Phra Borommathat Chedi Si Suwachanakhunanuson, Wat Pa Khao Noi

Phra Borommathat Chedi Si Suwachanakhunanuson rises about 31 metres over Wat Pa Khao Noi, a forest-tradition meditation temple on a hill near Buriram town. The design is Khmer, not Lanna — a red-brick prasat form modelled on the stone-castle style of nearby Phanom Rung, built to honour the temple’s founder rather than as a purely decorative landmark. Entry is free.

Wat Pa Khao Noi was founded in 1936 by Luang Pu Suwat Suwocho, a monk in the forest meditation lineage established by Luang Pu Man Bhuridatto, one of the most revered teachers in Isan Buddhism. The temple was set up specifically as a place to practise — an old monastery close enough to the city to be convenient, but wooded enough on its hill to suit vipassana meditation. The chedi came later, built in Luang Pu Suwat’s memory.

Inside, the building works on two levels. The ground floor is a meditation hall that also displays photographs and objects tracing Luang Pu Suwat’s life and teaching. Climb to the upper floor and you’ll find his statue along with his enshrined relics, the focal point for visitors who come specifically to pay respects rather than just photograph the exterior. The red-brick tower itself echoes the stone castles of the Khmer empire scattered across this part of Isan — most obviously Phanom Rung, whose silhouette the chedi’s design deliberately recalls.

From the hilltop grounds, the view opens across Buriram’s rice-field countryside — flat, green or gold depending on the season, with little to interrupt the sightline. There’s minimal shade once you’re outside the chedi itself, so the cooler early morning is the more comfortable time to visit and photograph the structure.

Dress modestly (covered shoulders, long trousers) and remove your shoes before entering either floor. The temple is reachable by car or motorcycle from Buriram town center; there’s no scheduled public transport to the site. Pair the visit with the genuine Khmer ruins at Phanom Rung Historical Park — seeing the original makes the chedi’s borrowed architecture click into place — or with Wat Khao Angkarn, another hilltop temple in Buriram province.