Girls go gallivanting: Krabi

KRABI

Friday 20/06

Tiger Temple

Early Friday morning we took a mini bus to Krabi. We were the only two passengers in the vehicle and our driver (who looked way too young to be steering any sort of vehicle) was constantly turning around to chat and show us music videos on his phone. Roxy was super paranoid as he kept veering off our side of the road, but he fed us the Asian version of prawn chips, so he was okay in our books. We arrived in Krabi at about 12.00, quickly grabbed some lunch from a local market, rented a scooter (the first and only one in Thailand) and headed off to the Tiger Temple. We know we promised no more temples, but this one we counted as exercise for the day - as it was over 1000 steps to the top of a mountain to get there- talk about some dedicated Buddhist monks!

Joy enjoying Papaya salad and Rox with a traditional Thai dessert - a kind of soft coconut cookie on the outside with a warm coconut milk-tart- like mixture on the inside (delicious!)

We named our scooter Sebastian (as it was red in colour and we were in a place called Krabi). Haha! We know we are so lame, but hilarious! Also the day we rented him - the heavens opened up and we got so soaked that we might as well have been 'under da sea'. Due to the terrible weather we never actually took any pictures of our hardcore ride, however, we later found a postcard which looked exactly like him (obviously he is that famous that he appears in print). Ironically the picture was also taken while he was standing in the rain - coincidence - We think not!!

After a 45 minute drive in the rain, not knowing where we were going as most of the street names were in Thai (which looked like squiggle pictures to us), we miraculously made it to the Tiger Temple (or as it officially called - Wat Thum Sua).

Joy nearly didn't make it out alive!

Elephant topiary

A water feature at the foot of the mountain

Sign telling us that it was over 1000 steps to the top (luckily we were wearing our hiking boots!)...

... and the steps were steep!

Almost there

Victory!!!!!! We conquered the mountain!

We definitely felt heroic

With such an incredible view it was well worth all the sweat and tears to the top

This many steps to the top - now to walk ALL of them AGAIN on the walk Down!

Joy using the backwards-stair-technique on the descent to make sure she didn't fall down these treacherous, steep and wet stairs

At the bottom of the mountain there is also a Tiger Cave that apparently used to originally be home to the tigers that inhabited this area, before the monks settled here and converted it to a place of worship. They still pay homage to the cave's previous owners by laying gifts and lighting incense at the various tiger statues.

At a distance - one can see the magnitude of the mountain that we had to climb.

Saturday - 21/06

Rock Climbing

As if our bodies hadn't taken enough punishment climbing the mountain the day before, we decided to do the next most self destructive thing we could think of - rock climbing.

Joy at the dock with our taxi driver and our fellow climber - Felipe from Brazil

On the boat arriving at the famous Railay Beach

Joy and Rox meeting our instructor Ghop and getting geared up for the climb

And so - Joy takes the plunge and aggressively attacks the cliff face

And up she goes ...

And after only two or three falls she makes it to the top - Thumbs up!

On the way down - all smiles having survived the climb!

And now it is Rox's Turn to try her hand at it...

Tying the rope into the classic 8 shape - this knot is all that protects a climber from falling to certain death (so its important to get it right! This is why Ghop double checks that we have done it correctly)