Wat Tham Pha Keang

Wat Tham Pha Keang sits on the slopes of Phu Wiang mountain, about 6 km from Nong Du village in Khon Kaen province’s Wiang Kao district — roughly 70 km from Khon Kaen city. Entry is free and it’s open daily 08:00-17:00.

The temple’s centrepiece is a giant gilded Buddha statue, completed in 2011 at a reported cost of 119 million baht, seated in the abhaya-mudra (protective) gesture with a Dharma wheel behind its shoulders. The base is hollow — visitors climb through an interior hall and up several levels inside the statue, passing a multi-headed guardian figure and small shrine rooms before reaching viewpoints partway up. Three large naga statues guard the approach, their bodies wound around columns topped with lion capitals modelled on India’s Ashoka pillars.

A short walk away, a large wooden pavilion — built with donations from Khok Nong Kham village and neighbouring communities — houses a Buddha image carved from teak, set among the natural rock outcrops and tree cover that give the site its role as a meditation retreat rather than a purely sightseeing stop.

Insider Tip: Visit on a weekday morning. Weekends bring day-trippers combining the temple with Phu Wiang National Park’s dinosaur sites, and the stairways inside the giant Buddha’s base get crowded fast.

Watch out: the interior stairways are narrow, steep in places, and can queue up when it’s busy — not ideal if you’re claustrophobic or have mobility issues.

There’s no public transport directly to the temple — a car or motorbike from Wiang Kao or Khon Kaen city is the practical way in. Dress modestly (covered shoulders and knees) as at any Thai temple, and wear shoes with grip for the interior stairways. It sits in the same district as Phu Wiang National Park and the Dinosaur Research Centre and Museum — the park’s sandstone formations turned up some of Thailand’s first confirmed dinosaur fossil finds in the 1970s, and the two sites make an easy full-day combination around Khon Kaen province’s western hills.