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Click here to Watch the Phu Wua Video on www.lonelyplanet.tv
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Tam Hook (Hook cave) has been occupied by a solitary Buddhist monk for the past 15 years. It is within the Phu Wua Wildlife Sanctuary and the monk frequently sees elephants on the level ground below his rock outcrop. When an elephant died in a fight for dominance with another bull last year, the bones were brought to his cave after cremation. About a month after the bones were brought there, the winning elephant in the fight, probably smelling the sent of his rival, came up the hill to the temple looking around. The monk has a photo of the top of the elephants head taken from a ledge above him and was even able to touch the elephant. The elephant then tried to get into the temple cave where the bones were stored. There are some marks on the stone around the cave made by the elephant’s tusks. The door to the temple held, saving the temple from destruction by the elephant. There is evidence of stone-age occupation around the rock outcrop: a stone ax found while cleaning out the cave, man made markings on the rocks, an old well and pot shards. The location's many caves provided ideal shelter from marauding animals around at that time. As is does today from the elephant. Any visit here is for respectful visitors only as the monk likes his calm. You will probably feel like whispering in the place anyway.
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