Cathy and Gary's South East Asia Travel Pages
WAT SUWANNAKHUNA PHANG NGA PROVINCE
Wat Suwannakhuna is often called the Monkey Temple or the Golden Cave and it is a Buddhist temple about 10 minutes before Phang Nga town that is worth a visit.
There are monkeys everywhere here but if you are worried about them they never go inside the cave.
Inside is very beautiful, it is not just one cave but a series of large connecting caves. There is a beautiful 15-meter reclining Buddha in the first cave, then there is a small stairway up to the second cave where you will see various stamps and carved seals on one of the walls.
These are from various Kings and Queens of Thailand who have visited the Wat, with the earliest being King Rama V in 1890.
There are more caves after this area but during low season it is too slippery and muddy to go any further. We were so lucky this day as we were there quite early and there were no busloads of tourists there.
To drive to Wat Suwannakhuna from Phuket will take about one hour once you leave the island, just head for Phang Nga and when you see some carved archways on your left with a sign saying Ramon Forest, turn left and the temple is about 100 meters down on your right.
