Most were aged 35 and up and quite affluent. After a quick lunch at the Wiang Tong hotel, we were under way. Located nine kilometres from town and set against the Ao Luk Tanu mountain range, it is the largest and best-known temple in Krabi, with a dramatic cave sheltered in the dense forest. The temple was founded by Abbot Jamnien who came to meditate in the forest that was once home to many tigers. As he meditated, he concluded that a tiger had led him to the site for a reason, and he set up the temple and meditation centre.
Some monks live at the site in simple dwellings located behind the cave.
Im Shrine and a sacred Buddha footprint. It was previously believed that the fossils here were 75 million years old, though new studies have reduced their age by two-thirds. To the casual observer or the non-geologist, the site looks no more special than a concrete floor. But you learn that the area was once a large freshwater swamp, home to a kind of snail. After a geological upheaval, the area changed into a salt sea, and today the limestone is scattered in great broken sheets.