KRABI: Tiger Cave Temple

A drive out of Krabi Town, through small villages and past palm oil trees and rubber tree plantations brought us to the Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea). Don't worry there are no tigers here, expect for the statues. The story is that a Buddhist monk built a shrine inside a cave to meditate and saw tigers roaming around. The cave was at the base of a limestone peak.

Now a temple has been built on top of that limestone peak. 600 meters up.


1,237 steps can't be that bad right? But those steps were steep! At step 500 I was seriously wondering what we were thinking. Good thing Oreo breaks are very motivating. And the sneaky monkeys along the way were very entertaining.


Noah walked up every single one of those 1,237 steps and lucky Gage had a strong Daddy to help him.



The top was definitely worth it. And I would do it again tomorrow. It was gorgeous.




If there are Buddhist bells or gongs, these boys will find them.


Back down the mountain we went and when we got to the last step I said, "Look Noah! It's the last step!" He replied, "No its not, Mom. It's the first step."

At the bottom we shared a few Fantas and watched the stray dogs roaming around. Somehow we missed the cave itself. But that is ok with me.

KRABI: Emerald Pools

After our epic climb to the Buddha above Tiger Cave Temple we headed to the Emerald Pool (Sra Morakot) for a swim. We drove to the Khao Phra Bang Khram Nature Reserve and then had a short hike to the pool.

The boys were troopers. Keepers, I'd say. They had a very complex game of Zapping and Deflecting going on all the way up the trail. Force fields and freeze guns included.


The water was crystal clear. See-your-feet-on-the-bottom-perfectly- type of clear. But not drinkable because of a high calcium carbonate content. That's what makes the sides of the pool super slippery too.

We all jumped right in. And stayed for awhile. Gage loved playing with the little waterfall and Noah loved watching the tiny fish around our feet.

KRABI: beaches

Ao Nang Beach


Railay Beach
It doesn't matter what beach. We'll take it.

Even in the rain.

Thailand, We love you.

KRABI: rock climbing

The sign outside the Hot Rock Climbing School said "Ages 5 to 100." You should have seen Noah's face when he saw the sign. So happy.


It rained all morning. But that didn't stop these guys. There were cliffs to be climbed.



Noah was awesome. He especially liked the climb they set up just for him.

After Gage got a sad scrap on his leg from these sharp rocks we headed to a softer beach to watch the climbers. The boys and I sat in the sand while David and the other climbers turned into tiny specks on the side of the cliffs.




Can you see him?

KRABI: kayaking around Railay

One day we rented a sea kayak for ourselves and fit the whole family on it. We set off from Railay Beach to explore around the limestone cliffs and through the caves. The sea was very calm and warm even though it was an overcast day.


Lots of crabs in the caves. Some tiny, some big. One cave was more narrow than we expected. We were stuck pretty tight and snapped a paddle pushing our way out. The man wanted 1,000 baht to replace it. But SuperDave has awesome skills and talked the man down to 240 baht.


When we got hungry we found a beach with a long boat selling a late lunch.


We parked and ordered up some Thai pancakes. Noah's absolute favorite. He'll take one with bananas and nutella, please. I'll have one with fresh coconut and milk. I think mango was Dave's favorite. or pineapple.

But little Gage was long gone. Fast asleep. Missed the whole thing.

KRABI: hotels and traveling

We spent a couple nights on Railay Beach and a couple in Ao Nang. You can only get to Railay by long boat so we wanted to stay awhile instead of going back and forth to Ao Nang. And it was a very good choice. We could have settled in and stayed the rest of the month.

Staying in a hotel with kids is awesome. The pools, the breakfast, cartoons in Thai, the big beds. They love it. And so do we.



I love this picture of Dave pulling our two bags with the boys riding along. Everyone has their own traveling tricks that work for them. My friend brings baby powder with her to rub the sand off her feet. It works really well!

Here are a few of our tricks that we've figured out or learned from friends:

Tips for traveling with kids

- pack 2 days before, relax the day before (CHANGED MY LIFE!)
- always in my bag: small first aid kit, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, bug patches, sunscreen
- boys have their own packs. they can only bring what they can carry on the plane.
- name labels on the back of passports

- when packing, less is more - seriously.

- zip lock bags - everything goes into a separate big zip lock bag: one for snacks, one for toys, DVDs, everything. The bags keep everything together and organized.
- pb and jelly - we bring our own pb and j. Even the bread. We eat that for lunch with local fruit and then buy dinner. Cuts expensives and saves time.

- write a currency conversion chart on a sticky note - I carry this with me for quick reference
- write down addresses and destinations for the driver who can't understand you
- exchange money before we go
- grab a free map from the airport

- to plan: we use travel books, trip advisor, friends' blogs, emails
- map out day by day itinerary before we go, but be flexible when we're there
- always plan a beach day. always.


But lists and plans are never in concrete, are they? So when we don't have an extra shirt for the boy who spilled his banana shake all over, or when we can't find that restaurant that everyone loves. We try to smile and roll with it.

... for auld lang syne

Noah came up with the plan for dinner on New Year's Eve. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. A Buffet. So dinner was set up on the kitchen counter and little signs were carefully cut, folded, and written for each item. Even the sour cream and salad dressing were labeled. Both boys giggled their way through the buffet.

After dinner out came the board games and M&Ms (I splurged $8.50 for the Christmas color ones, some traditions must not be broken).

We played Kung Fu Panda Monopoly Jr. The boys and I found it for cheap at the market. I was surprised at the price and a little suspicious but the package looked very legit. Now I know to ask them to open up the box. We played with Sharpie in hand so we could match the gameboard to the property cards and Dave and I are still giggling over the instruction sheet.

Then we headed outside with the sparklers. Happy New Year!





We kissed and tucked those sweet boys into bed then went out to Japanese spaghetti with friends.



We watched the fireworks from the 34th floor of a friend's apartment building and I kissed this handsome man at midnight.


My New Year's resolution is still settling, needing more thought. I love her approach to resolutions. But boy do we have plans for 2011. I love filling in that blank calendar. So many possibilities. Looking ahead, the boys will turn 6 and 4. One of us turns the big 3-0. And I can't wait to see what Singapore will teach us.

Happy New Year!