A Field Note.
An encounter inside a limestone mountain in Phatthalung.
In a quiet corner of the Phatthalung countryside is Tham Phra Chaison.
Behind a boarded-up building at the foot of a limestone cliff, a staircase has slowly been reclaimed by the forest.
Climb the winding steps and you reach a gated entrance cut into the rock. Usually it's locked. Sometimes it's open.
Beyond it, a narrow passage leads through the mountain, past faded murals and small figures wrapped in gold cloth.
After the climb, we found an elderly man sitting beneath a giant reclining Buddha.
Music was playing somewhere nearby as he worked, quietly repainting the enormous figure one section at a time.
We stayed for a while and watched.
