Tiger Monastery in Thailand. Tiger Cave - tiger cave temple in Krabi and the climb to the inaccessible Buddha

The story of tigers began in 1999, when local residents brought the first orphan tiger cub to the temple, but unfortunately, the baby soon died. A little later, several more tiger cubs were given to the monastery. Some of them were brought in by people who discovered that their “pets” had become too big, others were orphans whose parents were killed by poachers. Another reason why people have started giving tigers to forest sanctuaries is because of stricter animal welfare laws. The colony of the cat family gradually expanded. This happened not only due to the arrival of animals from nearby territories, but also as a result of the appearance of their offspring within the walls of the monastery. As of May 2012, the total number of tigers living in the temple has increased to more than 100 individuals.

Due to the lack of controlled breeding programs and available DNA data, it is very difficult to determine the ancestry of native cats. However, most of them are believed to be Indochinese tigers, with the exception of Mak, which belongs to the Bengal subspecies. It is likely that the recently discovered Malayan tigers are among them, and many are likely a mixture of several breeds.
Over the history of its existence, the temple has grown to an entire island, where animals no longer live in cages, but in the open air, which is more similar to their natural habitat. The smallest tiger cubs run freely around the territory, but older animals must be kept on a leash for safety reasons.

The diet of the big cats in the tiger temple consists exclusively of boiled chicken and dry cat food. Feeding these foods prevents predators from becoming familiar with the taste of blood, which could trigger associations that associate the smell of blood with food. The chicken is also heat-treated to kill the avian influenza virus that may be contained in raw meat. Cat food, according to the information provided on the official website of the Tiger Temple, enriches the body with essential nutrients, such as taurine, which is not retained in cooked chicken.

The predatory inhabitants of the monastery live in quite comfortable conditions. They are cared for by monks, local staff and foreign volunteers. Once a day, at approximately one o'clock in the afternoon, the tabby cats are led on leashes into a nearby rocky canyon, where they used to roam without any obstacles. However, due to the increase in the number of animals and the number of visitors, for safety reasons they began to be tied to “anchors” driven into the ground.
Such an unusual place, where monks live side by side with tigers, sharing shelter and food with them, very quickly gained immense popularity throughout the world. Today, the Tiger Temple receives 300-600 visitors per day.

The Tiger Monastery is open to visitors every day during daylight hours. The entrance fee to the temple grounds is $8, and you also need to prepare a tribute to the monks in the form of fruits and rice. Before entering and being in close proximity to tigers, in addition to the mandatory fee, all visitors are required to sign a waiver releasing the Tiger Temple from liability. There is also an instruction in which it is forbidden to wear bright and revealing clothes, sunglasses, hats, use perfume, enter while intoxicated, stroke the tigers on the head and turn your back to them. For safety reasons, while on the territory of the monastery, you should carefully adhere to all of the above rules.

At first, tourists waiting to meet the tigers stand behind a shaky fence, watching the measured life of the monastery. Staff then lead them one by one to the animals, where they can stand or sit next to each one, pet them, or take a few photos. For an additional fee, the monk can place the tiger's head on the visitor's lap. The monastery workers carefully monitor the behavior of their pets so that, having had enough of communicating with guests, they do not suddenly begin to get nervous, and if any signs of aggression arise, they immediately take the animal away.

At the Tiger Temple, visitors have the opportunity to bottle feed tiger cubs, take part in the process of bathing tigers, play with them, feed them by hand, take pictures with tiger cubs or with sleeping adults. Several times a day, guests have the chance to play with huge cats near a small waterfall, using an analogue of a “bow on a string” corresponding to their size as a toy. They will jump high, trying to grab a giant bow with their paws, controlled by the visitor using a long stick.

In addition to tigers, the temple is home to birds and other animals, including buffaloes, hiding in the cool swamp from the heat of the day, deer, monkeys, camels and a wild boar, which is associated with interesting story. Several years ago, he was run over by a car, and local residents brought the wounded boar to the monastery. The monks nursed him for a long time, as a result of which he became stronger and went back into the forest. After some time, the smart boar returned to the monastery along with his entire family.

