Saen Suk Lampam Beach Phatthalung 27 Dec 2019

We were actually headed to the famous Wat Wang but after that Alvin decided to detour to the Saen Suk Lampam since it is just about 2 kilometres past Wat Wang.

The beach is situated the bank of Songkhla Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Thailand.

A water pavilion named Sala Lampam Thi Rak, located in the lake, is the ideal locale for viewing the expansive lake.

A bridge spans the beach and an islet created by sediment from the river.

In Lam Pam Lake are dolphins, which are frequently spotted.

If you are lucky, you can see dolphin in the lake which is much attractive for visitors.

It seems like there is a floating market at the Lampam beach as we can see there is signage “Welcome to Lampam Floating Market”.

There are some stalls which selling the local food and a small platform was built for the small boats to park a long side for the tourists to buy the food or items from.

By the time we were there, there are not operating at all. I think either the floating market suppose to open during weekend or evening time.

There are some stalls near the small river too, selling food and drinks.

And some photo booths for the tourists to snap photos. Alvin and I had a selfie here and the nature beauty of mountain and rice fields behind as our background.

“The craft of boat” – long tailed boat.

“Yor”, traditional fishing equipment in Thailand.

These things are human-made and are very interesting! You can see some parts of important cultures of the South of Thailand through these things.

Saen Suk Lampam Beach is one of the most favorite places for local people where they can spend their leisure times with their warm family.

Children can play happily and parents go for jogging among nice nature, lovely lake, green trees, etc. We left after we had our ice cream here and go to Wat Wang.

Malai Cave Temple Phatthalung 27 Dec 2019

After Wat Khuha Sawan, we left for Malai Cave Temple. It was about an hour journey to reach here. After we parked the car at the parking lots, we were seeking the way to the cave temple.

There is a paved-cement stairway going to the top of the mountain. We were walking up by the staircase.

At the middle of the ways, we saw some stupas and that is the tombstone of the dead. To our surprise it is a Chinese. There is a Chinese temple which had been locked.

We continued our way up and finally we saw a temple on top of the hill. There is a temple here. From this place, we can see the panoramic view of the province of Phathalung.

The temple is very quiet and there are lots of dogs here. We noticed that there are monks who lives here.

There are only a few people who come here. In fact, when we visited this place, we are the only one who roams around.

At the top of the hill, we saw a map that shows pointers that would lead us to 3 places. All is written in Thais which we do not understand at all.

By looking at the stairways which were covered with dried leaves and the green algae then we decided to only go one place. Partly is because we were tired too.

We followed the shortest route then we came to a lower part of the hill and we saw a cave. We tried to go near the cave but we were not able to go inside.

It is quite scary for us to go down in the cave. Although we really wanted to see what is inside the cave.

When we look around, we found no one so we skip the cave. Maybe next time we visit this temple, we will come with my friends and will surely enter the sacred cave.

We saw a statue of Fat Laughing Buddha in the cave. We just took a photograph of it then we walked back to the point where we came from.

Malai Cave is very near to the Khao Ok Thalu. After we drove down to the foot of the hill, we can see the mountain just at the side of the paddy field.

We headed to Saen Suk Lampam Beach next destination.

Wat Khuha Sawan Phatthalung 27 Dec 2019

We woke up at 8.35am and we just drove out to find something to eat as our breakfast.

As usual we had normal some rice and noodle soup. The food were not so nice if compare to the previous meals that we had.

After we checked out from the City Park Hotel, we proceed to the first destination of the day – Wat Khuha Sawan.

Wat Khuha Sawan is the oldest and most important temple in Phatthalung, and the first temple in the province to be granted royal status.

It had established during the Ayutthaya Period and it is located near the centre of Phatthalung. It is easily access from the Phatthalung Railway Station.

We parked our car at the parking area just outside of the temple. The location is actually just next to a school.

After we came out from the car, the immediate thing that we saw is a stone staircase at the side of the huge banyan trees which lead to a small shrine.

It draws our curiosity then we just follow our instinct and went up to check and have a look.

It is the Nang Khlot Cave, which is a small cave with some very old shrines amongst the roots of several large banyan trees and is home to lots and lots of monkeys.

There is a small shrine with seated Buddha statue. There are bats inside the cave which behind the small shrine. Luckily that we we did not see monkeys there.

A short way after Nang Khlot Cave you come to Wat Khuha Sawan itself. The main part of the temple is a flat area with a medium sized ordination hall.

The more interesting structure, and the one which is generally shown in tourist brochures of the area, is the elaborate chedi with green multi-tiered roof.

There is also an attractive small shrine hall containing holy relics. Behind the area with the main structures are the more interesting and famous parts of Wat Khuha Sawan are located.

Behind the ordination hall is a cemetery, and behind that is Khuha Sawan Cave, which is series of caves over three levels.

Khuha Sawan Cave has received a lot of visitors over the years, including several of the Kings of Thailand who have left their signature marked permanently in the walls of the cave.

The best example of a royal signature (King Rama V) is on the right hand side as we enter the cave.

The area around the cave is believed to have been in use by Buddhists since as far back as the 8th Century, with a formal temple having been established in probably the 17th or 18th Century.

Beyond the first cavern in Khuha Sawan Cave is a staircase that leads down two levels to a much smaller cavern at the bottom.

The small lower cavern is not particularly interesting, but the walk to get there is.

The walls and ceiling of the cave are brightly coloured as a consequence of staining by the minerals seeping through the rock above with rain water.

There are a few stalactites and stalagmites which have formed also as a consequence of the constant drips of rainwater.

After the visit to the Khuha Sawan Cave we came to an old stone staircase. The staircase looks rarely used as the path is overgrown. We tried our luck to climb to the top of the hill.

It was too tired for me to continue further up, but Alvin and Issac did go up to the top. At the top of the first flight of stone stairs is a clearing with a very old looking bell tower and a small shrine hall.

It is difficult to date exactly how old these structures are. Artefacts have been found at Wat Khuha Sawan which suggest that the site has been used as a place of worship from as far back as the 8th Century.

We did not go up further, from the middle of the hill we can see an ancient shrine which is at the other side of the hill top of the Nang Khlot Cave.

It is feel amazing to think that there is still ruins of remains there. But I do not think that we are able to get up there.

It is such a great time that we are able to visit here. It was around 10.00am when we left Wat Khuha Sawan to another temple.