If you would like to read my full Laos travel blog click
on this link and start at "Our Introduction to Luang Prabang"


Via the new Mekong bridge at Pakse you are soon in Thailand. A couple of hours drive southwest brings you to the Khmer border from where you walk (no passports required) into Cambodia to the grounds of Wat Preah Vihear, or Prasat Khao Phra Wiharn in Thai. Perched on a precipitous hilltop with a commanding view of its surroundings, the earliest structures here pre-date Angkor Wat by 100 years. The history of the temple is somewhat unclear, but it is thought to have been largely constructed in the reign of Suryavarman I (1002-50), with significant additions by Suryavarman II (1113-50). Due to its location on the Cambodian/Thai border, ownership of the area was disputed until 1967, when the ICJ ruled that it belonged to Cambodia — which was soon after plunged into civil war. The temple opened briefly to the public in 1992, only to be occupied by the Khmer Rouge as one of their last strongholds against the Hun Sen government. It opened again from the Thai side at the end of 1998.