Wat Bang Thong temple
In the southern part of Thailand -between Krabi and Phangnga- is a very nice new temple . In just a few years this temple was build and is now the highest temple in the south of Thailand. Locals from provinces like Krabi, Phangnga, Nakhon Sri Tammarat and Suratthani visit this place with their communities. Monks walk around and help visitors to make their offerings and pray with/for them.
The temple is located at the same place as Wat Mahatat Wachira Mongkon. Since 2012 the temple was under construction and it has opened its doors in 2018.
Tourists can see the beauty from this very high building from outside, but it is worth to take a view & walk inside (admission fee 50 baht). The bright colours, nice drawings and paintings, a beautiful Buddha, the prayers of the monks and the Thai people, it is all overwhelming...
Some information:
Wat Bang Thong stands more than 50 meters in height and its central tower can be seen from hundreds of meters, from all directions.
Wat Bang Thong resembles a Putthakaya style temple, some similarities can be drawn between this style and also of the Aztecs of Mexico.
Wat Bang Thong was funded almost entirely by donations from locals who wanted to have a beautiful 'temple of art' in their backyard. There were also donations from Bangkok and donations of Royal family which helped to make construction possible, but the vast majority came from locals. The total cost was estimated at around 100 million THB.
Just next to the main temple area there is a huge 30 meter tall statue of the immortal monk Luang Pu Thuad as well as the famous king cobra that is believed to have spat out the magical crystal ball on him when he was a baby.
How to get there:
You can easily get to Wat Bang Thong if you just follow route 4 out of Krabi until you come to Na Nua (just before Ao Luk) then you turn Right on road 415, and look for signs for What Bang Thong (about 6 kilometres down this road) on the right side of the road. .
From Phuket/Phangnga side: Follow road 4 in direction Krabi, turn Left at na Nua and follow road 415.
You can also search on google maps for Wat Bang Thong and then easily navigate there.
(September 2019: The main road 415 is currently under (re)construction to upgrade this highway. )
To log this cache & to show that you were here:
1. Estimate the height of this temple (It is much more than the 50 meters that I wrote before 
.)
2. How many 'elephants' can be found at the area in front of the temple.
Optional: Just because we like it....Take a picture of you -inside or outside- this temple to create a nice galery.
You can log your visit after sending your answers. You don't need to wait for answers....
- The temple is open between 08:00 AM and 18:00 PM
- The admission fee is 50 baht for foreigners (but for log this Geocache no need to go inside....)
- For geocaching: no need to pay ticket/donation, can stay outside.
- Excellent coffee & cake cafe at the parking lot/entrance.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.