Anyone who wants to support the unusual nursery can make a contribution to the donation boxes, which are located on the territory of the monastery. The cost of feeding and caring for tigers alone, according to temple workers, is about $100 per day per individual.

All proceeds from tickets go to purchase food for the animals, as well as to work related to the construction of a large reserve where they will live in the environment closest to them. total area The previously acquired plot of land is 1000 acres. Some areas have already been opened and inhabited by tigers, but most of the reserve is currently under development and construction. In the surrounding areas, the monks are restoring the forest, which, although it will not be as lush as, for example, the tropical jungle on the island of Koh Chang, will allow the tigers to feel very comfortable.

The Tiger Temple is located just 200 km from Bangkok and 38 kilometers from the city of Kanchanaburi on the way to the city of Sai Yok, along Highway 323. The journey from Bangkok to the monastery will take about 2.5 hours.

Road to the Tiger Temple:

Inside the Tiger Temple:

Big cats have always fascinated me with their power and grace! However, I have seen few tigers in my life, mostly animals from the zoo. But through bars or fences it is not always possible to see the animal or take a good photo. At such moments, you begin to slightly envy those people who were able to capture a tiger in their photographs close-up, without bars or fence. Having learned about the tiger monastery in Thailand, where you can not only go on a tour, but also become a volunteer, my joy knew no bounds! Regarding volunteering, the question somehow disappeared by itself, because applications were accepted there at least six months before arrival. But we still managed to attend one of the excursions! A tiger in the desktop picture on your monitor and a tiger a meter in front of you are such surprisingly different sensations :) First, photos and impressions, and at the end some useful information.

Our journey began with a half-hour search for transport to the Tiger Monastery at the bus station. As it turned out, the bus did arrive unnoticed, but we happened to see this after we had bought tickets for the minibus.

We got there quickly, and even fell asleep on the comfortable seats along the way)) The kind Thais woke us up on time, so, fortunately, we were not late for the excursion. We get out of the minibus, and across the road we are greeted by a giant gate in the shape of a tiger's head with an open mouth!

It was not close to the entrance to the park, about 1 km. But luck smiled on us! Volunteers of this monastery drove past in a pickup truck)) So we again enjoyed Thai hitchhiking in the back of a car. Before entering the monastery territory, we bought a ticket for the excursion. We signed on it that if something happens (well, suddenly the tiger decides to bite us in a friendly manner), it will be our own fault:) There are several types of excursions offered, we chose the most popular one for 600 baht. By the way, in February 2015, the monks were accused of illegal trade in animals, and soon all tigers should be removed from the territory of the monastery. We don't know where the truth is. Perhaps we got on one of the last excursions, and if it is closed, you have the opportunity, if not to go, then to look at the photographs.

The journey into the world of tigers begins with Thai volunteers bringing out the tigers one by one. And the tigers so lazily trudge along and don’t even look at the crowd of tourists-onlookers standing 2 meters away from them

After the tigers were taken away, tourists who were already hungry for spectacles and selfies were finally allowed into the territory of the monastery. On the way, it turned out that not only tigers lived here, but also some birds that looked like toucans, a herd of buffalos, a couple of deer and three Himalayan bears in cages. The whole area is fairly dry, but there is still a fair amount of greenery and even a small pond, I suppose, for the horned inhabitants to bathe and drink from.

The first thing that surprised my mind and destroyed stereotypes was how relaxed the volunteers behaved around the animals. As if these are not big and dangerous tigers, but cute domestic cats! :)

Most of the volunteers were hanging out on their phones, and it looked quite funny, especially considering that the tigers were literally under their feet!)) Such a typical Facebook minute in the middle of a working day!

A typical day at the tiger monastery in Kanchanaburi

Everyone is on their smartphones :) The volunteers have their own things to do, but the monks are busy introducing little tiger cubs and teenage tiger cubs to their leader and other males. There were no females here; they were sitting in their enclosures. The reason for this is simple - everything is done to ensure that the tigers remain as calm as possible around tourists. Of course, it is very touching to watch how the monk cuddles small and large tiger cubs!

