Jjust south of the riverside town of Bueng Kan, which is the capital of the recently established 77th Thai province, is a huge sandstone rock named Phu Tok. It jots up almost 200 meters in the otherwise flat landscape.
Around the rock is a six-level wooden spiral staircase. This staircase took nearly five years to complete and the views from the top are amazing. Although vistas from top are impressive, it was the challenging and literally breathtaking climb to get there that stands out in my mind.
The top of the rock is accessed by circling upwards on a network of rickety staircases built in, on and around the giant sandstone outcrop. Six levels of steps, plus a seventh-level scramble up roots and rocks to the thick forest at the summit, represent the seven steps towards enlightenment in Buddhist teachings.
I felt a sense of achievement once I finally reached the top, grateful that the rickety staircases didn’t collapse and that I didn’t fall over the side while I navigated my way up the seven levels.
The first three levels took me up through spectacular forest below the tree line, passing by deep cuttings and huge tropical trees with their buttress roots. Level four goes through a passage actually within the rock. A choice of two routes – the left fork is more interesting – leads to the fifth and most important level, where a sala houses the temple's main Buddha image in an airy, dimly lit cavern.
The artificial ledges that cut across the northeast face are not for the fainthearted, but they are one way of getting to the dramatic northwest tip on level five. On the other side of a deep crevice spanned by a wooden bridge, the monks have built an open-sided Buddha viharn under a huge anvil rock. This spot affords stunning views over a broad sweep of the flat countryside below.
Kutì (meditation huts and living quarters for the 50 or so monks living in the temple) are scattered around the mountain, in caves and on cliffs.
Phra Ajahn Juan founded Wat Phu Tok in 1968 and died in a plane crash in August 1980 along with several other highly revered forest monks who were flying to Bangkok for Queen Sirikit’s birthday celebration. A marble chedi containing his belongings and some bone relics was built at a small lake at the foot of Phu Tok.