If you are staying in Krabi town or Ao Nang beach, the many travel agencies around offer about ten different daytrips, ranging from elephant riding at Khao Phanom Benja National Park to kayaking in the mangroves to snorkelling on Ko Bida. However, you can do most of these daytrips on your own if you are brave enough to ride a rented motorcycle - and save about 50% of the costs.

The "Unseen Thailand" campaign popularised the two natural wonders I am writing about today. They are about 20 kms off the main road connecting Krabi and Trang, and not accessible by public transport. The problem is, the road is being widened now, and there is lots of dust, and heavy traffic squeezed into narrow lanes for over 30 kms out of the 50 as you head south from Krabi. Very scary. But then in the town of Khlong Tom, you turn left, following the signs to Hot Waterfall and Sra Morakot - and you find yourself on one of these narrow country roads I love so much when travelling in Thailand: plantations, small villages, mountains, orchards, hardly any traffic, kids playing, dogs running around. Ok, dogs are not my favourites, but they are part of the package on dusty rural roads.

The Hot Waterfalls, above, are not very spectacular as waterfalls - maybe about a metre and a half in height, which actually makes an excellent jacuzzi. This is the place to be if you are an expat missing your bathtub: you can lie in the hot water (40-42 degrees), and pretend you never heard of Thai-style showers. There are about 8 large tubs, each can easily accommodate five or six people.

The rocks connecting and dividing them are not slippery, so you can move from one to the other, climb up or down the waterfall to the cooler swimming pool below, or just try all of them and pick the best pool. Kids like to swing on the trees overhanging the pleasant, shaded area, to plunge to the pool - and to make fun of farang women's tiny bikinis (no, not me!). Due to the high temperature and the mineral contents, which are clearly posted (some nitrogen and fluoride, with very little copper and lead, no stinky sulphur), you are only advised to soak for twenty minutes.

The pools are an easy short walk away from the entrance, where there are several small restaurants and shops selling the usual simple Thai lunches. Tickets are 90 baht for foreigners, 20 for Thais or those who can ask for a ticket in Thai. A few tour groups came here late morning, after which local Muslim ladies dominated the pools, soaking their feet and trying to manage some naughty young boys diving into the pool.

However, it was not crowded, I loved the relaxed atmosphere, and the whole experience was one of my favourites around Krabi. Definitely recommended if you are looking for a safe and fun place with kids.

Sra Morakot, or Emerald Pool, is a further ten kilometres away. Actually, on the way, I saw two more "hot waterfall" signs, only in Thai, but we did not check out those - probably they are smaller but free, along the same stream. Emerald Pool is a much larger area and is also a huge favourite with the locals, entire families are out there having a picnic and learning to swim.

It is a national park, with entry fees 100/200 baht for foreigners (children/adults) and 10/20 baht for Thais, a copy of my work permit went a long way here. Food shops are only outside the park so make sure you have enough water and snacks with you before you buy your ticket.

When you enter the park, you can choose between two paths leading to the Emerald Pool: one is a red dirt road, also used by park vehicles, which is 800 metres, shady and level, the other is a platform walk crossing bridges, pools, thick bamboo forests, winding on for 1400 metres. If you take the former, there are several nature trails branching off, leading to more remote parts of the park, if you are into short jungle walks, this seems like a perfect opportunity. The platform walk is easily manageable even for lazy people like me, or small kids, and it is very spectacular.

There are several ponds with different colours, due to the calcium carbonate content of the water as well as the diverse algae and bacteria that make each of them a slighly different shade.

You can only swim in one pond, Emerald Pond itself, at the end of the trail.

It is about the size of an average swimming pool, 1.5 metres in depth, and quite slippery around the edge - funny to watch people trying to get into or out of the water. So, do be careful. At one end, there are some small waterfalls, jacuzzi opportunities again. The water is a much more pleasant 25 degrees or so, cooler than you would expect in the summer heat. If you are not a fan of salt water in the sea, this is the place for you - this water makes your skin extra soft and healthy. Just be careful with the sun! Only parts of the pool are in the shade. Again, a very relaxing, beautiful place to spend an hour or two - well, slightly less if you are rushed by a tour guide. There are lots and lots of lizards if you keep quiet and don't rush! This one was huge.

I think Tiger Cave Temple, Hot waterfalls and Emerald Pool together make an excellent daytrip - you can climb the 1238 steps to the top of the cliff before it gets very hot in the morning, then ride across some countryside to relax in a shady hot pool, and wind down doing some walking and swimming in the afternoon. Without the road construction, it would be my idea of a perfect day in Krabi province.

