We love this place! That Phanom is a sleepy small town 55km south of Nakhon Phanom. The locals here have to be amongst the friendliest in all of I-san and it is home to the equally friendly and homely Niyana Guesthouse.
The town is home to Isan's most revered temple, the same-named Wat That Phanom, a spectacular pagoda that sits a few hundred metres back off the riverbank. At 57 metres tall the glittering gold and white chedi is a particularly fine example of the Lao style of design. According to legend, the original construction was built over 1,500 years ago to house, you guessed it, an original relic of the Buddha himself -- in this case a breastbone.
Over the next millenium or so, it's collapsed on a number of occasions, including once in 1975. This collapse is of interest due to a legend floating around that should the chedi fall, so would the Lao government, and sure enough not long after the collapse the government in Laos fell. No word on what happened to the Lao government the other half dozen times the stupa "had issues".