Wat Sanuan Wari Phatthanaram

Wat Sanuan Wari Phatthanaram sits in Ban Hua Nong, Khon Kaen province’s Ban Phai district, about 46 km from Khon Kaen city. Entry is free and the grounds are open daily 08:00-17:00.

The temple’s real draw isn’t Khmer ruins — there are none here — but a small early-20th-century sim (ordination hall) built around 1917, two years after the temple itself was founded. Vietnamese craftsmen, active across this part of Isan at the time, built its distinctive naga-carved stair railings and an unusually solid design: three arched alcoves, the centre one forming the entrance stairway and the two flanking it doubling as window openings, ringed by three overlapping rows of roof tiles running around the building in eight directions.

Inside, a stuccoed Buddha image in the Mara Victory pose sits on a locally made pedestal, and the upper walls carry murals in the northeastern hup taem style — painted mostly in indigo and yellow, showing scenes from the Wessantara Jataka alongside the folk tale of Sinsai and depictions of the Buddhist hell realms. It’s a rare surviving example of the mural tradition found in only a handful of old Isan temples, and the main reason the sim is locally valued despite its modest size (roughly 5 by 7.5 metres).

Watch out: the sim shows real signs of age — rising damp is affecting the plaster and murals in places, and conservation has been patchy. Treat it gently and don’t touch the painted surfaces.

Insider Tip: Ask at the temple office whether the sim is unlocked before making the trip out — as a modest working monastery, the historic hall isn’t always open, and the murals are the whole reason to come.

Beyond the sim, the rest of the complex is an ordinary working temple — prayer halls, monks’ quarters, grounds that see far more local merit-making than tourist traffic. It’s a low-key stop rather than a major sight, best suited to visitors specifically interested in Isan mural art and vernacular temple architecture.

There’s no public transport directly to the temple — a car or motorbike from Ban Phai town or Khon Kaen city is the practical route. If this style of vernacular temple art appeals, pair the visit with the Sim and Hup Taem Sin Sai, Wat Chaisri or the Sim (Ubosot) of Wat Sa Thong Ban Bua elsewhere in Khon Kaen province.