The whole excursion is more like a photo carousel. An endless stream of tourists who are photographed only by volunteers, because tourists themselves are strictly forbidden to photograph each other on their own in order to avoid any misunderstandings bitten off by a tiger :) The main thing is to set the correct settings on the camera in advance, because volunteers indiscriminately click you several times in a row, sometimes without even looking at on the monitor, not in the eye of the camera)) What comes out, comes out! One of the volunteers sits you down next to the tiger, puts your hand on its back... or leg :) And the other takes several shots for you from different points.

Anya's dream came true :)

The zoom lens on your camera is a real lifesaver)) You can take those coveted portraits of mustachioed and striped predators from a little distance away!

He doesn't grin, he just yawns :)

Tiger in Kanchanaburi

The main thing is not to relax! Otherwise, you turn away and the tiger has already eaten the monk))) Just kidding, they give tigers their old clothes as toys. Tigers, although they are big, are still the same playful and funny cats!

And you can go even further! Smiling broadly, ask volunteers to photograph the tiger very closely. Tourists are not allowed, but volunteers are allowed!)) It’s a joy for the volunteers, and it’s great for me! But the tigers don’t care)) For the most part, they doze sweetly and bask in the shade of the trees.

I have no more strength with these tourists! It's time to sleep!

But still, while volunteers are watching over tourists who are being photographed, you can grab a moment and take a few wonderful photos a little closer than allowed! :)

Separately, a little further from everyone else, the leader is tied to a tree. A huge tiger, to which the monk continually brings new tiger inhabitants of this monastery. By the way, each tiger has its own tree, its own place where they sit on a chain, enjoying the shade of these same trees.

Tiger Monastery, Kanchanaburi

After the photo sessions near the trees, a slightly more active performance begins. A line of 10-15 people forms, then everyone gives their camera to a volunteer and everyone waits until the first tiger is untied and a new photo session begins))

You don't have to wait long. The first human caterpillar follows the tiger to the next photo location. Soon it was our turn. Literally for half a minute they give you a leash, put you free hand at the tiger and take a few pictures. Half a minute of extraterrestrial happiness and the feeling of powerful muscle rolls under your hand.

Finally, the tour comes to the final station of the photo tour. And here, too, each tiger has its own place. But here, for entry, they are already asking you to buy some kind of souvenir and thus make a donation. By this time we had already taken enough photographs.

However, while waiting for all the tourists to gather in one place to begin this stage, I still managed to capture the striped beauties through the fence))

When the bulk of the tourists went for another photo stop, we snuck away to look around. Along the way I squeezed the buffaloes. You can't really cuddle with tigers, so at least you can get even with buffaloes))

Tigers, it turns out, have their own cascading pool! Tigers, unlike most felines, love to splash in the water, especially on a hot day.

At the end of our walk we came across an enclosure with tiger cubs. Those who purchased a separate excursion enjoyed playing with these kittens.

Overall, the tour aimed to ensure that people walked away with photos of the tigers and themselves next to them. Those who took an excursion with the tiger cubs received communication. There you could feed them and play with them. We really liked our version of the excursion! Seeing such wonderful animals live is a great pleasant experience for a lifetime, and besides, beautiful photos graphics for memory!

Types of excursions and their costs

Regular program

We just walked along this one. It starts at 12.00 and ends at 16.00, the time inside is also scheduled: when the tigers are walking along the canyon, when photography is taking place, etc. However, no one forbids you to leave early if you have already had a lot of conversations with the tigers. Cost: 600 baht, no age restrictions.

Morning program

Starts at 07.30 and ends at 11.00. This is the most expensive and intense program - there is breakfast with the monks, feeding of tiger cubs, and photography. The cost is 5,000 baht; small children are not allowed on this excursion.

Evening program

After the heat of the day, when tigers are just lying around (as you can see), in the evening they perk up and begin to behave more actively. You can watch this on the evening program from 15.30 to 16.15. Cost - 500 baht.

How to get to the monastery with tigers?

First you need to get to the city of Kanchanaburi. To do this, it is best to come to the Southern Bus Terminal (Sai ​​Tai Mai) in Bangkok and take a bus for 130 baht, the journey will take about 3 hours. Buses leave quite frequently. How to get to the southern bus station from different places capital, wrote in a separate article about.

