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of Amphawa District.

Amphawa District · TH

Wat Bangkaphom (Luang Pho Khong)

Wat Bangkaphom is a riverside temple in Amphawa, Samut Songkhram province, famed for its towering seated statue of Luang Pho Khong — a revered monk whose amulets are among Thailand's most collectible — and for a Chinese-styled viharn whose interior walls carry unique bas-relief stucco murals said to have no parallel in the country. Founded in the late Ayutthaya period around 1769, the temple owes its unusual name to a folk tale: a couple who wove bamboo rice-baskets (kaphom) survived a Burmese raid by hiding inside one, then donated their homestead to build a wat in gratitude. Today the compound stretches from the old viharns near the road to the new shrine hall right on the Mae Klong riverbank, making it one of Amphawa's most layered temple visits.