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The extraordinary hilltop meditation retreat of Wat Phu Tok , 170km from Nong Khai, occupies a sandstone outcrop, its fifty or so monks living in huts perched high above breathtaking red cliffs. As you get closer, the horizontal white lines across the cliffs reveal themselves to be painted wooden walkways, built to give the temple seven levels to represent the seven stages of enlightenment. Long wooden staircases take you to the third level, where you fork left for the fifth level and the Sala Yai, which houses the temple's main Buddha image in a dimly lit cavern. The artificial ledges which cut across the northeast face lead to the dramatic northwest tip on level five: on the other side of a deep crevice spanned by a wooden bridge, the monks have built an open-sided Buddha viharn under a huge anvil rock. The flat top of the hill forms the seventh level, where you can wander along overgrown paths through thick forest. Wat Phu Tok is best reached with your own transport from Nong Khai, but can be done by bus if you leave early. From Nong Khai take a bus to Bung Kan, then a Pang Khon-bound bus (every 30min) to Ban Siwilai, from where songthaews make the hour-long, 25-kilometre trip east to Phu Tok (services are more frequent in the morning). There are food stalls just outside the wat, but no accommodation.
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