Nakhon Ratchasima Province.

Thailand

November 15, 2021

Hello,

Today Jenjira and I visited Wat Khao Chan Ngam - the Temple on the Beautiful Moon Mountain.   We also hiked up the mountain along the Khorat Geopark trail.

Come climb with us.

Jan

The Temple

"Located in Ban Loet Sawat, Wat Khao Chan Ngam is a tourist attraction with prehistoric paintings as its highlight.  The drawings are situated behind the Temple where visitors walk through a rock garden and peaceful forest for 150 meters.  The drawings, painted by an agrarian community approximately 3,000 or 4,000 years ago, are displayed on a sandstone cliff.  They feature people and animals and the local way of life and daily routines:  attire and hunting."  Thailand Tourist Authority

The Geopark

"The Khorat Geopark refers to the geographical area of the middle and lower parts of the Lam Takhon River Basin.

The geographic and geological features of international importance are the sandstone cuestas at and near the edge of the Khorat Plateau. Also of international importance are the numerous and highly diverse fossils, along with the present day deciduous dipterocarp forest ecosystem and the Thai Khorat culture.

These areas and resources are being conserved and managed in an integrated manner by local communities for the benefit of the economy and the society, including activities related to sustainable geotourism."  Khorat Geopark Office.

Vocabulary:  

Cuesta (Spanish for "slope or shoulder")   Cuestas are the expression of extensive outcrops of gently dipping strata, typically sedimentary strata, that consist of alternating beds of weak or loosely cemented strata, i.e. shale, mudstone, and marl and hard, well-lithified strata, i.e. sandstone and limestone.

Deciduous dipterocarp forest (DDF) is the most widespread forest type of continental Southeast Asia