Krabi is a region of many beauties with its white sandy beaches, forest-covered limestone cliffs and mountains that rise to the sky in interesting shapes, caves within these cliffs and rainforests covering them.. It has more than 200 islands on its coast.. Flights from Bangkok to Krabi take 1.5 hours.
The town does not have a beach of its own.. Very well connected to the nearby beaches of Ao Nang, Raylee Beach and Klong Muang with their white sands.. The most striking thing in the landscape of the town is the Khao Khanap Nam hills, which rise 100 meters into the sky, covered with trees and a river running through them. Toh Cave is located. It is possible to find traces left by people from 30,000 BC in some caves.. Some of the caves here have been converted into Buddhist Temples.. One of these, Tiger Temple Cave (Wat Tum Sua) is worth seeing.
I was only able to go to this temple, which I thought to go early because of the rain that fell until the afternoon, but around 4 pm.. I took the red pickup truck (50THB) on Krabi main street.. It takes half an hour to reach the temple, located in the area called Krabi Noi (Little Krabi), 5 km north of Krabi.
A Buddhist monk named Jumnean Seelasettho was around when he went to the cave to meditate in the 1960s. saw a roaming tiger. It has since been called Tiger Cave.. There were about 250 priests living in another part of the valley, which is reached by 130 steps.
I could not go into the main cave because I was late.. There are thousands of different Buddha statues inside.. Different Buddha statues are exhibited every day of the week.
The most beautiful part of the temple is the summit, which is 600 meters above the ground.. Of course, to reach here, you have to climb the stairs with 1237 steps, which is not easy to overcome.. Without wasting time, I started climbing the stairs with fast steps.. The normal exit time is said to be 30-45 minutes.
It wasn’t even 10 minutes before I was out of breath.. It was as if the oxygen I breathed was not enough for my body.. I slowed down the tempo and took amazing landscape photos and continued.. You feel like the stairs will never end. For some reason, I remember when I was climbing on Indonesia’s Lombok Island.. The last time I was there, I was so tired and out of breath.
Some of the steps are quite high.. Despite my tall stature it was hard to even get them out. Wherever you look, you want to take a photo?. The lush rainforest, the scenery of the plain, the squirrels and monkeys walking around you… Finally, when I saw the Buddha statue shining like gold under the sun, I knew I was close to the summit.. What a magnificent view!
Yes, I am sure that all your tiredness will go away when you see the view.. You will find an incredible 360-degree view in front of your eyes, where you can see Krabi Town, the islands, interesting mountains and the plain.. At the highest point, there is a huge Buddha statue.. There are also many large and small Buddha statues and altars around you.
On the one hand, I was lucky that I was late.. As the hours were close to sunset, the scenery started to get even more beautiful with the red sky.. I didn’t have a chance to watch the sunset. I had to find a way to get back before dark. I started to descend the stairs with fast steps.
My legs were shaking halfway down the road.. Even when I stopped to rest, I was trembling from the twitching muscles.. On the way down, some of the stairs were completely blocked by the monkeys.. In the meantime, they felt uncomfortable while I was trying to take their pictures.
Especially a female, old one, from a distance of 1 meter, had her teeth showing and looking at me, even if I hadn’t been shaking until that moment, I guess I would have started to tremble with fear.. You have to be very careful if monkeys are near you in Asia.
Many visitors are so spoiled by it that they won’t do anything to get whatever catches their eye on you.. However, when the monkey in front of me sensed aggression rather than such interest, I secured the camera around my neck and quickly walked away from there.
My monkey did not leave me alone.. He followed me as I sprinted down the stairs, bouncing off the railing or trees surrounding the stairs.. I was waiting for it to jump on me at any moment.. Be the one to watch out for these monkeys everywhere when it gets dark. I took a stick I saw on the side of the road and continued on my way.. When I got down safely, dozens of dogs were walking around me.. However, they seemed friendlier.
Before going up to the temple, I asked the people working at the stands there about the way back.. They take them to Krabi for 200 THB by motor taxi.. I trusted them but I couldn’t find any of them. I walked about 3 km from the temple to the main road and tried to hitchhike there for a while and no one stopped.
As I was thinking about what to do, a motorbike approached and asked where I was going.. We agreed on 100THB (5.8TL) with our Muslim brother in a cap.
I was at my hotel after half an hour.. Thus came the end of my days in Krabi.. It has been 12 days in this quiet town with cheap and fast internet.. My next stop is Koh Phi Phi, perhaps the most famous island of Thailand.. I’ll be there tomorrow.
Day 528: Thailand:17, Krabi, 13 January 2012
