Bobcock In Krabi (including Wat Tham Sua)

[Bobcock]

Had a family week in Krabi a fortnight ago, weather wasn't the best for most of it so landscapes were not the real order of the day. In fact a lot of the pics will be of going 'rock pooling' with the locals when the tide went out each day.

We stayed in a nice hotel that was only 2400 Baht for two connecting rooms. Nice new style rooms with excellent bathrooms and large flat panel TV's on the wall. Kids loved it. It was called Ananta Burin and it was in the plot of land between Ao Nang and Haad Nopparat.

1. First up is a little crab.... 1000's of these little critters blending into the sand...



2. Nice big grasshopper, found several of these along the roads near the hotel.



3. Out of season so a lot of the boats were up shit creek waiting for better weather......



4. One of the food stalls between the two beaches, there each day except Friday, Pad Thai 35B.



5. Sundown, looking West towards the setting sun.....



6. Sundown looking East away from the setting sun.

[Bobcock]

7. My sons are obsessed with beetles and when they are away they like to find them and bring them home..... Pinchy was a Maeng Kwang type that lived with us a while on this holiday and this little Stag Beetle whose name I forget was also an overnight visitor.



8. Nice flower....



9. Lazing on a .....hmmm....Tuesday I think it was ....afternoon.



10. Monks on hols......

[Bobcock]

11. Haad Nopparat, just before yet another rainstorm....



12. After the downpour and a late lunch at Sai Kaew Restaurant (superb seafood) we went our our first 'rock pooling' trip, the tide goes way out and the point between the two beaches. First thing we discovered was this little fella walking along....one legged......something, they call it.



13. A baby stingray...caught by some guys with a net, my son kidnapped it and got it back to the ocean.



14. Some of the locals (my wife seemed to thing some were Burmese labourers) at work. They'll take anything, small pregnant crabs, tiny needle fish all sorts of shit that should be left alone. So we did our bit chasing things into crevices to make sure they didn't get got.

[terry57]

Nice pics Bobby.

[Bobcock]

Thanks Tezza.....I must say there is a fair few up here already that I wouldn't consider particularly good photographs, but it's all part of a story. I'm more pleased with some of the ones coming up....

[kingwilly]

Indeed, nice pics, quite dark and stormy compared to how I remember it.

[Bobcock]

15. A couple of portraits of the rock pool pickers...



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17.



18. One of my boys found himself this new friend.Again, it was taken back to the sea and saved from the locusts.....

[Bobcock]

19. Another portrait....



20. Soon after another storm rolled up on the horizon

[kingwilly]

One of my boys found himself this new friend.Again, it was taken back to the sea and saved from the locusts.....

That could have fed a Burmese labourer for a week, instead you carelessly throw it away. Shame.

[Bobcock]

21. Next day was a day set aside to visit Wat Tham Sua, the Tiger Cave Temple. The Tiger cave Temple is to the east of Krabi town not far off the road from the airport.

There's no tigers there, but there is a cave. i didn't see the cave because after the walk to the top of the 600m limestone escarpment (1237 steps) I was too knackered to walk the 15 minutes to the cave, plus the third rain storm of the day was upon us.

No tigers, but the was lots of very aggressive monkeys, one of them even took a bar of chocolate out of my sons pocket.



22. Someone (rather stupidly in my opinion) threw a bag of banas into the middle of the monkeys. All hell broke loose.....



23. One of the winners and family......



24. Buddah image.... nice bit of fill in flash work.... :-)

[Bobcock]

26..... I missed out 25 and it's easier if the numbers match the file names.... staue in the Chinese style pagoda at the temple.



27. The pagoda itself....



28. a statue at the bottom of the 1,237 stairs to the top, just before I started the climb.

[Bobcock]

29. at the time we started it was very very hot and the sky was blue. the climb to the first toilets was 520 steps and by the time I reached there i was fucked with 20kg of camera gerar on my back. Some steps were a good foot high and steep. Mrs bobcock was also with me and the two boys.

This is her in the about 220 steps into the climb.



