If you came to a beautiful beach-side town to hike an exhausting set of steps, you need to get your head examined.
Wat Tham Sua (also spelled Wat Thumsua, Wat Tham Suea, and also called the Tiger Cave Temple) is the home to one of Krabi’s most famous tourist attractions. Founded in 1975, a Buddhist monk saw tigers roaming around the cave during his meditations, and tiger paw prints have been discovered in the cave.
Since there are plenty of jungles and forests around, this isn’t all that far-fetched. That there are no actual tigers around the temple isn’t all that disappointing, however — what drives most people here is the famed 1,237-step climb to the summit.
Something I haven’t seen in a Buddhist temple — an opportunity to make your own amulet. They gleam in the sun (though a protip for the shutterbugs: this is the exact sort of thing a fill flash is great for. The bright reflection, if your camera automatically adjusts for the light, will make everything else much darker. The fill flash adds in some light to the rest of the picture beyond the brightest points, and is necessary to see much in the shadows.
I… got nothing.
Start warming up for the climb by walking along a few of the temple buildings.
Before beginning your (mostly) vertical hike, however, take a few minutes and enjoy the monkeys! Be careful, though — just like the monkeys you might have seen in Ayutthaya, Lopburi, or elsewhere, they’ll try to steal whatever they think is food or drink:
Victory tastes… green. They’ll only bug you for the first 300 steps or so — supposedly, at least. A couple of them followed me as high as I went (more on that in a minute).
Quite a few baby monkeys around, and I was surprised at how easy it was to get close to them.
Seriously, who doesn’t love monkeys?
OK, so onto the reason we came here. My wife gave herself a 10% chance of reaching the top — and I should point out that neither of us are in the best of shape. Nonetheless, we’re here, so LET’S GO! 600 meters worth of stairs…
It started off easy enough — broad, wide steps without much height…
No Photoshopping here — they suddenly got a lot steeper.
Again, no Photoshopping here — these stairs stayed steep… The numbers are kind of helpful, but only until you realize how much each flight takes out of you… only to realize you’ve made it up 30 odd steps…
Let the record show we made it up about a quarter of the way before opting to head back down to save some sanity / energy. (Laura’s legs were still sore a few days later.)
The cave, complete with monks and plenty of Buddha images.
How about that — there’s a tiger near the cave after all…
If you decide to go, be prepared for a minimum of an hour of climbing — and an additional hour coming down. It’s worth the visit, whether you decide to climb to the top or not.
Name: Wat Tham Sua AKA The Tiger Cave Temple
Address: along route 6017, Tambon Krabi Noi, Amphoe Mueang Krabi, Chang Wat Krabi 81000 (GPS: 8.124003, 98.925138)
Directions: Most any songthaew or taxi can take you here. If coming via scooter, head north and east on route 4 from Krabi Townlike you’re going to the Big C / Tesco. Turn left onto route 6017, then go another 2 kilometers and turn left to enter the temple. There is ample signage in English.
Hours: Sun up to sun down.
Admission: free (donations accepted in several places)
Phone: none
Website: http://www.wattumsua.com/
