We drove through a lush jungle area and arrived at Wat Tham Yai. There was no one else around except for the cutest little puppy. She and Yves connected.
The main pavilion is in the process of being completed. A large Buddha is on the center of the roof with smaller Buddhas on the perimeter of the roof.
The mountain behind gives this wat such an immense sense of sacredness.
The inside of the pavilion is under construction but the interior Buddhas have already been placed.
There were several pavilions in the Wat and this open air one included this statue of a revered monk, complete with glasses and a cane.
I read later that there are steps up the side of the mountain behind the large Buddha that lead to a cave where there are more Buddhas. I don’t think my knees could take a second day in a row of steps. By then the mosquitoes were out in full force and we made a dash for the car. We drove on. We made pit stops and a quick stop to eat lunch at a roadside restaurant. The limestones hills/mountains along the way covered in tropical vegetation left me in awe for the whole trip.
I kept my eyes open for the statues of Buddha that appear above the treetops every now and then.
Matt stopped and bought a Phuang malai — a Thai floral garland given for offerings or kept for good luck.
Yves was delightful the whole time. He giggled and babbled and made faces for his delighted grandmothers.
We arrived at the Krabi airport right on time. We turned in the rental van and met our airport transport to take us to the longtail boat dock. They threw all our luggage (and it is quite a bit for five people, one of which is an infant and one of which is me) onto the front end of the boat and loaded us as quickly as possible.
Matt and Melissa were ready with Yves’ life jacket and slid him in. We were all smiling and excited for the boat ride to our beach paradise, accessible only by boat.
But the boat ride wasn’t paradise. It was very loud and the waves came crashing over the side. At first it was almost comical. I told Melissa I felt like I was on the log ride at Disneyland — “you’re gonna’ get wet.” But then it became stressful. I started hearing the Gilligan’s Island theme song in my head. Matt was completely sopped and Yves looked like he was figuring out how to escape.
Chinda grabbed a life vest.
The view was gorgeous, however.
We felt better as we came to the pier until we saw other long tail boats unloading and loading people. The boats were pitching up and down and side to side. It was actually quite frightening. Matt and Melissa got Yves off and then Matt, two hotel staff and the worker holding the boat had to get the two grandmas off the boat. It was so intense that I told Matt, “I can’t get off. I’m too frightened.” Matt did an impression of the entire event…after we had all calmed down. It was spot on. Matt is going to work on his core for the next four days so he can help get the grandmas on and off the boat on the return trip. We walked down the bobbing, plastic pier chasing the two hotel workers and all our luggage.
We are staying on East Railay Beach, not the sandy beach side. We are on the quieter mangrove side.
It wasn’t far to the Bhu Nga Thani Resort. We were asked to sit and were brought glasses of apple juice. It helped us calm down. Then we were directed to our rooms. We are on the top floor and every direction you look is stunning. My luggage was brought to my room and the porter warned me not to leave my balcony door open. “The monkeys will come in.”
We got settled and then went out to look around and find something to eat. The moon will be full on Friday but it is already showing off.
This is a calmer beach resort area in Thailand. There is less to do here so fewer party people come here. But even so, there were weed shops and bars every few feet. I had to ask Matt what was in a good mood balloon. He looked it up for me. You can get a balloon filled with laughing gas. But it isn’t all weed and booze. They have an amazing array of fresh seafood.
We walked through most of East Railay and then headed over to the party side, West Railay. We saw the last embers of sunlight over the ocean and chose a restaurant. I got tempura shrimp and fries. I need to go easy on the spice. The rest of the group got food that was so spicy (jungle curry) they had to eat some of the fries to cool down. But they needed more to cool off so we headed out to find some ice cream to stop their mouths from burning. We decided on ice cream rolls. Yves was completely mesmerized by the whole process.
We walked back in the dark. It will be great to slow down this whirlwind of a vacation.
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