Wat Pa Tam Wua

Wat Pa Tam Wua (Thai: วัดป่าถ้ำวัว) is a Buddhist forest monastery between Pai and Mae Hong Son in north-west Thailand. It sits about 1 km off Highway 1095, roughly 37 km from Mae Hong Son town. Its address is Ban Mae Suya, Huai Pha.

It is set up for lay people who want to practise for a few days. The monastery’s website says no booking is needed. Guests arrive on any day during the check-in hours, and stays run from three to ten days. Accommodation, bedding, white clothes and vegetarian meals are provided without charge, and donations are voluntary. Both beginners and experienced practitioners are welcome. Vipassana or mindfulness of breathing is the main practice, with other methods allowed.

Instruction is given by Thai-English speaking monks, and evening chanting is in Pali, Thai and English. The Dhamma talks include foundations for people new to meditation or Buddhism. Silence is optional but encouraged, and a silent badge is available at the information desk.

Guests keep the eight precepts, wear white and stay for the daily timetable and required sessions. Women may sit outside the caves but not enter them, and everyone must leave the cave area by 5 PM. Smoking, drugs and alcohol are not allowed. The monastery’s site calls it a Theravada monastery in the Thai Forest tradition but gives no history and does not name an abbot, so this page does not either. Read its rules and timetable pages before you go.