Rainy Season Retreat in Thailand

This year I am spending the Rainy Season Retreat at a remote branch monastery of Wat Pah Nanachat called Wat Pah Poo Jom Gom. It is situated two hours drive NE of Ubon city next to the Mekong River. A place some 10 kms away has been promoted at the most easterly point of Thailand.

A very full Mekong River taken from Poo Jom Gom  cliff; Laos is on the left bank, the golden Buddha is south of the monastery. 

While the monastery proper is only about 40 acres in extent, a number of bamboo huts and cave dwellings are scattered over several hundreds of acres of National Park in an area of exceptional natural environment consisting of a series of sandstone plateaus eroded into exotic formations by rain and wind. And now with the monsoon rains the area has turned into labyrinth of streams, creeks, ponds and pools. Unfortunately photographs cannot do justice to the extraordinary diversity and uniqueness of the environment.

 One of the bathing pools on the path up to the upper plateau.

While residing here last winter I had stayed in a hut and cave next to the main stream running through this part of the park. I thus thought this time to be more adventurous and stay in one of the caves on the upper plateau. As I have experienced over the years: 'It is very hard to find a good cave'. My first choice turned out to be too hot for comfort with poor ventilation. I thus resorted to the very large 'Tea Cave' nearby. This cave, being a long rocky overhang has very good ventilation, however, due to it being just below a large plateau has almost continuous waterfalls. This is great for bathing, however, not very peaceful!

The 'Tea Cave', with one of the six waterfalls in the background.

Fortunately, a hut is located nearby between the massive rocks left from the collapsing sandstone ledge. Once the grass roof was repaired I then moved there
 in order to have some quiet rest from all the falling water.

The hut nestled in a flat space between massive rocks. During heavy rains three streams converge on the walking path.

The cave and hut are over one hours walk from the main hall. Thus at 4 am I set off in the dark with an extra light, umbrella, drinking water and my mobile phone in case of accident or obstacle and make my way towards the hall for almsround at 5:40am.

Their are two main routes down. The most straightforward one is down the valley, however, this involves some very mindful scrambling over rocks in several places, crossing several streams over slippery rocks and fording the main stream which can quickly become a torrent. The other route, with only one patch of rock scrambling and one stream to cross, has other challenges as it weaves and winds across the plateaus over a variety of terrain. This requires a constant vigilance to be aware simultaneously of each immediate step and the next direction the path takes. However, since this route is mostly open and expansive, this is the one I usually take, even after losing the path on several occasions. The weak link on this route is the foot bridge over the gorge. Fortunately it has been once again repaired after numerous washouts over the years. It now has a metal walkway and strong cables for handrails. Due to the large amount of rocky outcrop the area is exceptionally prone to flash flooding. A week after I arrived we had a two-hour long deluge which sent the stream through the gorge to over the level of bridge handrails. Fortunately though, as quickly as it floods, it also recedes. Near the bridge is a small shelter to await the water level to recede enough for a safe crossing.

The foot bridge over the gorge.

Four monks and three lay women are resident here at present, and we are exceptionally well cared for by the Sompan and Yupin family and Por Chalerm who come every day to cook extra food.