Wat Tham Suea: Surviving the Stairs in Kanchanaburi

2015-08-02 · Updated: 2026-08-11 · Original (Korean)

This article was translated from the original Korean post with AI assistance. Read the original Korean post →

Wat Tham Suea

After a good lunch (well, only for them...), we arrived at Wat Tham Suea, which the kids call the 'Tiger Temple'. I Googled it, and 'Tiger Cave Temple' is more accurate. There are temples with actual tigers, but this one doesn't have any—just a cave where tigers used to live. Maybe because it's where tigers lived, the entire temple is at the top of a mountain. I hope it's just my imagination that this feels more like physical training than sightseeing...

Tiger statue with its mouth wide open and surrounding plants — True to its name, there are tiger statues everywhere starting from the entrance. This is the most handsome one.

Monks in orange robes climbing steep stairs and golden statues on both sides of the stairs

Monks in orange robes walking up and down steep stairs — The massive staircase you see right when you arrive. For the record, it's the kind of weather where you sweat buckets just standing still.

Cable car-type transport moving up and down a steep slope — Yes!! There's no way they wouldn't have something like this.

Red sign expressing gratitude for visiting the temple and asking for donations — With a truly grateful heart, Kke paid the fee and we got on. Interestingly, the donation signs are written in English and Chinese. A lot of Chinese tourists must visit.

Backs of people riding a cable car up a slope — Finally our turn. I only realized this while sorting through photos, but they look so much like Korean ajummas (middle-aged women).

Person operating or inspecting machinery inside a cable car machine room — A structure that makes you wonder if it's manual or automatic.

Orange roof of a temple and the scenery of a village and mountains beyond it — I wondered why they built a temple on top of a mountain, but seeing the view, I finally understand. It's so breathtakingly open that you can feel a refreshing breeze all over just by standing there.

Golden Buddha statue sitting under a huge, ornately decorated dome roof — An enormous Buddha statue welcoming the mortals who struggled to climb up. You can tell how huge it is by looking at the size of the man on the bottom left. Facing a Buddha this size, even a non-believer might suddenly find their faith.

Person holding a long-handled dipper and their companions around a rectangular water tank with a red border — I'm not Buddhist so I don't know the exact meaning, but it's definitely a sin-cleansing ritual. Watching them carefully scoop water to wash their hands, dab their heads three times, and pray so fervently feels almost solemn. Seeing as everyone visiting here does it except me, the non-Buddhist, it must be a mandatory course.

Large tiger statue with black stripes on a yellow background and a small tiger statue standing in front of a large gong

Tiger statue with a red cloth and yellow flower necklace around its neck and a small tiger ornament at its feet — I thought it was a toy, but people actually come and pray to it. Looks like he needs to lose some weight...

Pointed archway with red and gold decorations showing a bright window at the end

Wat Tham Khao Noi

Tall, ornate multi-story pagoda and temple buildings seen behind monks in orange robes

The building on the left looked so unique, and since we could go inside to look around, I decided to check it out. Its name is Wat Tham Khao Noi. For reference, the blue Chinese-style building you see straight ahead is Wat Tham Suea. Of course, when I visited, I thought this whole area was Wat Tham Suea and didn't even think about going inside that one. To share an even stupider mistake: I gave up on the famous 1,200-step climb at Wat Tham Suea right in front of it, just because I thought, 'I'll sweat too much if I do this.' At this point... you could just call me a 'stupid tourist who misses all the main highlights.'

Honestly... even though I say I regret it, I was already panting just climbing the stairs inside Wat Tham Khao Noi, let alone 1,200 steps. As you keep climbing, it feels like the steep stairs will truly go on forever. I was resting and debating whether to keep walking or not, but seeing someone cleaning these endless-looking stairs made me realize I should just shut up and keep climbing. 1,200 steps with this terrible stamina? I probably would have been carried off in a Thai ambulance halfway up.

Spiral staircase with dark gray tiled steps and bright red railings — The stairs I started climbing with a smile, but almost cried by the end.

Person on a scaffold painting a mural and monks in orange robes watching them — Staff doing restoration work and young monks watching. Anyone who has seen restoration work will know the feeling, but you get so sucked in that you just stand there watching with your mouth open.

Mural depicting a person kneeling amidst lined-up soldiers in red uniforms — But the restored artworks are quite gruesome and insulting... Buddhism is really hard to understand sometimes.

Ornate gold-decorated Buddhist stupa enshrined inside a transparent glass cover and artificial flowers in front of it — Finally reached the top of the building! Once you arrive, there's a preserved shrine shaped exactly like the building itself. Judging by how decorated it is and how fervently people pray to it, it must be a national treasure-level cultural asset. It feels exactly like a temple floating in mid-air.

Panoramic view of a wide field, village, and distant mountains beyond a golden Buddha statue and temple buildings

Open plain and mountain scenery overlooking a giant golden Buddha statue and an ornately roofed temple building

This is a view you can only see if you climb all the way to the top of Wat Tham Khao Noi. There are artifacts on the way up, but you only want to look at art when you're in your right mind. When you're walking up stairs to the point of almost crawling on all fours, they don't even register. The gold statues that look like cultural assets are only important to Buddhists; my desire to hurry down and drink a glass of water was much stronger. But I couldn't take my eyes off this view. It leaves you so mesmerized that you think, 'Ah, people climb up this hard just to see this one scene.' I didn't realize it up close, but the Buddha is positioned where he can see the mortals far away. Looking just at the landscape, it looks exactly like the Korean countryside, but having such a massive Buddha watching over it transforms it into a uniquely Thai vibe.

Back of a short-haired child in pink clothes walking down a spiral staircase with red railings — If going up was tough, going down was an absolute fucking nightmare... I was swearing up a storm.

Tall, pointed reddish pagoda with small windows and hanging bells on each floor — No matter how much you tempt me, I could never do this twice.

Ornate temple building towering over high stairs and vehicles parked below it

I don't know if I'll ever come back here again, but if I do, I'll definitely try climbing those 1,200 steps. (I'm saying this confidently since I know I'll never come back a second time.)

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