Prasat Phra Wihan (Preah Vihear) Gopura of the second level

All buildings have gable roofs, not the spired pyramid roofs of palace structures. It would be more correct to call the ruins monthien. The crest of the hill is a slab of stone projecting out over the cliff face. A short path leads down to the natural rock shelter underneath the overhanging stone. The rock shelter is called, Poei Ta Di. Preah Vihear now belongs to Kingdom of Cambodia. In the geographical aspect, Prasat Phra Wihan stands within the Thai boundary because all small streams that come from the top of the hill run down directly into the Mun River in north east ern Thailand. Also, from the Thai border, Prasat Phra Wihan is more easily accessed than from Cambodia. The local people in the Northeast normally walk up by the streams to the summit of the hill while the Cambodians have to climb up broken staircases which are too steep to climb up comfortably.