Krabi Part 2: Tiger Cave Temple and Railay

On a very humid day in Krabi, we decided that what we'd really like to do that day is climb a mountain during the hottest part of the day. Good choices.

So we headed 10 km outside of Krabi to the foot of Khao Phanom Bencha Mountain, where you're given fair warning by this sign:

And this guy:

I'm sure I'm being borderline sacrilegious to suggest this, but there must be something happy in that bottle he's got tucked into his left elbow. Look at the guy. He's a hot mess, with his robe all falling off and his giant feather and his sassy hat.

Anyway, despite all my better judgement that urged me to head back to town and get a massage, we set off up the mountain. And after 300 stairs we were gasping and drenched in sweat. By stair 700 my legs were shaking, and when I looked down at this:

I got a bit dizzy.

So I wimped out. Can you blame me? Some of the "stairs" looked like this:

More ladder than stairs, really. 

So I took photos from where I was, which was pretty sweet in itself:

Or at least I thought so, but according to the internet the view from the top looks like this:

Humph. In any case, I took it slow back down the mountain to wander around the temple complex. I watched some young nuns polish a Buddha image:

monitored thieving monkeys:

checked out a Chinese style temple dedicated to the Goddess of Compassion:

 and chilled out by this mountain-waterfall-turned-fountain until my fitter friends finished their fun:

who upon reaching the bottom confessed that they would have blown chunks once they reached the top except that you really shouldn't vomit on a holy place.  We always tried to be as culturally sensitive as possible.

The next day we opted for a more sedentary activity: visiting Railay Island, and lounging on the beach there. We grabbed a long-tail boat and headed out on the river into the bay:

 I don't really have that much to say about Railay, except that it was absolutely, stunningly beautiful.

and that floating effortlessly under these cliffs, looking up at the streaky watercolors and feeling the drip of the water that continues to create these rock formations was pretty close to divine. 

And that was a much better use of our time.

I got a bit sunburned, because that's what I do. And then this random thing sticks out in my mind for some reason. When we got back to Krabi that night I put on something sleeveless to avoid irritating my shoulders before we went down the river to eat at the night market. We were sitting there eating noodles or something when an old woman walked past our table wearing an intricately wrapped traditional Thai outfit.  I happened to look up and catch her eye as she passed, so even though my hands were occupied I bowed my head to her as we were taught to do in our training course. And she made a tutting sound with her tongue and rested one cool hand on my burned shoulder as she passed by.

Mothers are the same everywhere.

Next: Chiang Mai!