Thailand Day 9 — Tiger Cave Temple
Monday Oct 20th, Day 9 – Morning: Tiger Cave Temple
Day 9 was a long and exciting day and therefore, will have to be split into 2 blogs. Our day started quite early. We rented motor bikes again for a mere $6 per day, per bike. What a deal! We got up and were on the road at 5:45am to climb the Tiger Cave Temple which was located about 4 miles outside of Krabi town.
One advantage of getting up that early is seeing all the monks walking the street (just like I described before) hitting their bowls to receive food. Unfortunately, we had someplace to be so we didn’t have time to stop and observe.
Our arrival at Tiger Cave Temple at sunrise
The Tiger Cave Temple (also called Wat Tham Seua) was founded over 40 years ago after the monk Luang Por Chamnean Srilasatetho came to meditate in one of the many caves. Legend has it, while meditating alone, a tiger came into the cave but did not harm him. Supposedly tiger paw prints were also found on the cave walls. Thus a temple was created on this spot and named as such. Approximately 300 monks live here. But the temple serves primarily as a school and place of meditation rather than a place of worship.
The entrance to the staircase leading up to the Tiger Cave Temple
There are 1,237 steps to the top of the mountain, which is equivalent to climbing 100 floors. This kind of exercise in extreme humidity/heat is definitely a challenge. I would also have my first physical confrontation with a monkey today.
Joe’s sister Becky told me there are many wild monkeys who live in the treetops on the way up to the temple so I had brought a bag of grapes with me. Now how is it possible the monkeys could even see these grapes….I couldn’t see them. Oh but they certainly saw me!
Many monkey families call Tiger Cave Temple home
In my excitement, I charged ahead of Joe, Becky and Erik and started to climb the staircase. And then I heard it….”Whoop Whoop Whoop….” As if an army general was signaling the troops. Very quickly, I realized I was alone on the first two flights of stairs heading up.
I heard a sudden WHOOSH but I still couldn’t see much. And then they were just suddenly there. We had arrived at the temple early so no other visitors were around and Joe was still playing catch up. I have no idea where this hoard came from but it felt like a biblical plague of monkeys had suddenly rained down on my head. I couldn’t take a step forward without stepping on a tail so I was pretty much a sitting duck; held hostage in a monkey stockade.
This gives you an idea of the monkey gauntlet that awaited me – there was no way out going up or down
Innocently, I had fed a few monkeys at this point but I couldn’t feed them fast enough. They were multiplying faster than I could count! Suddenly the mob turned angry and impatient and then it happened: monkey assault. A determined monkey unexpectedly jumped on my torso. His grabby little feet anchored at my waist, one arm firmly went around my back to steady himself, while the other hand started to tug on the bag of grapes which I was defiantly holding onto. I looked deep into his savage monkey eyes and realized an impending monkey bite was seconds away. He gave a piercing shriek, I screamed, and just like that, the bag of food was gone….again. Quickly on this trip, I am getting used to this feeding ritual that starts off with threats, possible monkey assault and followed by theft.
Several signs around the temple warned me – I should have paid closer attention
At about this time, Joe had been heading toward the stairs when he heard me scream. You know the kind of scream I’m talking about. In the movies, it’s the peaceful jungle setting, when all the sudden the tranquility is disturbed abruptly and huge flocks of birds scatter in a 10 mile radius. Yeah, that was the blood-curdling scream I let out.
Joe arrived just in time to catch my assailant hauling off the bag of grapes while I looked on rather annoyed. I’m lucky I escaped with only disappointment and a racing heartbeat. As soon as the monkeys realized we had no more food, they let us pass peacefully and quietly ascended back into the treetops out of sight.
Joe arrived just in time to capture my assailant making off with my grapes
The climb was indescribable. We climbed early before the sun got too high but its already quite steamy in the mornings. Ok I cheated a bit. I wore a tank top today. Technically according to temple standards, I’m supposed to wear sleeves. Even though the temple is outside on top of a mountain, I guess I told myself it would be all right. In hindsight, I still should have abided by the guidelines but the idea of climbing up there in that heat got the better of my judgment.
It was a steep climb up but the view was absolutely breathtaking
It took us an hour to climb to the top with almost no breaks. Granted, this climb is still nowhere in the same ballpark as when we climbed Mt Fuji in Japan but it ranks a very strong 2nd as the most challenging thing I’ve done. Physically, it was brutal and I almost thought of stopping halfway up. The steps were so steep in certain places it changed from a staircase to more of a ladder. One of the stray dogs followed us up, but when we got to a particularly steep part, even he could go no further. It was too vertical for him.