Krabi is one of my favourite provinces in Thailand, and it is gradually becoming a major tourist destination for people who find Phuket a little bit too expensive and too westernised. I have been several times over the past years, and in the next couple of weeks I would like to show you a few places I liked around there.

Krabi town itself is located at a river and is surrounded by thick mangrove forests, no beaches within walking distance. However, you could stay a day or two and use it as a base to go on daytrips and discover the temples, national parks, hot springs in the area.

The golden Buddha and chedi of Tiger Cave Temple is visible from town, on top of a steep mountain. If you go nearer, you will discover that you can actually climb up all the way - if you can scale a mere 1237 steps, that is! The mountain is one of those steep carst formations that dot the landscape around Krabi and Phang Nga provinces - they may remind you of Chinese paintings or the Meteora in Greece, depending where you come from.

Just riding around on rural roads and admiring the landscape would be a great half day trip. Luckily, there are attractions like Tiger Cave Temple to make wondering around a full-day trip. It is only 4 kms from the town centre, you can take a songthaew heading for Tesco or the airport and ask to get dropped off if you don't have a rented motorcycle. There is no entry fee.

Apparently, the name of the temple comes from olden times when tigers roamed the area and lived in some of the caves, but, rather unfortunately for them, they have had to recede further north, to Khao Sok National Park, where they live undisturbed. No chance of a tiger walking up to you any more.

The first thing that you will notice is the absolutely huge chedi being built by construction cranes from concrete. It must be the biggest I have ever seen. Somebody is pouring lots of money into this temple!

There are a couple of moderately interesting temple buildings, all locked, a few almost garish statues, a steep cliff face with monkeys that come and take your food if they spot you having some, and then you start wondering, ok, what is there to see around here if you don't feel like climbing up all those stairs in the 40-degree heat? You just need to walk to the end of the temple grounds until you see this Buddha statue.

Climb some 100 stairs up, then down, and you find yourself in a valley surrounded by high cliffs. The ancient trees hardly let any sunlight through, but the air is not moving, it is absolutely humid and hot. Please resist the temptation and keep your shirt on.

There is a path around that takes about 40 minutes to walk (10 if you rush or you are with a tour group), passing by small stalagmite caves with Buddha images, monks' huts, huge weird scary trees with monkeys playing around in the thick foliage - an interesting and safe "jungle" walk. I don't remember seeing a single monk though.

Probably I shouldn't be writing a review of this temple since there is no way I could climb to the top of the mountain to see the golden chedi and golden Buddha - however, I googled the place and the views are amazing. Maybe one of you readers has been there, or is now interested in going? If you have been to the top, please send a few pictures and write a blog about it :-)

For our Thai lunch today, we decided to have individual meals for each person. Normally we will buy various dishes and then share. All of these meals in this series of the Friday Thai Lunch were bought on the street in Thailand and then brought home to photograph and eat. The first two are one of my favourites and can be bought almost everywhere. In Thai it is called "rat naa". In English you could call it Noodles in a Thick Vegetable Gravy.

These two dishes both have the same ingredients of pork and Chinese broccoli. However, you can choose what type of noodles you like to have. These are two of my favourites for "rat naa". The top dish has "mee grob" which is a crispy version of the egg noodle, and the one above has "sen yai" which is the wide noodle. You can also choose "sen mee" which is a thin noddle which I don't like so much. I usually alternate between "sen ya" and "mee grob". The gravy is made thick by adding corn flour to the stock. These dishes only cost 25 baht each. Actually, there is more gravy to pour on top but I kept some back so that you could see the ingredients better! This is very good value for money

Around the corner we have a noodle stall where you can order quite a few different versions of noodles that either come dry or in a soup. The price is the same so I usually always ask for the soup too! Again you can choose from a variety of different sized noodles. If you don't know the Thai then you can always point to what ingredients you want! The choice is usually, "sen yai", "sen mee", "sen lek" and "ba mee". My all time favourite is the last one which is called egg noodle in English. It is yellow in colour whereas the others are white. At this stall, I usually alternate between "ba mee kieo nam" (egg noodle soup with wonton) or "baa mee tom yum". The above is the latter version which I love. It is virtually the same but has Chinese morning glory instead and she also adds ground roasted peanuts and a spoonful of nam prik pao (otherwise known as chili jam). She never makes it spicer enough for me so when I get home I always add another spoonful of chili jam and then the dried chilis as well.

