above A barrier protects Wat
Khun Samut Trawat from the
rising water levels
right Somnuk Attipanyo
poses for a photo at Wat
Khun Samut TrawatA tenth of its original size, the grounds of Wat Khun
Samut Trawat stand at the edge of the water, and prior
to Somnuk’s arrival, the temple was submerged, all but
abandoned. Against the odds, Somnuk’s determination
to revive and restore the monastery grounds has come to
symbolise the community’s fight against the pushing tide.
Growing up in Samut Prakan city, just a few kilometres
from Khun Samut Chin, Somnuk worked at a family grocery
store and led, by his own admission, “an unproductive life”,
passing his time by gambling, smoking and drinking with
friends. When a close friend tragically committed suicide
when Somnuk was 30 years old, it was a wake-up call to turn
his life around.
“On the day my friend passed, his mother called me and
asked me to become a monk, which is common practice for
a short period of time in Thailand following a death,” Somnuk
shares. “I only planned on staying at the temple for a day or
two. But once I arrived, I started evaluating my life against
the life of a monk and comparing how different they were.
I immediately felt a sense of comfort and I knew I didn’t want
to leave. In my twenties, if you told me I would be a monk for
the rest of my life, I might have laughed,” confesses Somnuk,
shaking his head.
After a year living at the temple in Samut Prakan, Somnuk
met a young monk from Khun Samut Chin who told him of
an abandoned temple in the sea and asked if Somnuk wanted
to see it for himself.
“When I first visited, much of the temple was destroyed
from water, and it was impossible to pray. I took it as a