Krabi Part IV - Day 3

24th April 2009
We were having very bad body ache after the speed boat ride that we had yesterday. We decided to have a slow and relax trip instead and chose an Elephant ride tour.
I have already forgotten how much we paid for this tour (too long ago-lah), but if I remember it correctly, we paid around 1200baht per person for this 1 day trip.
Started the day with breakfast at the hotel again. At around 9am, there came a Toyota Vios to pick us up from the hotel lobby. This elephant ride tour was not a famous day tour I guess. There were only 4 tourists for this tour, including LKC and I. We shared the same car with a couple, an 'angmoh' and a Negro.
The first stop was the Elephant Trekking site. Each couple was 'assigned' to ride an elephant. And this is the elephant which we rode on for our 1 hour trekking. Well done elephant...sorry to you that you had to carry 2 fatty-bum-bum.

There were not many things to do in this 1 hour ride except for these...

Camwhoring

Taking photos of the elephant in front

Shocking to see the elephant's output...and found out that the elephant could do 2 businesses at the same time...and laughing non-stop when looking at the elephant's fifth leg

Sightseeing...rubber dripping out from the tree

More sightseeing...bamboo trees, it reminds me of China as I always have this chain, bamboo --> panda --> China

At one point, the elephant's 'driver' stopped and helped us to take photos. He was a professional photographer I tell, although he is like a mid 40 year-old Pak Cik working in a farm. I passed my baby (DSLR) to him and he helped us to capture these photos, without the live-view, which was to my surprise...3 of us - LKC, me and the elephant are completely in the photos, without our head being cut off...ok, lame joke.

See...he's good in taking photo right?

Another perfect picture

He asked LKC to become the Tarzan for 5 minutes and LKC sat on the elephant's neck while I sat behind.

For the short 5 minutes, the Tarzan aka LKC became my drebar while I was the queen sitting behind. OK, another saying, behind every success man (yet to success man is more appropriate), there is always a lady (that's me) supporting him behind.

I did not want to miss this special experience. So I swapped the place with LKC and became Jane for 5 minutes as well. It was indeed a very special and memorable experience when riding an elephant, especially when you were sitting in front.

Me...being Jane

We were back to the 'station' after an hour ride and bought a basket of bananas for 50 baht to treat the elephant which did the hard work for carrying us for the past 1 hour. The elephant was so cute, when the trainer said 'khob-kun-Ka' (thank you in Thai), the elephant bended its knees...so cute. I like the elephant so much and missing it while I'm typing this.

After the elephant trekking, we headed to the Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Seua). According to here, the Tiger Cave takes its name from a stone formation nearby which resembles a tiger's claw.

The path leading to the hill top

Before we climbed the 1237 steps

A very steep stair

The steps were steep and narrow. We had to walk side way (like a crab) when climbing the steps and our stamina was so bad. We decided to call out after we arrived at 269th steps.

The view from 269th step. I'm sure the view will be so much better at the top of the hill.

Kuan Yin in a pagoda

Bought some blue joss sticks (blue is for Friday) for praying

Temple in the cave...reminds of our famous Sam Poh Tong in Ipoh

Still under construction temple...it will all be ready the next time we visit Krabi (if we ever return)

Wow...Buddha on a jetplane

It was almost lunch time when we headed to the next destination; The Emerald Pool. We had our lunch at the Rim Tan Restaurant nearby the Emerald Pool. Didn't manage to capture the meal that we had as we were sharing the dishes with the other couple. We had the local tom yum seafood, omelet, fried vegie and etc for lunch. It was included in the tour package.

We had to walk like 15-20 minutes before reaching the Emerald Pool. Along the way, we saw ...

Clear water flowing along the small valley

Bamboo trees (again) along the way

Thank God, the road wasn't steep

Finally... arrived at the Emerald Pool


Nothing much to do at the pool except taking photos and soaking in the pool

We spent about an hour at the Emerald Pool and headed to the next and the final destination of the trip, which is the Hot Spring. After soaking in the cold Emerald Pool, the water at the Hot Spring was extremely hot. No doubt the water temperature was around 40 over degree Celsius. We didn't find it too hot after soaking in the water for 5 minutes. It was very relaxing indeed. LKC did not enjoy as much as I did. He found it too hot. Well, guys always do not know how to enjoy what is good for the health. We were told not to stay in the warm water for too long especially for those with high blood pressure (LKC is one of them). We were there for about 30 minutes and left after drying up ourselves.

At the Hot Spring

Arrived at the hotel around 4pm and dozed off after taking shower. It was time for dinner and we went back to the place we had our dinner on the first night. We settled down at Sala Bua & Lo Spuntino restaurant. It's a Thai cum Italian restaurant under one roof.

Appetizers, compliments from the restaurant. I didn't have the chance to try it as I was busy taking photos. When I turned around, the plate was gone *sob**sob*

Before our dinner...how nice to have dinner by the seaside witnessing the sun set

The beautiful sun set

For dinner, we had seafood dinner. We ordered ...

Mussels cooked with basil leaves...I like this dish so much that I was so happy to see it in the menu. My sis-in-law (a Thai girl, in case you don't know) used to prepare this dish when dad bought some mussels home from the pasar malam and I was deeply in love with it.

Grilled giant prawns (each prawn cost around 150 baht, approx RM15)

Grilled crabs. The crabs were fresh and the meat was so succulent.

Tom yum seafood. Another tom yum with the omphh...why can't we find it in Malaysia?

A plate of fried mixed vegetables to complete the meal

A table full of seafood

The bill for the meal was less than 800 baht (if I'm not mistaken). It was a very yummylicious and it was worth every penny that we paid.
After dinner, we walked along the shops along Ao Nang Beach and bought some souvenirs home. I had another round of full body massage. This time I chose the oil massage instead, and it was only 300 baht for 1 hour. After the massage, it was time for some supper. We went to the Grand Italia Gelato Shop for some sugarfree (or was it organic) ice-cream. We ordered a cup of Rum N Raisin ice cream to share and a glass of tangerine juice. No credits to be given to the ice-cream as it was too sweet for our liking. The tangerine juice deserves a mention and the limelight. It taste somewhat similar to the mandarin oranges we have on CNY and the little mini mandarins that comes in a big bag. We called off the night after drinking the cheap beers and eating the snack in the hotel.

Colourful hand crafted scented candles

The awful Rum N Raisin ice-cream

The tangerines juice that worth the limelight