Wat Suwan Khua, Phang Nga, Thailand

We recently decided to explore a bit of amazing Thailand….landed Krabi and and moved on road to the beautiful beach town of Phuket.
Enroute, we decided to visit Wat Suwan Kuha  commonly called as Wat Tham and more easily understood as monkey cave temple.
The cave is situated in Phang Nga town, located on the Mu2 Tab on Krasom. This is approximately 9km from Phang Nga town on highway no4 on Phuket route. Mind you it’s easily missed….. as it is not visible from the highway and you need to take a U turn ahead. So inform your driver…most of them seem familiar.
The place is approachable form Phang Nga town by bus, private cars, taxi or tuktuk.
It is open from 8 am to 5pm for an admission fee of 10 baht.
Now…..why  one should feel good going there….knowing that Thailand is studded with a lot of temples.
This  is Buddhist temple cave with a  huge reclining Buddha statue.
The temple is located on a mountain also famous for caves like Tham Yai Tham Chaeng, and Tham Muet. Most caves do not have electricity and hence may need local guidance to explore.
These caves are also discovered to be short period residences of Neolithic age and have contributed to the collection of archeological remnants.
The big cave serves as the location of the reclining Buddha statue …..is the lowest level. This is Tham Phra… it also holds a lot many Buddha statues  and is decorated with ceramic and porcelain tiles. This cave is also meant to lead out to the cave of the white snake …now the legend says you have to be extremely lucky…to spot one ……honestly….I wasn’t.
Moving on… from the main cave there are steps which lead out to the dark and light cave. At this juncture you can see the inscription of the visit of Majesty King Rama  V,VI,VII and the present  King Rama 9.
From here you can move to the  left to the dark caves…or right which leads on to the other caves.  The dark cave impressive….the lime stone formations are massive …
The smell of bats is a put off…..yet it just hits your nose for a brief minute.
The  path is well laid till half way up…then it’s a bit slippery because of the moist limestone. Climbable without any gear….yes….
As we were  climbing down…realised that there were many small lead out caves …some blocked…in one of them saw a huge number of resting bats..
It’s a 15minute cave adventure.  .do tag your children along ..as long as they are not allergic to lime stone….

The small opening between the two caves..  give a breath of cool air… and a breather to kids who don’t like the musty smell…
The entrance to the main cave….is filled with monkeys….chattering, squabbling and just going about themselves. We came back and enjoyed the monkey merry….
Please do not carry heavy bags or good stuff ..Cox the monkeys too like to explore them….
Adjacent to the cave is a temple….with a huge pagoda and lots of statues….
Enjoy the visit… do leave a comment of you find it worthwhile.

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