A Trip to Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea), Krabi, Thailand

One of the most sacred Buddhist temples in Krabi, located in the Kiriwong Valley’s tropical rain forest. The temple is a prominent center for Thai Buddhist meditation. The temple also has places of archaeological and historical significance, such as stone tools, pottery shards, and molded Buddha footprints.

History

The foundation of the temple dates back to 1975 when a Vipassana monk named Jumnean Seelasettho (Ajahn Jumnean) went to meditate in the cave here. During his meditation, he witnessed tigers roaming around the cave. This discovery led to naming the temple Wat Tham Suea. Another legend says that an actual huge tiger used to live and roam the cave. The naming of the temple also comes to discoveries of a tiger paw prints on the cave walls.

The main vihara is inside a small shallow limestone cave. The area is well lit and very well maintained to preserve the serenity of the environment. Some 250 monks and nuns live in the temple compounds. The temple teaches a form of Buddhism called Vipassana (insight meditation), which is based on the teachings of the earliest Buddhist texts.

One of the main attractions is the Buddha statue and golden Pagoda on top of the Ao Luk Thanu mountain ranges next to the temple. A strenuous flight of stairs (1,237 steps) leads to the summit. Some of the stairs are more than a foot (30 cm) high. The view from the top, combined with the Pagoda and Budha statue, makes the summit of the mountain an unforgettably beautiful and peaceful place. Sunset ascents are becoming increasingly popular, especially at full moon days, when it is possible to see the sun set in the west, while a golden moon rises over the Krabi lowlands in the east. Monkeys roam the lower stairs and temple grounds. Do not tease the monkeys, occasionally people get bitten by the monkeys.  (some of the information are from Wikipedia)

I rent a car from the Ao Nang area and drove to the Tiger cave temple on a fine morning. It was a 30-40min drive and the road was pretty good, like most of the tourist places in Thailand. I learned about the 1237steps climb to the summit after reaching the place. And took the challenge with a pair of simple slippers, a heavy camera bag and small bottle of water. It was really a tiring trip, first 300steps were not that difficult. After that, I stopped for a short break whenever my legs and lungs begged me to stop. The heat and humidity was not in favor at all. But reaching the summit was extremely rewarding, with a wonderful view of the valley on one side and the beautiful mountain ranges on the other side. Even the Krabi airport can be seen from the top. A few minutes of silence in front of the majestic sitting Budha statue and the golden pagoda somehow replenish the spirits and energy. I spend more than 40min there and refilled the bottle from the water tap there. Also took off my tshirt to dry it, as it was completely wet when I reached the summit. The descent was much easier than the ascent and reached the foot of the mountain, without stopping at all.

I walked to main vihara and spend some time there. Interestingly, one of the very old Buddhist nun with the register book eagerly talked to me about India.

This place is definitely worth going, especially if you don’t mind some physical activities like climbing 1237 steps.

The Majestic sitting Buddha statue

Buddha statue, see the valley in the background

Golden Pagoda

Buddha statues, the mountain ranges in the background

View of the newly constructing temple building and the valley, from the summit

View of the newly constructing temple building and the valley, from the summit (a panoramic view)

View of the mountain ranges, from the summit

View of the mountain ranges, from the summit

View of the mountain ranges, from the summit (a panoramic view)

A statue of Lord Ganesha, seen while climbing the mountain

A view of the steps in the beginning of the climb

The Cave inside the Vihara

The Cave inside the Vihara

The gate of the Tiger cave temple

A Statue at the foot of the mountain

A Trip to Krabi

Krabi was in my travel plans for a long time, as one of my colleagues, Roger Ridsdill used to live and run a hotel there in Krabi. He once briefly told me stories about Krabi and his hotel, during one of the survey campaigns onboard MV Micylin Energy and I was fascinated by these tiny, beautiful islands, off Krabi, with white sandy beaches and turquoise waters.  Some of my thai friends also passed me their knowledge of Krabi’s islands and tips to travel around there. As I grew up and spend a lot of my evenings during those early years of my life on a beautiful beach in Varkala, beaches are always my weakness. I decided to fly there in May 2016, during the off season, to avoid the maddening crowd and find some solace in the solitude of these white sandy beaches and soak my soul in that turquoise waters. I took an evening flight from Bangkok to Krabi, by Thailion air.  One of the reasons why I like this budget airline is that they allow you to carry free 15kgs of check-in luggage compared to other budget airlines. (For international flights, it is 30Kg).