Tiger Monastery or Tiger Temple is located 38 kilometers northwest of Kanchanaburi. To get there, you need to take bus 8203 from the bus station, which goes to Sai Yok Park and on the way passes the fork to the tiger temple - ask the driver to drop you off. From the fork it’s another 1.5 km, but you can hitchhike like we did. With your vehicle, take Route 323 from Kanchanaburi, and after about 38 km you will see the tiger head gate on the right. You should go there!

Kanchanaburi Bus Station

“Are you sure they don’t kill tigers there?” “Do you have any idea why predators are so flexible?” There are many similar “reviews” on the Internet about the famous Tiger Monastery in Thailand. We recently visited there and brought a lot of photos. And if you look at them through the eyes of a biased environmentalist, you can see such horrors that your hair will stand on end! In the spirit of these strange people, I decided to throw away unnecessary reason and hit with a photo report on the chaos that has overwhelmed the Tiger Temple. Read strictly under the covers!

Tiger Monastery in Thailand: why are there predators in the temple?

To begin with, a few words about what the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi is (not to be confused with in Krabi). This is a Buddhist monastery in Kanchanaburi province in the west of the country, founded in 1994. The first tigers appeared there in 1999-2000. Some of them were brought by local residents, surprised that their pet “kittens” were demanding more and more food, some were cubs whose parents were killed by poachers. Gradually there were more and more tigers. Now there are more than one hundred of them, monks and volunteers look after them.

Tiger Monastery in Thailand is open to tourists. There are several programs for visitors: they can watch big cats walk, take pictures with them, play with tiger cubs, etc. All programs with descriptions and prices can be found at Tiger Temple website .

Tiger Temple in Thailand was one of those places we always wanted to visit. And we visited there. I will not claim that the Tiger Monastery in Thailand is an impeccable kingdom of friendship and love between man and animal. However, I became calm about the fate of tabby cats after seeing that many European volunteers were working at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi. They communicate closely with predators and know the whole “kitchen” from the inside. So if animals were tortured there, they certainly would not remain silent and trumpet it to the whole world. And I believe this silence much more than the reports of all sorts of incomprehensible ecologists about the Tiger Monastery in Thailand.

Tiger Temple in Thailand was always on our list of top places we wanted to visit.

By the way, do you know which of the attractions in Thailand is the most expensive? Yes, yes, exactly the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi))) Entrance to the temple costs 400 baht, to the temple - 500 baht, and to the Tiger Monastery in Thailand - from 600! And tourists pay 1,000 baht to take a photo with a tiger’s head on their knees. After this, I would not argue that “at the zoo, tigers are not given meat”)))

In general, it did not seem to me that the Tiger Monastery in Thailand should cause concern for the unfortunate animals. And even vice versa: don’t forget that many of them were saved from poachers, and even though this place is somewhat reminiscent of a zoo, they are all alive. However, from time to time another alarm bell rings on the air: save the animals from inhuman conditions! And everything is so serious and pretentious that it hurts your teeth. These screams prompted me to write a comic photo report about the chaos that struck the Tiger Monastery in Thailand. This is exactly what reviews of a visit to the temple would look like if I were a biased environmentalist.

The terrible truth about the Tiger Temple in Thailand: a comic photo report

Do you see the conditions in which they keep the unfortunate tigers?! The animals simply have no place to stay, and they have to sit on top of each other.

And if they are dissatisfied with something, then a specially trained Shaolin monk will explain with a bone-crushing blow who is the king of nature here.

Do you recognize him? Yes, yes, he is preparing to strike again! This time the victim was a small tiger cub. The huge adult predator turned away, unable to bear the fact that it could not cope with the herbivore.

It's not just the animals that suffer at the Tiger Temple. What can we say about tigers, if the monastery staff have nowhere to sit and are forced to use animals instead of chairs!

If the tigers are unhappy, they are subjected to a sophisticated torture called “turtle beating.” Apparently, this tradition has remained in Kanchanaburi since the time.

Another peculiarity of tortoise torture is that the tiger sees the food, but cannot bite it. This puts the hungry predator in such a state that the consequences can be the most dire. Why is this stroller empty? Where is the baby? Once you think about these questions, you break out in a cold sweat...

