Wat Kaew Korawaram

This guide to Wat Kaew Korawaram in Krabi Town traces back to 1887, when roughly two hundred families in the fishing settlement of Baan Pak Nam built the first, modest wooden shelter here for the monks who had just arrived, working with nothing sturdier than wood and thatch. It follows how that flimsy structure gave way over decades to the hilltop temple standing today, with its naga-lined staircase and the murals painted inside its golden ordination hall. Count the steps as you climb, guarded the whole way up by golden serpents.