30. There are lots of these small monuments all the way up the climb.



At 520 steps my wife quit as the rain was coming in fast. she volunteered to stay under the cover and i proceeded with a single camera and lens. My eldest boy was at 1000 steps when i left 520 with the youngest.

At 925 there is a statue of a hermit and it was there that we met the oldest boy on his descent as the heavens opened. Luckily the camera was able to stay dry, but we didn't fayre so well.

After the rain I carried on up, but both boys went down. Eventually i made it to the top, but i don't mind admitting it was hard, the last 30 were a real test, and my legs were like jelly and my knees ached more that any time in years even playing rugby.

31. From the top looking North.



32. The chedi at the top.

[Davis Knowlton]

#19. The black and white portrait of the guy with the tattoos is really quite excellent. Just a beach shot, but you really brought it out. Dark, gloomy days make for great black and whites.

[Dick]

stunning photos are you a professional photographer

[Bobcock]

Davis

thanks, there's little interesting about them in colour i must admit.

Dick

No, enthusiastic amateur, though i have sold a couple for meagre prices measured in bottles of Heineken.

[Bobcock]

33. had to make the most of the photo opportunity seeing as i'm almost killed my legs getting there....so there's a few more to come.

this is a copy of the jinaraj Buddah from Pitsanulok.



34. A sign giving all the details including the height and the number of steps. For the record my mate who climbed it a couple of days after said his GPS showed it was only 250m high.



35. the Buddah image at the top.



36. All in all it was rather a cluttered mess up there..................sadly.

[jizzybloke]

Great pictures again Bob!

I presume that's your Mrs looking so happy?

Thanks!

[Bobcock]

37. buddah images.....



38.



39.

[Bobcock]

40. Some of the views from the top.....



41.



42.



43. Another view of the buddah statue....

[Bobcock]

44. After we took a trip about 50km south of Krabi town to the 'Hot Stream'. A hot stram that supplies water at approx 40 degrees. The khloong below it though was cold. I really wanted to get a shot of the water looking like cotton wool, but the tress close to the edge make it difficult to a decent view. this was the best shot i got, just prior to dropping my GND filter into the water.

[English Noodles]

Great pictures as always Mr Cock. I love going to the rock pools when the tide has gone out. Last time in Koh Lanta I got a shock when I found a very large brightly coloured see snake making it's way across the rock pools back to the sea. Nearly shat myself when I turned around and spotted it moving past me about 2 foot away.

P.S. Nice commentary too, adds a lot to the pictures.

[Bobcock]

I have a special rock pool catch coming up soon on the second visit.

[Davis Knowlton]

Excellent. I love rock pools and all of the neat surprises you find in them. Always changing, even the same area, day to day.

[Bobcock]

45. Next day we took a boat round to railly Beach to meet a French friend of mine from Bangkok and his family. First day of decent weather. Had a great time on the beach intermixed with a few beers and a trip to a cave where we met another Welsh friend of both of ours and his family....



46. Possibly the most taken beach shot idea in Thailand.....



47. Inside the cave where we met our friends....

[Bobcock]

48. After returning from Railey Beach where my french pal and his son had also regailed us with stories of rock pools, we decided to head out again as a group. First friend was this lovely crab.



49. In one of the caves that was exposed by the low tide we found this wonderful 'formation'. The cave was created by a hugh fissure in the rock face. At one of the the joins there was a constant dribble of water through the rock which has over the years creted this thing. Very smooth and quite colourful.



50. Exiting the cave, the eagle eyes of the wife (she's the only person I know who would SCUBA with a knife and fork) spotted his fella in a rock pool. The colours were just amazing, quite the most beautiful creture I have ever seen and far more colourful than his cousins we encountered later in the evening at a restaurant. I tend to desaturate pics a bit shooting from RAW.



51. He was quite evasive swimming with a flick of his tail at great speed but sadly for him there wasn't enough water to escape the clutches of the wife.



52. Actually getting caught was good for him, because he survived the locusts behind us. After taking a few pics we walked him out to the ocean.