This is the second version with the wontons. These are pork wrapped in a pastry. However, the ingredients can vary. She also added pak choy vegetable and red pork. I like this one with egg noodles. However, this person didn't want any noodles so the noodle vendor added more wontons instead. The soup is always clear and it is up to you about adding the four flavours. These come in packets and include: chillies in fish sauce, chillies in rice vinegar, sugar and chili powder. I usually add them all though not so much of the sugar. I am not as sweet toothed as the Thais seem to be. Both of these dishes cost only 25 baht each.

Our dessert today is also one of my favourites. It is called "khao tom mad". It is basically a mixture of sticky rice with coconut cream and sugar. It also has a ripe banana in the middle and you can also see some black eye peas in this picture. It is wrapped in banana leaves and then left to steam for two hours. These cost only 6 baht each. So, our meal for four people was about US$4 today which wasn't bad!

Come back next Friday to thai-blogs.com to see what we are eating in the Paknam Web offices.

In theory, I like the whole idea of karma, which basically translates as cause and effect. If you do something wrong now, it will catch up with you in a later life. Many Thai Buddhists believe this, as well as people from other religions around the world. It is good as it keeps the population in check. They won't do any bad deeds because they know that they will be punished later. But, it also has it drawbacks. People in Thailand are very subservient which means that they often accept whatever is given to them without complaining. If they are poor in this life it is because of consequence of a bad deed in a previous life.

Quite often at Thai temples, I have seen notices that teach you the consequences of your actions. You may remember a temple I wrote about where they had models depicting a Buddhist Hell. It quite clearly showed what would happen to you if you did bad in this lifetime. But, have you ever wondered why not everyone is rich or very beautiful? It is all to do with their past deeds. Here are just a few of the things that Thai people believe in:

* If you build or maintain public roads in this lifetime, you will have your own car in the next.
* If you donate robes to a monk in this lifetime, you will have fashionable clothes in the next.
* If you donate food to the poor in this lifetime, you will have plenty of food in the next.
* If you are stingy with your money in this lifetime, you will be poor in the next.
* If you donate money to the temple in this lifetime, you will have a large house in the next
* If you put flowers on the shrine in this lifetime, you will be beautiful or handsome in the next.
* If you pray often in this lifetime, you will be clever in the next.
* If you release birds or fish* you will enjoy a long life in the next.
* If you kill people in this lifetime, you will die young in the next.
* If you abuse your husband in this lifetime, you will be a spinster in the next.
* If you have affairs with married women in this lifetime, you will never find a wife in the next
* If you donate oil for lamps at the temple in this lifetime, you will have bright eyes in the next
* If you are rude to your parents in this lifetime, you will be deaf and dumb in the next
* If you didn't pay your debts in this lifetime, you will be born as a cow in the next.
* If you donate medicine for sick people in this lifetime, you will be healthy in the next
* If you are cruel and cold-hearted in this lifetime, you will be all alone in the next.
* If you like to look at nude pictures in this lifetime, you will be blind in the next.
* If you gossip about people in this lifetime, you will have a harelip in the next.
* If you like cheating people in this lifetime, you will be born as an animal in the next.
* If you don't help people in danger in this lifetime, you will be in prison in the next.
* If you sneer at beggars in this lifetime, you will starve to death in the next.
* If you look down on servants in this lifetime, you will be ugly in the next.
* If you don't believe in the Buddhist teaching in this lifetime, then you will be deaf in the next.
* If you hurt animals in this lifetime, you will have leprosy in the next.
* If you are envious of other people in this lifetime, you will have body odour in the next
* If you make a false charge against a monk in this lifetime, you will be struck by lightning in the next.

There is a lot more of course but that will do for now. Hopefully, you will now understand more fully why you are in your present predicament. Although there is nothing you can do about it for this lifetime, you can take steps to give yourself a better time in the next life or the one after that. It all depends on how bad you have been!

Miss Tiffany Thailand 2008.

She's genetically a male.

It's hard enough competing with other Thai girls. The ladies of the Kingdom also have to compete to look better than the ladyboys next door.

I mean, how could we live with ourselves if we're out-prettied by boys!?!?!?

But then our boys are pretty. I mean, look at Miss Tiffany! THAT pretty.

It's REALLY hard to beat this level of pretty!

We'll never win this fight. Us Thai girls just never win.

The world's soooo unfair.

*sigh*

I'm just jealous. It's a girl thing. So I'm going away to sulk now. Don't mind me.