Not only predators live and suffer in the Tiger Temple. The unfortunate buffaloes are forced to hide for a long time from hungry tigers in dirty water, eating dirty water.

The tigers are so emaciated and exhausted that they cannot answer their tormentors - the temple employees who, for the sake of a good photo, drag the poor predators by the tail.

What about the employees: for a measly thousand baht, any visitor to the Tiger Monastery can mock a defenseless animal in the same way! There is an opinion that it was here that Tarantino spotted the plot for his “Hostel”...

A scratching post in any pet store costs one or two hundred baht. But despite extortions from tourists, the Tiger Monastery in Thailand does not want to provide pets with even the most necessary things and they are forced to sharpen their claws on trees. Even the plants suffer in the Tiger Temple!

The Tiger Temple in Thailand is a place where even the strongest nerves can’t stand it.

How to get to the Tiger Monastery in Kanchanaburi

Tiger Monastery is located in Kanchanaburi, near the border with Burma, 40 km from the center of the province. We tell you how to get to the city of Kanchanaburi from Pattaya and Bangkok on your own. Then there are three ways.

First - if you have international or, you can rent a motorbike and go to the Tiger Temple on your own (you will find the location on the map below). The second is to catch a taxi. The third way is to take bus number 8203 from the Kanchanaburi bus station and tell the conductor that you need to go to Tiger Temple. You will be dropped off on the highway near a sculpture in the form of a huge tiger head, from where you need to walk another couple of kilometers in the tropical heat to reach the Tiger Temple.

In March 2017, after a 9-month break, Thailand plans to reopen the famous Tiger Temple to visitors. The administration received official permission from the zoo, and a new breed of tigers was brought to the Temple

Nine months ago, the temple was closed after an inspection after it was discovered that the internal organs of slaughtered animals were being used to make amulets and energy drinks. A new tiger nursery under the same name will open here in March. The criminal case initiated regarding the illegal killing of animals has not yet been disclosed.

Adisorn Noochdamrong, the national park administrator who led the June inspection of the Tiger Temple, said that new project does not break the law because the zoo was licensed two months before the police operation.

The new project will also be known to tourists as the Tiger Temple. 105 tigers live here, with which tourists can interact. These will not be the tigers that survived in the previous zoo, but animals brought from another commercial zoo in Nakhon Nayok. “They have a right to this,” said Adisorn, a former deputy director of the national parks department who now works as an ombudsman for the Kingdom's ministry.

One tour operator has already started selling Breakfast with Monks and Tigers tours, costing 10,550 baht per person. “They are opening,” Tony Clark, head of the Thailand Tourism Center Association, said by phone. “The zoo will be in the same place.” Clark added that tours begin on March 1 and the majority of tourists are expected to be foreigners.

For almost 10 years, the Tiger Temple in Thailand received large profits from tourists, with more than 100 animals living in the nursery without a license. Animal rights activists have accused the Temple administration of trading in tiger organs and cruelty to animals. However, the interest of tourists in this place did not decrease.

Inspection results

Although the Tiger Temple and the zoo are separate legal entities, they have always been closely related. Last April, a notorious temple in Thailand was subject to inspection. The inspection set itself the goal of finding out whether the temple administration had a license to keep animals. It turned out that the abbot of the Tiger Monastery Phra Wisutthisarathen and his monks did not have the relevant documents.

The license to open the zoo was obtained two months after the final inspection of the temple by animal rights activists. After this, the temple, officially called Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno, was closed. Before this, there had been complaints against the monks for several years due to their cruelty to animals.

The inspectors' worst fears were confirmed. A shocking discovery has been made: tiger organs being used for commercial purposes. Amulets were made from skins and claws, and blood was used to make energetic drinks, dozens of bottles containing dead cubs were found.

Read the details here: (SHOCK PHOTO)

The abbot of the monastery and his monks were accused of illegally selling tiger organs and illegally keeping an endangered species of animal. But they denied everything, and were soon released from custody, and the criminal case was still hanging.

