Since moving to Hua Hin last March, I’ve made it a personal mission to explore as many of my new hometown’s attractions as possible.

Khao Takiab? Check.

Hua Hin Railway Station? Check.

Cicada Market? Check.

The beach?

Let’s just say I’ve been conducting extensive research.

But from Day One, there was one landmark that stubbornly remained on my list.

A temple.

I could see it from a distance, sitting high on a hill not far from my condo. Its tri-colored roof and elegant, gold-tipped gables seemed to beckon me from across town, almost as if to say:

“Come see me, if you can.”

The problem was that I had no idea what the temple was called.

And in Thailand, that can be a bit of a problem.

Whenever I asked a local for directions, I was invariably pointed toward Khao Takiab—a perfectly lovely place, but not the place I was looking for.

So for five months, Khao Krailart remained an elusive little mystery on the hill.

Until yesterday.

I was out putting in my daily steps on the hot, humid streets of Hua Hin when I glanced to my right.

There it was.

A road leading directly toward the base of the hill.

After five months of looking at this temple from a distance, I had finally found the road to it.

Naturally, I followed it.

The road led me to the base of the hill, where I discovered the first rule of visiting a Thai temple perched on a hill:

There are always stairs.

In this case, about 100 of them.

About halfway up, I spotted something I had been searching for longer than I care to admit.

A small sign bearing the temple’s name:

Khao Krailart.

Finally.

The mystery had a name.

Khao Krailart translates roughly as “Temple of the Gracious Hill,” and the name seems particularly appropriate. The temple is accessible only by staircase. There is no road winding up the hill, no traffic, and no convenient way to arrive without earning it a little.

The reward is a wonderfully peaceful setting—and remarkably few crowds, even during Hua Hin’s busy season.

At the top, the view alone made the climb worthwhile.

Hua Hin stretched out below me, surrounded by green hills, with the Gulf of Thailand extending toward the horizon.

The temple grounds themselves were equally peaceful.

A gleaming white Reclining Buddha rested among the buildings, while a large Chedi rose nearby in traditional Thai Buddhist style. Elsewhere stood several other Buddha images, including one depicting Buddha delivering a sermon to his first five disciples.

It wasn’t a grand excursion.

There were no tour buses.

No admission lines.

No souvenir shops demanding my attention.

Just a quiet little temple on a hill that had been sitting there all along, patiently waiting for me to figure out its name.

And that may have been my favorite part.

For five months, I had been looking at Khao Krailart and thinking it was somewhere I needed to go.

Yesterday, I finally discovered that it wasn’t somewhere far away at all.

It was right in my own backyard.

Sometimes the best adventures aren’t the ones that require a plane ticket, a packed suitcase, or an ambitious itinerary.

Sometimes they’re the ones you finally notice because you happen to look up.

And, in my case, finally ask the right question.

“What’s the name of that temple?”

Until next time.

More views of Wat Khao Krailart.