Ibrahim Jabbari
WHERE: Buriram Province, Thailand
Phanom Rung Historical Park isn’t quite Angkor Wat—that’s across the border in Cambodia—but it’s a superb example of Khmer architecture with a fraction of the tourists Angkor sees. The Hindu Khmer temple complex, built between the 10th and 13th centuries, sits 1,319 feet up, on the rim of an extinct volcano, so it’s pleasantly cooler up here than on the ground. Because it’s not so crowded, you’ll have time to admire the pretty lotus leaf-filled ponds and the carvings of Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva, who are carved on the pediments and lintels of the entrance gates. Phanom Rung is part of a larger UNESCO site that includes 11th-century temple Prasat Muang Tam, 10 minutes’ drive south (grab a tuk-tuk), which is even less crowded.
