Photo by Jeffrey Miller
17th December, 2010
By Papa Sparks
The influence of Khmer culture and architecture outside of Cambodia are indicative of how widespread Cambodia’s domination was in Southeast Asia.
It is still possible, while traveling in parts of Thailand to see how far the Khmer’s influence extended in Buddhist architecture in the ancient capitals of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai as well as in some off the well-traveled path, like Heuan Hin in Laos. Located some 65 kilometers south of Savannakhet and 15 kilometers west of National Highway 6 on the banks of the Mekong River, the ruins of Heuan Hin, or “Stone House,” is believed to have been one of the 121 rest houses (dharmasala) constructed by Jayavarman VII (1181-1218) along the roads, which once criss-crossed the Khmer empire.
Unless you were familiar with the area or knew someone who was, the ruins would be very hard to find on your own (I couldn’t find any mention of them in the guidebook I had, but I did come across the site on a map I purchased). Likewise, the road to the ruins is not too good, and in some places (at least during the rainy season) would be impassable unless you had a four-wheel drive vehicle.
Sadly, the structure is in poor condition and most of the original carvings have been lost. Still, it is interesting to climb around these ancient ruins. What I found most interesting is that the stones used to build the rest house appeared to have been brought there from somewhere else because I could not find any rocks in the area that seemed similar. I wonder if they could have brought up from the Mekong from southern Laos or Cambodia (there were some holes in the rocks which gives one the impression that they might have been placed there to help carry the rocks.) The rocks also appear to be either igneous or granite which don’t seem to be indigenous to the area (though they could have come from the Mekong).
If you are traveling from Savannakhet to Pakse and are not pressed for time you might want to include Heuan Hin on your itinerary. Accessible from the main highway that runs south to Pakse, so with a copy of a map and some help from locals—who would be more than happy to taxi you to the site by motorbike for a hundred Baht—Heuan Hin is definitely worth exploring while in the region.
17th December, 2010
By Papa Sparks
The influence of Khmer culture and architecture outside of Cambodia are indicative of how widespread Cambodia’s domination was in Southeast Asia.
It is still possible, while traveling in parts of Thailand to see how far the Khmer’s influence extended in Buddhist architecture in the ancient capitals of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai as well as in some off the well-traveled path, like Heuan Hin in Laos. Located some 65 kilometers south of Savannakhet and 15 kilometers west of National Highway 6 on the banks of the Mekong River, the ruins of Heuan Hin, or “Stone House,” is believed to have been one of the 121 rest houses (dharmasala) constructed by Jayavarman VII (1181-1218) along the roads, which once criss-crossed the Khmer empire.
Unless you were familiar with the area or knew someone who was, the ruins would be very hard to find on your own (I couldn’t find any mention of them in the guidebook I had, but I did come across the site on a map I purchased). Likewise, the road to the ruins is not too good, and in some places (at least during the rainy season) would be impassable unless you had a four-wheel drive vehicle.
Sadly, the structure is in poor condition and most of the original carvings have been lost. Still, it is interesting to climb around these ancient ruins. What I found most interesting is that the stones used to build the rest house appeared to have been brought there from somewhere else because I could not find any rocks in the area that seemed similar. I wonder if they could have brought up from the Mekong from southern Laos or Cambodia (there were some holes in the rocks which gives one the impression that they might have been placed there to help carry the rocks.) The rocks also appear to be either igneous or granite which don’t seem to be indigenous to the area (though they could have come from the Mekong).
If you are traveling from Savannakhet to Pakse and are not pressed for time you might want to include Heuan Hin on your itinerary. Accessible from the main highway that runs south to Pakse, so with a copy of a map and some help from locals—who would be more than happy to taxi you to the site by motorbike for a hundred Baht—Heuan Hin is definitely worth exploring while in the region.
1 comment:
If you google earth this Pakse area you can see the shape of the mountain looks like a big flying bird over vast land.Ancient Khmer called this area Baksey Giri or simply Baksey which meant Bird.
Laos are faithful people to the historical fact, had never attempted to change territory name like bastard youn who always put new vietnamised name to the lands they stole from neighbors. Only the Lao pronunciation is the factor of the change from Baksey to Pakse.Some other places in Lao you can notice like :
ហ្លួងព្រះបង-វាំងច័ន្ទ្រ-ជ័យបុរី-ជ័យតំបន់-វង្សាវល្លី-ឧត្តមជ័យ ។ល។
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