Wat Prachakhom Wanaram (Wat Pakung)

Wat Prachakhom Wanaram, better known locally as Wat Pakung, centres on a sandstone chedi modelled on Java’s Borobudur — the first pagoda built from natural sandstone blocks in Thailand rather than brick or the standard Isan-style prang. Construction ran from 1992 to October 2004, when a gold spire was raised over the finished structure. Entry is free, and the grounds in Si Somdet district are open daily, roughly 08:00–18:00.

The chedi was built under the direction of Luang Pu Sri Mahaviro, a senior monk in the Thai forest tradition who took the honorific title Phra Thep Visutthimongkol, to mark his 90th birthday and 60th year in the robes. Rather than the brick prang found at most other Roi Et temples, the design borrows Borobudur’s stepped, terraced silhouette and reproduces it in sandstone quarried and dressed locally — a deliberate departure from the Khmer-influenced towers common across the province.

Walk the base terraces and you’ll find carved relief panels depicting Jataka tales, done in a similar narrative spirit to Borobudur’s reliefs though carved by Thai stonemasons rather than copied wholesale. Insider Tip: Climb to the upper terrace in the late afternoon — the sandstone holds the day’s heat, but the light on the carved reliefs is best after 4 PM, and the crowds that gather for morning merit-making have usually thinned out by then.

Dress modestly for the grounds — covered shoulders and knees — and remove your shoes before entering the ordination hall nearby. Wat Pakung is within reach of Roi Et town, about a half-hour by car; if you’re chasing Roi Et’s other giant-chedi landmark, don’t confuse this one with Phra Maha Chedi Chai Mongkhon at Wat Pha Nam Thip Thep Prasit Wanaram in Nong Phok district — a separate temple, roughly an hour further east, that’s sometimes wrongly credited with this chedi. Roi Et town’s own lake park, Bueng Phlan Chai, makes an easy stop on the way back.