Adisorn, who led the probe until he was transferred last month, blamed police for failing to forward the case to prosecutors in time. “Many violations have been noted. For example, when the case was heard in court, it turned out that the names of many suspects had mysteriously disappeared from the investigator’s documents,” he said. “We filed an appeal and showed the original documents, now the case will be considered again.”

Official version

An article in National Geographic magazine writes that the administration of the real Tiger Temple formally has nothing to do with the illegal zoo and is not involved in the scandal. This month, the Tiger Temple in Thailand changed its official name. Previously it was registered as entity Tiger Temple Co. Ltd., and the new name is Golden Tiger (Thailand) Co. Ltd.

Adisorn said he did not know whether the company paid any money to the owners of Mali Sarika, a commercial zoo in Nakhon Nayok where the new tigers were brought from.

The transfer of tigers took place without breaking the law, but nevertheless, Adisorn said the zoo may not open in March. He stated that construction has not been completed, and animal rights activists must once again come with an inspection to determine whether the existing conditions are suitable for keeping large quantity animals. “First we need to make sure that we are not breaking the law,” the official said.

As for the tigers removed from the Temple in June, they will spend the rest of their lives in captivity. At the moment, they all live on the territory of the state reserve. They will not be released into wildlife because they have lived in the Temple for so long that they are not adapted to independent life. “They will not be able to feed themselves and protect themselves,” Adisorn added.

I had an interesting trip to the Tiger Cave Temple, which is located near Krabi town. This temple is one of the most famous attractions in Krabi, and I highly recommend visiting it. And, if you are in more or less normal physical shape, then you will be able to cover all 3 locations of this attraction at once. The fact is that in addition to the sitting Buddha at the very top of the mountain, there is also a temple in a cave below and a lost world with a settlement of monks, which you can miss and not notice.

If you are planning to visit this temple, then it is best not to plan this trip after some physical activity, it wouldn’t hurt to take a bottle of water and count your strength. It turned out that I had one in the morning, and then only a trip to the Tiger Temple. I barely made it through. Therefore, I recommend not to do this unless you are some kind of athlete.

I once lived in Krabi for several months, but as usually happens, I had a lot of work to do and put off all the local attractions for later. Therefore, then I had to go to Krabi specifically for this temple. Believe me, it's worth it, a very cool attraction.

The full name is Tiger Cave Temple. In Thai and English language it is translated exactly like that. But among Russian speakers this temple is often called the Tiger Temple for short. And I will also use this name in my article.

First of all, it must be said that the Tiger Cave Temple itself is located below, its territory is huge and deserves a separate 30 minutes just to walk around its perimeter and get a better look. Here you will find many interesting buildings different sizes. For example, this is not the first year that a pagoda has been built here using donations and fees from the souvenir trade. According to data from the Thai Internet, the height of the pagoda is 90.9 meters and the width of the base is 58 meters. As far as I understand, it will be the tallest pagoda in Thailand, and the second tallest in Asia (after the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar).

At the end of the territory, next to the beginning of the stairs to the lost world of Wonderland (I don’t know why the Thais called the place where the monks live) - there is a temple of the Chinese goddess Guan Yin with her giant statue.

Actually, the building of the Tiger Cave Temple itself is located at the entrance to the territory next to the parking lot, in a huge grotto, which was closed with an extension on the open side and it turned out to be quite a decent-sized room. This grotto was called proudly a cave, which gave the name to this temple. Now there is a spacious place for worshipers to gather, and in one of the small caves inside the rock there is a room with the footprint of Buddha.

Between the Tiger Temple and the pagoda there are pavilions selling souvenirs and amulets, there is a consecrated model of an airplane, several shops, a toilet, a bunch of buildings of unknown purpose and even an enclosure for monkeys.

Be careful if you walk around the pagoda - there are a lot of stray and aggressive dogs.

Behind the monks there is a passage into a narrow corridor with caves

Sell. Food. Monkey. Merciless Taiglish...

Khao Kaeo Ao Look Thanoo Pagoda

The main pleasure of the Tiger Temple is climbing the stairs to the very top of the mountain, where the place for enlightenment is located, with a sitting Buddha and a small pagoda (Khao Kaeo Ao Look Thano). The sign at the base of the mountain says that 1237 steps await you, but in fact there are 1260 of them, now I’ll tell you why.

