"Nakhon Si Thammarat" Nakhon Si Thammarat by K2NG

Get a brochure from the Tourism office in Nakhon and you will discover that this village stands out as an Eco-tourism destination. The villagers are environmental conscious and strive to live in harmony with the environment. Nestled at the foothills of Khao Luang, South Thailand's highest mountain, Khiriwong is a role model of how locals can take proactive steps to embrace tourism while protecting the environment from which they depend upon for sustenance. The guides who bring hikers up Khao Luang mountain and the scenic water-falls in the vicinity are from the village and during low tourist season, they may be carrying baskets and zipping through the village with motorbikes, harvesting fruits together with the rest of the villagers. To make a visitors' stay complete, they even provide homestay to fully immerse them in Khiriwong's village life. It is a simple village and fruit such as Mangosteen, Durians, Langsak are abundant during the seasons. For homestays you may contact Mink, an ex-staff of Tourism office of Thailand at this number: 083-3192-2497. Or you may look for her via facebook - Angsikarn Mink Sasithornwetchakul

Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan

Hop on to any blue coloured SongTaew that plys along Ratchadamnoen Road in Nakhon Town and tell the driver to drop you off at Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan. 10 Baht per person for this 5-8 mins trip (depending on traffic conditions). Extract from UNESCO World Heritage Website....

"Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan is the main Buddhist temple of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, the largest province in Southern Thailand. According to the Nakhon Si Thammarat’s chronicle, the main stupa of the temple, called Phra Borommathat Chedi, literally, the Great Noble Relics Stupa, was built prior to other religious architectural buildings in the temple by King Sri Dhammasokaraja in approximately the early 13th century CE. in order to establish the Theravada Buddhist symbol on the land and to serve the belief of his people on the presence of the Buddha’s relics in situ which should be housed by the stupa. Other literary sources provide a reasonable assumption that after the misery of an epidemic which was sweeping through the town, people scattered and the town was almost deserted. The king’s project of building the stupa for housing the relics was created as a mean of encouraging greater participation by his subjects. Thus the stupa caused the coming back to rebuild and develop the town community which was united in its support for constructing and maintaining the stupa and the temple as the main spiritual centre for the people. Other religious architectural buildings in the compound had been built from the early 13th century to the 18th century CE. including Wihan Bodhi-Lanka, the roofed cloister round the Bodhi Tree which is believed to be a sprout of the Bodh Gaya’ s Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha reached Enlightenment."

The museum in this Wat forbids photography. Please give the rules and regulations of the Wat as much respect as what you would have given yourself.