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This was never in my travelling programme when I planned to visit Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi. The driver took us to this quiet place, surrounded by greens all over, very hilly, with broken walls of the ruins that stretches quite a distance as we drove silently into the Muang Sing Historical Park. We soon reached the main temple, it was awesome, brought me back where this place once must be a busy happening place back in the 1157-1207, Lopburi period, with Khmer architectural designs, that shows the power of Cambodian has actually marked their colonization to this western part of Thailand. This park was declared National Historical Park in 1987.

The place was damped after the morning shower; weather was good, cooling, never expected rain in this part of the year. It was a pleasant day. Inside the main temple we could see the remain statues of Avalokitishwara (Goddess of mercy with thousand arms , thousand eyes) and Prajna Paramita (refers to Heart Sutra) unfortunately these are the only statue left in this building. There are three buildings quite close to this main one, but they are in total ruin, left only the steps to the platform of the temple, minus the pillars, walls and the artifacts. I was told this Muang Sing Temple was actually attacked by the Burmese in the early years, took their gold and expensive artifacts and brought down the temple soon after that. It was sad to see these ruins, but fate of this temple took its toll that left this temple an ugly mark for us to dwell with.

The entrance, the windows and the passage in the temple is quite similar to the Angkor Wat, build with laterite rocks all over, but in smaller version. We also saw a dug-up place where they found the skeletons of the Muang Sing people buried in the grounds close by the River Kwai. As we drove out, we saw the office and a small stall displaying their vegetables and fruits, we also came across some other remnants of the temple ruins were displayed in the foreground of the office, exhibiting mostly carved rocks of the temple.

A hidden treasure worth going for. The country sight is beautiful, hilly, very green, lots of paddy fields close to harvest time, brings the shine as you travel along, golden carpets stretches all the way. The people are friendly, a quiet little town with friendly smiles looking your way, surely wants you to stay for more days.

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