Tom Grundy's Wat Tham Seua Travels Page
We needed a rest day, some more fruit, and a break from Tonsai, so it was time for an excursion. We took a long tailed boat to Ao Nang, and then a songtheaw past Krabi to The Tiger Cave Temple. We could see part of it on top of a mountain as we approached.
you can see the shrine on top of the mountain
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Tiger Cave Temple is also known as Wat Tham Seua. It is so named because a tiger once lived in one of the caves or maybe because one of the speleothems looks like a tiger's paw. We looked at a giant new concrete tower under construction, then climbed up a lot of steps (1,237 according to the sign and the labels (the number of steps you had climbed was also written on some of the handrail posts - I'm not sure if this helped or was depressing). Some of the sections were pretty steep and the runners and rise definitely weren't standard. There were also a lot of chedi (probably 108) and a few random shrines on the way up. Luckily there was still a fair bit of shade when we ascended. Still we were glad to sit in the shade in a breeze when we got to the top. The view was very nice, although it was a bit of a hazy day. There were a number of Buddha statues and shrines, and antenna, and a chedi, but I didn't notice the Buddha footprint in the rock that is supposed to be up there.
They warn you about all the steps to the top
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they were awfully steep and hot and long
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They make all sorts of things out of old tires
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no shortage of steps at all
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a small shrine on the way up (note clock with king)
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View down on a new monster tower under construction
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another view down on the new tower
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lots of Buddhas on top
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including a giant Buddha statue
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The way down was faster and less sweaty, but it was a little scarier too on the steep steps. We watched the troop of monkeys that were all over the place and getting fed. They seemed a bit too aggressive for our taste, but it was cool to watch them climb on things.
They warn you about the monkeys
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who run wild and are fed
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Then we passed the temple to Kuan Im, a Chinese fertility goddess and headed up a few more stairs into a small valley that housed a number of shrines and temples in caves and under overhangs. There were also a number of tiny monk's quarters and a bathroom that had doors labeled "people" and "monks". Because this valley was small and relatively inaccessible, it still contained a number of large trees including some with really huge root buttresses, unfortunately my pictures of these didn't turn out very well.
Kuan Im temple
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Another shrine under an overhang
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Julie and a big tree
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some tree root butresses
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Two odd things here were some sort of electronic fortune teller machines (or maybe they prayed for you?) with a sort of jangly casino sounding sound and some giant airplane models with statues on top of them. Perhaps they were used as floats for parades?
airplane model shrine
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fortune teller machines
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We ended up taking a taxi back to Ao Nang where we had a late lunch, checked the internet, and bought some fruit before returning to Tonsai. The cost and pain of dealing with the Taxi convinced us to rent a scooter for the next excursion.
bananas in the Ao Nang market
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Here is a link to the spot tracker page - if you switch to aerial photo and zoom in on the upper right of the track you can see the Wat.
Spot tracker page - 1/11 - 1/18 (Wat Tham Seua plus some snorkeling)
another Tonsai sunset
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