Sangkhlaburi Sunken Temple

The Khao Laem dam was completed in 1984 and its reservoir flooded the old town of Sangkhlaburi, including Wat Wang Wiwekaram - the temple built by Luang Pho Uttama, the Mon monk who led the community here. The town was rebuilt on higher ground and a new temple built with it, but the old ubosot was left where it stood. Water level determines what you see: through the wet season the building is submerged, and as the reservoir drops from around February into May the walls and columns emerge, until in a low year you can walk through the roofless hall on dried mud. Boats run from the town across the reservoir. The other landmark here is Mon Bridge, a wooden footbridge of around four hundred metres - the longest hand-built wooden bridge in Thailand - linking the Thai and Mon sides of the town. Sangkhlaburi is remote, near the Myanmar border, and reached by a long mountain road.

What you actually see

• The emerging temple - walls and columns exposed as the reservoir drops.
• The 1984 flooding - the old town lost when the dam filled.
• Mon Bridge - four hundred metres of hand-built wooden footbridge.
• The Mon community - the town's population and its history on this border.

When to go

February to May, when water levels are lowest and the temple is most exposed. In the wet season it is underwater and there is nothing to see.

Honest expectations

Entirely water-level dependent - a wet-season visit shows nothing. Sangkhlaburi is a long mountain drive from Kanchanaburi. Boats are informal and negotiated. Some visitors treat the ruins carelessly; it is a religious site.

Nearby

Mon Bridge and the Mon village are in the town; Three Pagodas Pass and the Myanmar border are north.