Cathy and Gary's South East Asia Travel Pages
WAT THAMTAPAN PHANG NGA
Wat Thamtapan is in Phang Nga town which is about 1.5 hours’ drive from Phuket and this would have to be the strangest Temple I have ever been in. There are shocking displays of what Buddhist Hell would be like, plus a nice display for Heaven!
There is a massive dragon and you enter through his mouth, when you come out at the other end you are in Hell, there is also another area down a small dirt track and you enter a beautiful cave with little bridges that cross a small river inside, however sometimes it is so muddy due to rain that you cannot walk down to the bridges.
It may not suitable for very young children as there are some quite horrific statues that leave nothing to the imagination.
Once you come out of the Hell section you will see some animal statues, head to the right and you will enter Heaven where everything is much prettier!
I have never seen such gruesome statues and they are huge, much bigger than me.
There is not much I can say about this place, I will let the photos tell the story.
There are quite a lot of Temples like Wat Thamtapan scattered across Thailand. Entry is free, and we enjoy taking friends and family here as they have no idea what they are about to see!
Just keep driving through Phang Nga Town and on the left you will see Soi Thamtapan which is just past the hospital, the Temple is about half a kilometer down the Soi.
Most definitely worth a visit.