Thailand Guide
The northeast: Isaan
Phimai
Hemmed in by its rectangular old city walls and encircled by tributaries of the Mun River, the small modern town of Phimai is completely dominated by the charmingly restored 800-year-old Khmer temple complex of Prasat Hin Phimai. Phimai's other claim to fame is Sai Ngam (Beautiful Banyan), reputedly the largest banyan tree in Thailand, still growing a couple of kilometres beyond the temple walls.
Phimai's biggest event of the year is the annual festival of boat races, held on the Mun's tributaries over a weekend in early November, in a tradition that's endured for over a century. In common with many other riverside towns, Phimai marks the end of the rainy season by holding fiercely competitive longboat races on the well-filled waterways, and putting on lavish parades of ornate barges done up to emulate the Royal Barges of Bangkok. As part of the boat-race festival, a son-et-lumière show is staged at the temple ruins for five nights in a row; check with the Khorat TAT tourist information office for details ( 
044 213666, 
tatsima@tat.or.th).
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