For those who don’t know, Krabi airport is approximately 9km from the Krabi town centre and 27km from the Ao Nang beach. The Ao Nang beach can be considered as a main tourist center for lodging, compared to the Krabi town center or other beaches like Nopparat Thara. So if you are aiming for the island hopping trips, better to stay either in the Ao Nang or Nopparat Thara beach areas, not the Krabi town. And, if you are traveler like me, without any tour packages, you need to get a transfer from the Krabi airport to the Ao Nang or Nopparat Thara beach areas. There is no public transport allowed inside the Krabi airport and that leaves you with following three choices at the Krabi airport,

1.   Car rentals – All the international firms such as Avis, Budget etc and also some thai firms have booths in the arrival hall of the airport terminal. If that is your choice, probably better to pre-book online for much better rates.

2.   Airport taxis – Taxis are pre-paid with a fixed rate.  You must buy the coupon from a booth inside the arrival hall, before leaving the terminal building and the driver will be waiting for you outside. Taxi fare to the Ao nang area is about 600baht, if you are in a group of 4 people, then this will be the best option.

3.   Airport bus – This was my choice, 150baht to Ao nang area. If you are heading to Krabi town, it will be 90 baht. Tickets can be bought in the arrival hall booths, similar to taxis. Only trouble is that the buses normally leave when there are enough passengers to fill them. They are available 5 times a day. Mostly a 10-15minutes wait, depends on the number of flights coming in.

The Airport bus ride was smooth. The driver asks your hotel (make sure he understands the correct name) and takes you to your hotel. So there will be some more delay depends on the location of your hotel.

Ao nang

Ao nang beach road is full of shops, agents selling island hopping tour packages, restaurants of various cuisines (there were a lot of Indian restaurants). One of the best thing i like is the small family marts and 7/11 shops, head to one of them for your water, coffee, fruits, even breakfast cereals.  there are a few medicine shops available as well.

Before buying the island trip package from those agents, check with a few of them before you settle with the one you prefers. You need to pay extra entrance fee to some of the islands (like Tup etc) as it falls under natural parks. Find out the amount clearly. However, at  some places they demand more money, go back to the boat driver or the guide and talk to them. In Tup island they demanded 400 baht instead of 200 baht mentioned by the tour agent and the boat driver stepped in and helped.

Things to carry if you are going for island hopping trips and snorkeling,

1.   A dry bag. If you forget to carry one, you can easily buy one from one of the street shops, do a good bargain. And, always remember the cheap ones are always of low quality.

2.    Most of the hotels will keep extra towels in the room, to carry when you go for island hopping trips and snorkeling, so make sure to carry them.

3.    A pair of slippers for the boat trips.

4.    An additional cloth to change after snorkeling or swimming.

5.    Sunblock and sunglasses

6.    Some cotton, betadiene (just in case). You can easily get it from one of the medicine shops along the beach road.

I would like to recommend the following Island trips and places to visit,

1.     Hong islands

2.     Phi Phi islands

3.     7 islands sunset tour

4.     Wat Tham Sua (Tiger temple)

5.     Shell Fossil beach

6.     Klong Thom Hot Springs

7.     Emerald pool (I wasn’t impressed much as it is a long drive from Krabi and not worth that time, unless you want to take a bath in the pool.)

You can easily rent a car (or a motorbike) and drive around Krabi and go to some of these places like tiger temple, Shell Fossil beach, Emerald pool, Klong Thom Hot Springs etc on the main land.

Details of my Island trips and other visits will be given in separate blogs.

An early morning walk along the Ao nang beach, during low tides.

Statue of the giant fish and the fishermen, Ao nang beach

Long tail boats resting on the shore during low tides, Ao nang beach

A panaroma shot of Nopparat Thara beach using the phone camera

Speedboats and long tails birthed in the Nopparat Thara pier

long tail boats birthed next to the Nopparat Thara pier

Ao nammao pier, Some of the tours starts from here.

Ao nammao pier, a view from the boat

A grounded long tail boat during low tides, a view from Ao nammao pier

Grounded long tail boats on the flat sea bottom during low tides, a view from Ao nammao pier

A word about Krabi’s Karst topography

Krabi’s beautiful land and seascapes are geologically called Karst topography.  These Karsts are limestone mountains that have been formed after the erosion of the softer rock around the limestone,  creating gigantic pillars of rock. Most of these karst topographies were formed 260 million years ago. Coral and shell deposits were buried deep under the earth, eventually forming limestone. These limestones were thrust up above the surface when the Indian plate collided with the  Asian plate some 30 million years ago. In the South of Thailand, many provinces have spectacular examples of this type of Karst topography.

The Karst topography exists throughout the world, and some of the famous cave systems are located in karsts. However, only three places show the karst hills and towers extending into the adjacent seas and Krabi is the only fully tropical location. The other locations are the Haolong Bay in Vietnam and Dalmatian Coast of Croatia.

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography