Tag Archives: Culture

Jim Thompson farm & Pak Thong Chai silk Village

Posted on January 2, 2011 by baansaranyakhaoyai | Leave a comment

Jim thompson farm & Isaan Village

Jim Thompson farm
Jim Thompson organize farm tours in the December/ January cool season only.
The Jim Thompson Farm is open daily from Saturday 18 December 2010 through Sunday 9 January 2011. from 9.00 am until 5.00 pm. Open on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) from 15 january to 13 february 2011.9.00 am until 5.00 pm.

” Situated in the Pak Thong Chai district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, the project area initially covered 600 rai (about 96 hectares/237 acres).The Jim Thompson Farm was opened to the public for the first time in 2001 and has since evolved into one of Isan’s most popular agro-tourism and eco-tourism attractions. It is open to visitors only once a year during the peak of the cool season.

The Jim Thompson farm tours provides a unique opportunity for visitors to observe up close and personal the full life cycle of the silkworms and the silk farming process as part of the Isan way of life. Other highlights include a tour of the vegetable plots and ornamental plant nursery.
The Isan and Khorat villages are star attractions featuring antique houses unique in architecture and in pristine condition.”
(Adults Baht 60 and Children Baht 40).

Jim Thompson Farm
Tambol Takob, Amphur Pak Thong Chai,
Nakhon Ratchasima, (Korat) Province
E-mail: farmtour@jimthompson.com. Tel: 02-762-2566, 085-660-7336, 044-373-116
Web: Jim Thompson farm

Jim Thompson recently open ‘Ho Kum Koon’, a tribute to Pak Thong Chai as the Nation’s Major Silk-weaving District. Located at the entrance of the Thai Silk Company’s Pak Thong Chai factory in Nakhon Ratchasima, Ho Kum Koon Tourist Information Center is open daily from 9:00 to 18:00 hrs. For more information, please call 044-441-558 Ext. 3123. picture@Jim Thompson

Pak Thong Chai Silk Village
One of the most famous silk villages in Thailand, showcasing elaborate silk-weaving process, and offering beautiful Thai silk at reasonable price, Korat silk is famous for its high quality. Pak Thong Chai Village is one of Thailand’s most famous silk-weaving villages, where villagers retain their creative skills in producing beautiful Korat-texture silk. Though many Thai silk factories have been set up here at the village, independent local weavers still produce exquisite hand-woven Korat silk as souvenir items. Open daily. (Clik for map)

Museums in Nakhon Ratchassima area

Posted on December 30, 2010 by baansaranyakhaoyai | Leave a comment

Phimai National Museum is in Phimai, about 60 kilometers from Nakhon Rachassima, on the road to Khon Kaen. The museum display a collection of arte-facts and information on the cultural prosperity of ancient Isaan. Arte-facts found in the lower North eastern Thailand are displayed here, including pre-historic items like pottery, tools and stone ornaments. Arte-facts from later periods include stone temple boundary markers from the Dvaravati period, Khmer building parts, and a bas relief of King Jayavoraman VII found at Phimai Sanctuary, the museum’s most outstanding exhibit. The Phimai museum is open 9.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. daily.

The Phimai museum is the center of cultural heritage in north-eastern Thailand

Buddha Sheltered by a seven-headed naga, Phimai Museum

The Museum exhibitions are divided into 3 parts: Part 1 : Second floor exhibition. This exhibition shows the development of communities in the lower part of northeast Thailand from prehistoric to recent periods.
Part 2 : Ground floor exhibition. This exhibition shows the archeology and history of the town of Phimai. It includes the town environment, the construction of Prasat Phimai during the 11th – 13th centuries, and evidence of the flourishing religion, culture and economy of the time.
Part 3 : Outdoor exhibition. This displays sandstone objects used in the construction of Khmer temples such as Prasat Phimai. These includes lintels, door columns, motifs, lotus bud-shaped crowns (the apex of the tower) and miniature tower.

Boundary Marker (Sema Stone) Dvaravati Style. 9th - 10 th centuries A.D. Phimai Museum

Cultural Center of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat Institute is at Saranarai Road. The center has a good collection of images and history of historical sites, as well as information on ancient arts, tools and currency. It is open during government office hours.

Maha Wirawong National Museum is opposite the Provincial Hall in Khorat. The Maha Wirawong museum has on display artifacts found in Nakhon Ratchasima and nearby provinces such as stone Buddha statues from the Khmer and Ayutthaya periods, earthenware, bronze Buddha statues and woodcarvings from an ancient temple. It is open during 9.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. from Wednesday to Sunday. It is closed on Monday, Tuesday and public holidays.

Old Khorat City is 32 kilometers from the present city. The old city of Sema is a city from the Dvaravati period that is 37 kilometers from Nakhon Ratchasima city. Only a wall-like earth ridge remains. However, an important artifact stored at Wat Thammachak Semaram is the reclining red sandstone Buddha image that is the largest and oldest in Thailand. The image is 13.30 meters and 2.80 meters high. It was built around 657. There is also a Buddhism wheel sculpted from a large boulder.

Useful links:Thailand museums

Historical sites nearby

Posted on December 18, 2010 by baansaranyakhaoyai | Leave a comment

Phimai Temple in Isan. photo@BillBradley

Phrasat Hin Phimai Temple

The Phimai historical park protects one of the most important Khmer temples of Thailand. It is located in the town of Phimai, Nakhon Ratchasima province, about 60 km from Khorat city.

The temple marks one end of the Ancient Khmer Highway from Angkor. As the enclosed area of 1020x580m is comparable with that of Angkor Wat, Phimai must have been an important city in the Khmer empire. Most buildings are from the late 11th to the late 12th century, built in the Baphuon, Bayon and Angkor Wat style. However, even though the Khmer at that time were Hindu, the temple was built as a Buddhist temple, as Buddhism in the Khorat area dated back to the 7th century. Inscriptions name the site Vimayapura (which means city of Vimaya), which developed into the Thai name Phimai

Phrasat Hin Phra Nom Rung

Phanumrung historical site

Prasat Hin Phanom Rung (Phanom Rung Stone Castle), is a Khmer temple complex set on the rim of an extinct volcano at 1,320 feet above sea level, in Buriram province in the Isan region of Thailand, about 120 km from Khorat city. It was built in sandstone and laterite in the 10th to 13th centuries. It was a Hindu shrine dedicated to Shiva, and symbolises Mount Kailash, his heavenly dwelling. (Phanum Rung complex map)

Khao Chan Ngam Cave paintings

Located 44 km from Khorat, the cave is located on a back yard of Wat Khao Chan Ngam. The cave paintings are dated from 3000 years ago. We can found there, paintings of men, women, children in various actions, such as sitting, dancing, standing with a dog, and firing arrow with bows.
The bodies themselves are clear to see with the calf section distinctively large.