Close to the top, we found a primitive bathroom and a sign instructing us that there was no “washroom” at the top and if we needed to use the bathroom, to do it now. In other words, no peeing off the top from the guys in this sacred place. The bathroom is what you might expect in a place such as this. No running water or modern convenience of a toilet. Its merely a squatter (hole in the ground) with a bucket of water for flushing. Squatters are considered to be common bathrooms in Asia depending on your location. Squatters are used by both men and women. No toilet seat for the ladies – you just hover.
A “squatter” toward the top of the mountain offered a brief bathroom break
At long last, we reached the top! A sign at the entrance to the temple instructed us to remove our shoes and also served a warning not to litter. I was never so thankful to see free water on top as our water bottles were depleted by this point. We filled them over and over til we could drink no more. Initially we laid in exhaustion on the tile floor of the temple til our senses returned.
The view was incredible and well worth the pain and sweat we put in. There was an enormous Buddha on top as well as a place to light incense for prayer. How the heck did they get that Buddha up there? The 360-degree panoramic scene provided views of the Andaman Sea as well as the dense tropical rainforest surrounding the temple.
The giant Buddha on top of Tiger Cave Temple was magnificent
The temple itself was actually quite expansive. Colorful statues, walkways, pots for burning incense as well as additional viewing platforms could be reached by climbing a smaller staircase. I’m in awe at how they got all of these colossal statues on top of this mountain! I only wished there were more descriptions on what all the statues were and what they represented. The detail on some of the statue carvings was rather ornate.
I really liked the 5-headed snake statue in this picture in the shape of a tiger paw
High above the clouds in the lower valleys surrounding Tiger Cave Temple
Coming back down, our legs were literally shaking and quivering because of all the stress we put on them. They felt like rubber and I hoped my legs wouldn’t give out on the walk down.
Once we were on the ground, we received a bracelet from the mae chii (mother priests). Mother priests are women who live the monastic life as nuns. They are outnumbered by male monastics 46 to 1. Thai nuns shave their heads, wear white robes and take vows of an ordination procedure similar to monks. The mae chii in Thailand aren’t considered as prestigious as monkhood. In 2002, a Thai woman was fully ordained for the very first time. I’m actually allowed to converse with them, unlike the monks.
Mae chii (mother priests) preparing the pot where incense is placed
Both monks and mae chii live at Tiger Cave Temple. The mae chii presented us with bracelets. Then I took part in a ritual where I bought a white flower and incense. The white flower was placed in a large water pot in the center of the courtyard. The incense is dependent on what day you were born. Since I was the only one who knew what day I was born on (I was born on a Wednesday), I received green incense and a green candle. You light the candle and put it in the candleholder not far from the flower. Then you light the incense and pray/meditate. After prayerful meditation, you then put the burning incense in a big sand pot in the center of the courtyard as well.
Being born on a Wednesday, I received green incense and a green candle
I sat in silence/meditation before placing my white flower in the center of the courtyard
Then I placed my incense in the offering pot
Afterwards we were so hot, we took a nice long drive on the motor bikes to cool off and ended up driving to a mountain resort for breakfast. As Joe likes to say, “turn on the A/C!” which was his way of saying, “let’s go for a ride and cool off.” Great idea!
We found a “mountain road” heading up to the Phanom Bencha Mountain Resort. The road was very rough terrain…muddy, giant rocks, loose gravel and potholes. It really wasn’t built for motor bikes (more like all-terrain vehicles), but the restaurant was great. It had very scenic grounds and was totally secluded since it was so far out of the way.
We enjoyed a morning breakfast overlooking the lagoon at the Phanom Bencha Mountain Resort and replenished our strength
Finally an actual toilet at the mountain resort! But do you see what I see at the top of the bathroom? Look close!
Bugs and spiders in Thailand can be sizeable
We also got to watch a worker tapping the trees for rubber. Thailand is the #1 producer in the world for rubber and produces 40% of the world’s natural rubber. Rubber trees can grow only in areas not more than 15 degrees north or south of the equator. We received a lesson in rubber extraction which was quite educational. A special knife is used to carve off just enough bark to extract the rubber without damaging the tree. The latex sap will then drip down into collection bowls which are later processed into rubber.
We watched the workers tapping the trees for rubber
On our drive back from breakfast, we could easily see in the daylight the Tiger Cave Temple we had just climbed and marveled how high we were! Off we sped to Promthapratanporn Cave which later I would refer to “Cave of Death”. To be continued in my next blog!
You can see in this picture just how big the temple on top of the mountain really is