While climbing the staircase of enlightenment to the pagoda, I didn’t count the exact number of steps, but along the way I came across a section where the old staircase had been replaced with a new one. On the old one there were steps half a meter high, which were scary to look at, but on the new one they made humane steps of 10-15 centimeters each, it was due to this replacement that the number of steps in general changed, and someone wrote the final number on the actual the last pillar.

The biggest setback in my climb happened halfway through the climb - it started raining so hard that I got wet through and through, and by the time I climbed to the very top, I was completely frozen, despite 30 degrees and the tropics. But that’s okay - because of the rain, the fog covered everything around, and I wasn’t able to take photos - only the silhouettes of the mountains were visible, and not very far. And in good weather everything can be seen right up to the sea, I’ve seen pictures.

Many people go up to this temple either at dawn or at sunset; the view at the top is panoramic, so it is equally suitable for both cases. Therefore, if you have such a serious goal, I highly recommend this peak. I also want to add about the rain - I won’t say unequivocally that it was bad that it started raining. Considering the complexity of the climb (and it is really not easy), then choosing between good view with the heat or a bad view with the rain - I don’t even know what’s better. In general, the rain got me wet, but didn’t upset me, and if I had a change of clothes and the opportunity to change upstairs, then everything would have been absolutely gorgeous.

At the top are those who could.

The view from the Tiger Temple Pagoda is amazing, but that's not the top.

Well, a series of photographs “without words”.

Despite the rain and fatigue after the morning trekking, I had great pleasure and a lot of impressions, because I’m just a fan of various viewpoints and don’t feed me bread - let me climb higher and look further away. The only thing I regret is that the photos turned out gray, and besides, because of the rain it was not always possible to get a camera - my camera is not waterproof.

Monks' Settlement (Wonderland)

If you look at the statue of Guan Yin, then to your left there will be the beginning of the stairs to the stone well, the lost world, which is also the settlement of the temple monks. The staircase is laid through a passage between the rocks and if I don’t confuse anything, there are a little more than 100 steps up to the smoking pavilion where tourists relax. The same number of steps lead down, ending in a path. The path runs along the perimeter of a stone well, the walls of which are three hundred meters high, and the entire middle is overgrown with tropical trees.

All the most interesting things are located at left side from the path until it starts to go to the right, along the wall. There is nothing further to see and you can take a walk purely out of curiosity, if you have time. The monks' houses come across already 50 meters from the stairs. Some monks live not in houses, but in caves and grottoes. The inhabitants of the grottoes wall them up with a wall with a door made in it, and some continue to live in natural conditions, except that they put ladders next to the holes to make climbing easier.

After the houses you will see a place for meditation and prayer, it is also a utility block. Here you have a kitchen, toilets, a laundry room, and even your own skeleton in the closet; I did not read whose it is and why it is on public display. But it all adds color to what has already been seen and cannot be taken away from it. After the meditation place there will be a number of caves where monks live and pray, but without major buildings. After a huge tree with flat roots, I couldn’t climb further into the wilds; I was tired.

If you see an orange bandage on a tree or on a stick, a monk lives somewhere nearby

Visiting information

Entrance to the territory of the Tiger Temple in Krabi is absolutely free, the climb to the Khao Kaeo Ao Look pagoda is open around the clock, but if you plan to go up or down in the dark, it is better to take a flashlight - the stairs are very steep and it’s quite possible to screw up here, there is no lighting here.

In a good way, you should set aside half a day to explore all the locations of Tiger Cave Temple if you want to do everything slowly. I would advise going in good weather to still enjoy the open spaces and take beautiful photos without haze. It will take 1-2 hours to explore the Tiger Temple and the well with the monks. Climbing the mountain with the pagoda takes from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your physical fitness and the required number of breaks. I climbed in half an hour at an average pace and almost without rest, so you count. The descent is 2 times faster than your ascent. You need at least another half hour at the top to see enough and take photos.

Be careful - there are a lot of monkeys, both below and during the climb. They will easily snatch food or bag/wallet from your hands. Therefore, it is better not to hold food in your hands, and when you take photographs, hold the camera tightly and monitor the perimeter with your peripheral vision.