Bang Saen - Luk Sam Po

The ship-like Luk Sam Po Chinese temple (north of the town, best reached by the coast road) was built as a memorial to the victims of a disaster which took place when a ship carrying Chinese immigrants sank off the Thai coast in a heavy storm. The sole survivor not only built the temple but also founded a religious order with very strict rules - which probably accounts for its failure for a number of years now to attract novice monks.

Grouped around the central pagoda are some "ship's cabins", little houses which continue to be occupied by one or two monks and nuns. Note also the monks' quarters outside the temple complex itself, built in the form of small fishing boats.

The monastery possesses two small-scale reproductions of the chedi at Nakhon Pathom, the most revered chedi in Thailand. Buddhists come from all over the world to visit Luk Sam Po, but ordinary visitors are made welcome too.