I mostly hid from the midday sun nursing my biker’s burn with aloe vera lotion and the aid of aircon. Slipped out late afternoon for a swim and beach walk. I followed my ears to find a cute trio playing happy pop songs. I took a front-row seat. The venue was part of a fancy beachside hotel in Ao Nang and I felt like I could totally pretend to be a paying guest and have a dip in their pool. I was about to get served, but it felt a little wrong to gatecrash.
Live music in Thailand is common. A band at another venue was playing classic 80s and 90s rock hits and the lead singer had such sass! After that high-energy performance, I was keen for a dance, but again, attendance everywhere was really low. There was one hostel playing vibey music, but they were charging 1000 Bhat to get in! I extended my neck to have a look, but it seemed dead. No thanks. I’ll save that for police bribe-money, if it ever comes to that.
Samsung weather predicted a 97% chance of thunder showers. Such lies. I got a full blast of the sun to the face when I opened the curtains, so I SLATHERED myself in sunscreen and hopped on my scooter. It was a 30-minute scoot to a temple area. I must admit that it all felt very “plastic”. The main temple is still under construction; and this is to commemorate Buddha whose final birthday party was around 500 BCE?
There were also different donation boxes everywhere. The only semi-spiritual moment I had was when an old woman in white wrapped red string around my wrist and seemed to say a prayer. She then pointed to a donation box. There were some golden-framed photos of a very fat monk in the Tiger Cave. I wonder what fed him?
Then I faced the 1,260 steps to ascend 309 vertical meters to the main attraction. One little Italian girl was crying “Mama! Mama!” and was clearly not enjoying the pilgrimage. It was tough going and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears! There was a sign at the bottom which read “Fitness Test”, but there was no gym instructor in sight. It must have taken over an hour to crawl to the top. I’m sure the counter-of-steps got the numbers wrong. It felt like there were at least a quarter of a million!
The view was worth it and there was a very impressive statue of Buddha at the top with two women praying at his feet. That was special. There was even a stray Buddhist dog up there! Stray dogs are sadly common in Thailand, but they seem to get taken care of, perhaps as reincarnations. Also at the apex was “Buddha’s Footprint”. His flipflops must have been a size 51! But I know the story of Siddhartha the Buddha well. He was a normal chap who simply got bored of being a prince behind royal walls, who jumped the fence one night to search for the meaning of existence. What followed sounded like the best acid trip of his life, but without the use of any drugs.
I had my first case of the trots (runs/diarrhea/thunder-butt) since being in Thailand, which came knocking about halfway during my decent. I did a speedy crab walk down, stopping every few minutes to clinch. I wondered why they hadn’t considered building a cable car. Many tourists would pay a pretty penny for that service, which could help build the new temple and feed the dogs! Perhaps the King wants Farangs to EARN their enlightenment. I also saw my first Thai monkey. There are signs all over Krabi saying “Don’t feed the monkeys”, but this was the first sighting of one within a week.
My scooter had a Hello Kitty bumper sticker, which made it easy to find. I scooted back to base with jelly legs in time for final work meetings. I booked my next week to stay in a bungalow on Phi Phi Island, where the snorkeling and diving is supposedly great. It had been a good week, but I was keen to move on!
Next: Thailand #14– Phi Phi Island
Previously: Thailand #12 – A Scoot and a Dip
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