastern most stop I’ll be making on this trip. Ubon Ratchathani, is like some of my other stops, just a very convenient and pleasant place to stay while I explore the area. I did of course take a day to explore the city, though.

Thung Sri Mueng, seen above is pretty much the center of the city. It seems a bit out of place in the giant and otherwise empty park, but it is impressive. Also like most cities in Thailand, there is a national museum highlighting some of the artifacts found in the surrounding area. I liked this prehistoric axe.

Below left is a rare statue of the Hindu god Shiva’s half male half female form, Ardhanarishvara. It’s supposedly the only existing Ardhanarishvara statue in southeast Asia. The statue on the right resembles statues more commonly found in Vietnam. The fact that it was found at a Khmer temple in Thailand proves that there was contact and trade between the two regions. It’s considered a very significant find.

In addition to the prehistoric and Khmer artifacts, there were also lots of interesting and more recent Buddhist artifacts too.

Just across the street from the Ubon Ratchathani National Museum is Wat Si Ubon Rattanaram. It’s a pretty temple, but the really important bit is inside.

Inside the temple is Ubon Ratchathani’s holiest Buddha image. You would think it’s the big main statue in the middle, but no, the city’s holiest possession is in the middle cabinet above his head with the lights. A 7cm tall topaz Buddha.

I had to break out the big super zoom lens to get a picture of it, let alone just see it, but there it is.

The other really interesting temple in town is Wat Thung Si Mueang. It was built in the early 19th century and still has all of the original murals inside depicting scenes from everyday life from that time inside. They were in really great condition!

Also right next to the temple was the beautiful Tripitaka Hall, where they keep all the old scriptures written out on palm leaf paper. They’re in this building on stilts and in the water to protect them from termites. It’s a pretty simple structure, but the old smelly wooden buildings like this are always my favorites.

In most of the city parks I always see squirrels running around. That’s not unusual or unlike home, but the squirrels here have very different coloring than the North American versions. I finally managed to get a picture of one. They’re quick little guys, and usually very shy.

Finally, my last stop in the city was Wat Ban Na Muang way out by the airport. This unique temple sits on a replica of King Rama IX’s royal barge, including the crew. Why? I don’t really know, but it’s quite a sight.

The next day I was up early to drive out to Pha Taem National Park, the main reason I came here. The park is at the easternmost part of Thailand, the Mekong River, and the border with Laos.

I saw several crazy rock formations and hoodoos like the ones above this day. The main attraction, though, is the long hike along the cliffs to see all the 3000 year old rock art. The one below is hard to make out, but there’s a fish dead center of the pic.

There are basically four sites on the hike where the rock art is found and this is also the largest concentration of prehistoric rock art in the whole country.

To be honest, I was really impressed with this place. I knew I was coming to see some rock art, but everything I read seemed to downplay it. They really need to advertise better.

Walking along those cliffs was pretty fun too. Most of it was paved and pretty tame until I got past site three. Most of the Thai families that visit seem to turn around at site two, but not me.

There was an additional descent to get to site four that was blocked by caution tape, but there was no one around so I went for it. The art is out on a ledge that was a bit sketchy. I can’t see a family with kids and grandparents in tow doing it, but for me it was pretty easy.

After site four I had to scale back up the cliffs and walk the second half of the loop hike in the ridiculously oppressive sun. The views out over the Mekong River and into Laos were pretty awesome though.

I still had a good portion of the day left so I decided to drive around and check out the parks waterfalls. By far the most popular was Soi Sawan Waterfall, which was actually four waterfalls very close to each other and all falling different directions. I’m not sure which one was the actual Soi Sawan, but they were all really pretty.

I also discovered why everything I read said it was better to visit these places during the week. I didn’t have much of a choice, honestly, but it was Sunday and it’s a holiday weekend here too so guess where all the locals went? That’s right! They all decided to go swimming at Soi Sawan. Ha! Getting pictures of this place without a hundred people in them was one of my greatest challenges yet.

There was considerably fewer people in the more remote northern part of the Pha Taem National Park where I saw these next two waterfalls. Thung Na Mueang Waterfall was really pretty, especially considering its dry for most of the year. I came at just the right time! The orchids were growing out of a crack in the steps of doom down to the falls.

Saeng Chan Waterfall was the best for sure. At the top you can see the stream flow down a hole in the rocks.

At the bottom you can see the water dropping into this beautiful little cove. Saeng Chan means moonlight and the falls were named that because it resembles moonlight streaming down to Earth.

As a bonus, I followed the little path behind the falls and over to the other side for an even better picture. The funny thing is, this waterfall wasn’t even on my list. I saw a sign for it while driving and went to have a look and it turned out to be the best one. Beautiful!

It was getting late and I still had about a two hour drive back to Ubon Ratchathani, but I took a little detour to check out the Two Color River. It’s not actually one river, but where two rivers meet, the blue Mun River and the brown Mekong River. Unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible to see the two colors meeting from water level, the aerial photos online are pretty cool though. And it’s a super pretty spot to end a great day.

After leaving town to head to the next stop I made a quick stop at what is one of the most unique temples I’ve ever visited in any country, Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew.

It’s a pretty temple, but what makes it so unique? If you zoom in a bit you might notice that all the buildings are constructed entirely of glass bottles. Whoever came up with this idea had to be a mad genius… or just drank way too much!

And it’s not just the building construction either. The artwork on the walls was all made in mosaic style using bottle caps. Zoom in on the wall behind the Buddha to see it. This place is just fascinating!

Anyway, I have a series of very short stops since Khon Kaen, so the posts will be coming a little quickly for a bit. I’ve now covered the little visited northern and eastern parts of Thailand, now it’s time to start heading west. See you in the next post…