Wat Thammikawas

Wat Thammikawas sits on the Mae Nam Noi in Chainat’s Sankhaburi district — a working Buddhist temple that most visitors actually come to see for what lives around it rather than inside it. Locally it’s Wat Suan Ling, the “monkey garden temple,” home to a free-ranging troop of 2,000-3,000 long-tailed macaques in the rubber tree groves surrounding the grounds. Before that reputation, and before its current name, it was an abandoned site known as Wat Khang Khao (“Bat Temple”), restored and renamed around 1940.

Experience

As a temple, Wat Thammikawas functions much like any provincial Mahanikai monastery: a shrine to the respected local monk Luang Pho Thao draws worshippers for merit-making, and the grounds carry the shaded, unhurried feel typical of a rural riverside wat. What sets it apart is the wildlife living alongside it — macaques move constantly between the tree canopy and temple buildings, foraging and grooming in full view of anyone walking the grounds, decades of contact with people having made them entirely unafraid of both visitors and vehicles. The monkeys aren’t managed by the temple in any organised way; they’re simply part of the landscape here, the way pigeons are part of a city square elsewhere.

Watch out: The macaques will take food, phones, and loose items from bags or hands without hesitation. If you’re here mainly for the monkey encounter, secure your belongings before getting out of the car — full guidance is in the separate Monkey Park writeup.

Atmosphere & Timing

Cooler morning hours bring both more monastic activity and more monkey activity, as the troop forages before the day heats up. The site is rural and low-key, well off Chainat’s main tourist circuit — expect a genuine provincial temple rather than a built visitor attraction.

Practical

Entry is free. Wat Thammikawas is about 16 km from Sankhaburi district office along the Sing Buri-Chainat road; a private vehicle is the practical way to reach it. Dress modestly and remove shoes to enter any temple building, as at any working wat. Pair the visit with Wat Phra Kaew Chainat or Chainat Bird Park for a fuller day in the province.