Buddha buddies & Elephant expeditions - Krabi, Thailand
Krabi, Thailand
Where I stayed
BanPunmanus, Krabi
What I did
Emerald Pool (Sra Morakot) Krabi
Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Sua) Krabi
Hot Stream
RimPha Farmville
Khao Pra Bang Kram
Sawatdee!
So we arrived in Thailand at 1:30am feeling rather drowsy. After the bus left us on the dark street in the middle of the night we discovered that the phone network we used in Malaysia, now did not work in Thailand (as promised!). We also had no Thai baht as we hadn't had a chance to withdraw any money! We had spoken to the hostel we were staying at the day before and had mentioned a pick up at 2:00am so we stayed put hoping they would remember and hoping we were in the right place! A nice taxi driver waited to see that we got a lift (with hopes that it wouldn't so that we would use his services!) however he couldn't speak any English but somehow we managed to explain our story through hand signals! Eventually the pick up did arrive and stopped at the ATM on the way. We were welcomed to the hostel by a lovely thai lady bowing her head repeatedly with her hands together cooing 'awwww welcom, welcom'! We got our key, chucked our stuff on the floor and went to bed!
The first day we headed into town and switched to a new phone network! Serena got yet more Asian trousers from the local market (super comfy, mosquito protection and legs covered from the Asian men - although they prefer boobs!) and then managed to explain that Serena had a headache in a thai pharmacy and got some pills (still suffering from the illness in Ipoh - thanks again Terry). We went for a pizza for lunch - very non-thai but essential that we had some home comfort food. Then we went to see the nearby Buddhist temple where the monks (dressed in orange cloth) were praying and chanting at the time. We walked through the local Buddhist village, between our hostel and the Buddhist temple, where we monks live. Here we found a jetty leading out over a pond (that we could see from our hostel balcony) and watched the thousands of fish thrashing about in the water ad the turtles floating about on the surface. Soon a women from the village came to greet us with bags of fish food for 10 baht (20p) and we spent ages watching the fish go mad over the food - lots of huge catfish! As we finished a group of friendly monks came along to feed the fish also, one of which found a baby turtle to show us up close! Terry spotted a metre and a half monitor lizard by the waters edge so the monk that showed us the turtle took us around the waters edge to show us more lizards and calmly informed us that the forest-like plantation surrounding us was inhabited by cobras. He spoke no English so his informing us consisted of him using two fingers to illustrate fangs accompanied by a cross snake noise and the word cobra and a point to the near by plantation! Later we wondered down to the night market and Terry, feeling a little peckish as always, found a pancake stall and ordered one filled with bananas and honey. We sat on a bench overlooking the waters edge with the street market behind us. Two thai children were playing nearby with their dad watching over, however it wasn't long before the boys were jumping on Terry's lap, punching him playfully (but forcefully in such a sensitive area :S) and posing for photos! Before they got any more boisterous we decided to continue walking!! We walked back to the hostel with an ice cream to cool us down on a warm evening!
The second day we had booked a trip to see some of the attractions in Krabi that were hard to reach ourselves. The minibus took us first to Emerald pool. To reach the pool we walked through rain forest for 1.4km. The pool was bright green and nice and warm, streams of water ran away from the pool as a small waterfall filled it back up and the mountains in the background were almost covered by mist. A very pretty place! We played in the water and it was all fun and games until Terry got Serena's hair wet! After, we walked another 600m further into the rain forest to find the Blue Pool, too deep and surrounded by sinking mud to swim in but very pretty and very, very blue! After another trip on the minibus we reached the hot stream where the water was similar to a hot bath! We stopped for lunch to eat traditional thai curries and then played with the goats on a nearby bridge (Billy Goats Gruff comes to mind!). We visited the tiger temple after lunch. We explored the tiger caves, visited the temples, went to see the monkeys roaming free, used a thai toilet (needs some getting used to), attempted to walk up 1237 steps, to see a temple at the top of a mountain, but gave up after the first 37.. We jumped on the minibus again for our last stop - to ride the elephants. We were a little dubious about this as we had heard that some of the trainers are quite cruel but we reassured ourselves by reminding ourselves that we also ride horses and use whips.. The ride itself was nerve-racking to say the least! Our elephant, Pau, trudged up and down steep muddy hills as we used all our strength to hold our selves in our seats with only a weak bar to stop us falling! The trainer told us a little about Pau seemed to look after him well. We posed for some pictures and enjoyed the scenery as we swayed about on top of Pau, who was enormous! When we got back to the starting point we noticed some of the elephants chained up with little space to move and as we sat for the elephant show, we felt bad for being there as the baby elephant looked tormented and distressed, constantly rocking back and forth on his chain. We plan to visit the elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai where they rescue elephants from performing and look after them with lots of love and care <3. When we returned to the hostel at 5:00pm we fell asleep almost immediately after our busy day and woke at 9:00pm feeling hungry! We decided to venture out for a quick bite to eat and the lovely hostel owner stopped us to ask about our trip and offer us a torch to walk through the dark. As we walked through the Buddhist village we were stopped by the monk that showed us around the pond the day before. Coincidentally and without any knowledge of our quest for food, he held out a bag full of thai food and insisted we take it, refusing money we offered! Grateful and overwhelmed by the generosity of the thai people, we went back to the hostel to enjoy our feast!
The next day we checked out and the kind lady from the hostel took us to our minibus. The minibus gradually filled up and soon there were more people than seats. The driver began the journey but stopped at a garage where the mechanics jacked up the whole rear of the vehicle and changed the tyres with the minibus still full (plus more) and then proceeded to tamper with the front tyres! But we were soon on our way...
Next stop, Phuket!