Wat Chetiya Khiriwihan

Wat Phu Tok climbs a lone sandstone outcrop that rises abruptly from the rice fields of north-eastern Thailand, and the only way up is a web of wooden stairways, ladders and plank walkways bolted to the rock. The paths wind around the mountain in seven levels, traditionally said to stand for the seven stages on the path to enlightenment, and lead past caves, shrines and meditation spots tucked into ledges. On the upper levels the boardwalks hang directly from vertical and overhanging cliffs, with nothing beneath them but air and the forest far below. Its formal name is Wat Chetiya Khiri Wihan.

The temple is a forest monastery of the Thammayut order, founded by the meditation master Phra Ajahn Juan Kulajettho. According to the temple's own account, he came here after a vision of two beautiful palaces on the mountain, found the place quiet and suited to practice, and settled in a cave on the rock; villagers from nearby Kham Khaen then asked him to establish a monastery. From 1969 monks, novices and local people built the stairs and the cliffside bridges by hand, drilling into the stone and lashing hardwood scaffolding to support the planks section by section, a task that took about five years. Water reservoirs, lodgings for monks and nuns and a large Buddha image on the fifth level followed.

Ajahn Juan died in a plane crash on 27 April 1980, aged 59, while travelling to Bangkok. The monastery remains a working place of meditation, and the walkways still serve monks as much as visitors. Bueng Kan, the province around it, is Thailand's newest, carved out of Nong Khai in 2011 along the Mekong frontier with Laos.

Getting there

Wat Phu Tok lies in Si Wilai district, Bueng Kan province, about 24 km from the town of Seka. The nearest airport is Sakon Nakhon (SNO), about 107 km away.