Mo E-daeng | Bangkok Post: Mo E-daeng

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Overlooking the lowlands that are now part of Cambodia, the steep cliff of Mo E-daeng is where officials have had the headquarters of Khao Phra Viharn National Park built. This location also provides the easiest access to Phra Viharn (or Preah Vihear, as the Cambodians call it), an ancient Khmer shrine to the Hindu god Shiva.

Before France forced King Rama V to cede several large parcels of territory along Siam\'s eastern frontier in the late 19th century, the lowlying land from this cliff all the way to Siem Rat (now Siem Reap in Cambodia) and Phra Tabong (now Battambang) was Siamese soil. Nowadays the border between the two countries in this area follows the contours of this steep-sided mountain, a state of affairs with which most Thais have no problems. An International Court of Justice ruling in 1962 that gave ownership of the shrine to Cambodia was grudgingly accepted by Thailand, partly because the verdict did not touch on sovereignty of the land surrounding it.

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