This is a flat region. There are very few hills here, and if you find a hill, it will be called a mountain. On top of that mountain, you will usually find a temple. To get to that temple, there usually be some stairs. In this case, 830 stairs, with numbers painted every so often in case you need to know how much further you have to climb.
Where there are forested hills and temples and stairs, there are also usually monkeys.
And of course, once you reach the top, there will be Buddhas. I have been to at least a jillion temples and Wats, speaking conservatively. What was remarkable about this temple, Santuk Mountain, was the folk-art quality of many of the carvings. They were really stunning.
I also acquired a Ferguson, an older local woman. This was very unusual. I could not shake her as we headed up the stairs, so I played along. As a guide, she was notable for her utter and complete lack of a single word of English. It was stunning. She followed me around as best she could, trying to keep some semblance of being the leader. Whatever, everyone's got to eat and she ended up with 10,000 Rial for her efforts, which she seemed happy with.
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