2012-10-04 - Day 5 - 1,237 Steps, Crystal Pools

Hmm, we don't like people smoking when we are having breakfast! Naughty! Nice breakfast all the same though.

We got a taxy with 'Tus', firstly to the fruit market, where we bought 2kg of mangosteen, 1kg dragon eyes, and 1kg of mangoes for $7! Amazing!

We got to Tiger Cave, and it was pretty hot. A woman made bracelets for all of us to wear for luck, and the we went up to Tiger Cave, and read about the cave and how the tiger with a big roar lived in the cave, and the Buddhists move in, and the tiger migrated and never seen again. Lots of monkeys everywhere.

Then we began our walk up the 1237 steps. Wow, it was hard for everyone, and we took our time, stopping at the top of each steep flight of stairs. Roxy did so well with her short legs, and Aiysha stopped complaining after 500 steps after Daddy stopped talking about taking small challenge as it comes - it got boring. We had 2 water stops on the way up but refilled at the top by the girls who were desperate for a drink! Survival!

Amazing temple though, amazing view, lit josticks for good luck by Clog and Paish.

The way down was a lot easier, and we stopped to talk to a Burma couple, and English / Thai couple - pretty funny. Roxy's legs were shaking on the way down! As we almost reached the bottom, we were attacked by monkeys! They even stole our precious water bottle! We finally got down by trying to ignore them, but they seemed to attack the next family coming up! Oh dear...

Once we got down, we had a fruit fest! It was lovely!

Once we ate our fill, we headed off to the Crystal Pools - it started raining, and we decided to get some snacks - sweetcorn, eggs, and a not so nice sausage :-(. We walked to the Crystal Pools to the loud sound of cicadas, and it took a while through the forest, but it was worth it! It was amazing! It was so clear, and so slippery we used the waterfall as a slide! It was so funny. Clog climbed on Daddy, shouted 'Taxi', and waved like the Queen, and I did gymnastics on the side, as usual. There were amazing damsel flies, butterflies, and after about an hour, there was really loud thunder. Mummy tried to tell Clara it was a motorbike - strange Mummy. What an amazing place.

On the way out, we had more fruit and bought another egg. The taxi stopped off at the fruit market on the way home and we got more mangusteen and dragon eyes. We got home at about 6.30 after Tus told us about spending 24 years in Switzerland as a chef and he had a 14 and 16 year old who live there, which was a bit sad as he never saw them.

We headed out at 7 for dinner, and we ordered our bracelets which said Aiysha and Clara on them from a lovely boy - they were amazing. A young Thai boy chatted to Daddy for ages and didn't even try to sell him anything - that was a first! We had dinner at Jeanettes which was yummy again, and had ice creams, but the pancake place was closed - Daddy was sad. We got another tut tut home, and still they didn't understand Mummy - so funny!

Mummy and Aiysha had a night time swim, had fruit, some TV and DS.

A great but exhausting day.

2012-10-03 - Day 4 - Daddy's Birthday In The Trees

Daddy had no idea! It was so funny! This is going to be just the best birthday surprise ever!

(Daddy) A lot of clues pointed to us going for an elephant trek in the jungle...how wrong I was...Got my presents first thing - so many games! Go Fish, Travel Scrabble, Scattergories and chocolate!


Great buffet breakfast with mango! Lovely, perfect for Daddy's birthday! We then left at 8.30 by taxi for 1.5 hour drive to our mystery activity - Treetop Climbing! And not just any old tree top climbing!

Jimmy was our guide, and he build the whole course which had 4 different levels. Green, Yellow, Blue, Red. We all went on the training course to start with, and realised we were responsible for our own safety with just two safety clips - we had to make sure we clipped and unclipped one at a time.

Roxy and Mummy managed the Green and Blue. Roxy was so brave, and Mummy got a little scared on the Blue. Daddy and I went on the Yellow, which had the biggest zip line ever - must have been almost 75m between 2 trees! It was so fun. On the Red, we were so high, AND there was an ants nest. We could hardly see the forest floor we were so high. Daddy got a little scared on the tight rope, and we also did a double zip line which was so funny! What an amazing view!

We did tight ropes, rode bikes, went on a surf board, ladders, trapezes, zip lines - so many activities, it was so clever!

We had rice for lunch, and then did more. It even rained a few times which we were on the courses - amazing.

Daddy absolutely loved it - said it was the best birthday ever!

Massive downpour on way home, got a bit cold and wet, but we still went in the pool and played Marco Polo and did press to handstands.


Went shopping, and got our bracelets, som PJs / T-Shirts for Daddy. Daddy got scared by a monkey's hand! That was so funny! Great bargains, and found a hole in one shirt and Daddy caused a fuss with the owner - funny!

Pizza and Desert, and played Go Fish which we had our ice creams and spotted frogs at the desert place.

Tut-tut home - green, so funny. Took us to wrong hotel - oh Moomis!

TV night! Yeah, what a day!

(Daddy) Thanks guys! The best birthday ever!

2012-10-02 - Day 3 - Krabi

Packed up, watched a bit of TV, and another lovely breakfast!

Taxi did not show, so we had to get another taxi to the airport - nice driver, but looked like he had a lot of bad luck in his past, 3 kids (15, 11, 6), and we decided to give him the first of our gifts we brought from Perth.

Got to the airport at 11.15, had a Boost Juice (amazing to find it here) and donuts (!).

Arrived in Thailand, Daddy took a picture of a funny sign, and we were picked up by Hururul in his 4WD. We got to Ao Nang Phu Pha, located just below a huge overhanging cliff! It was amazing!

Daddy went for a run to touch the cliff, and then came back for a swim in our lovely pool. I did some backsaults, and I helped Clara do some gymnastics in the pool. We also tried to play catchy, but it wasn't as good as it could have been. Our room was brilliant! Clara and I had our own room!

We took our hotel taxi, and walked up the beach to see the monkeys - I was a little scared, so I stayed away, but Clara wanted her picture taken with them! She is so brave! We walked along, and watched so many families digging for clams at low tide to sell to the restaurants. Amazing to see.

We had  dinner at Jeanette's - Mummy and Daddy had Thai food, we had spaghetti bolognaise, chicken, prawns and rice. We walked along the shop fronts, and there was so much for sale! Some amazing bracelets too - Clara and I really liked them.

The most exciting part was taking a ride in the Tut-tut to get home. Mummy had a little trouble being understood by the drivers - it was funny! We were late home, so straight to bed ready for Daddy's birthday! I can't wait!

What a funny first day in Krabi.