Hiking Wat Thom Suea

Let me start off this post by stating that no matter how much complaining I might do in the next few paragraphs, the hike was totally worth it.  I think that it was wise for me to wait until a few weeks had passed before writing this blog post as it allowed me to forget some of the pain and dizziness of hiking way too many stairs set straight up a mountain.

Also, I was able to fight a monkey.  More on this later.

Now, the hike up and the view from the top is beautiful.  Sadly, I did not listen to one of the locals that we knew and decided in my infinite wisdom that we should do the hike early in the morning.

The stairs are on the east facing side of the mountain.  Not a wise move I guess.

The thing about these stairs is that even the most sound person will have vertigo.  Mix that with the heat, and the sheer fact that there are more stairs than should ever be in one location, and you pretty much want to die by the time you are near the top.  

But again, it is totally worth it.  

Check out the view from the top:

Getting there is the real pain though.

This might have been the last photo that we were together and smiling.  Danielle was violently ill that day, and still made it to the top.  I am pretty sure that she thought about killing me multiple times though.

By the top, I mean way too many damn stairs.  Like, way too many.  

The hardest part is not just the stairs, but the fact that they number them all the way it.  It is like a conspiracy to remind you just how out-of-shape you are, and just how much more pain there is ahead of you. 

I mean, who does this?  Why? What purpose does it serve besides the obvious one of torture?

All that being said, the top is beautiful, and there are some very friendly dogs there as well.

Now, about the promised monkey fight.  We were walking up the stairs and heard some screams and a call for help.  We ran around the corner and saw a pack of monkeys attacking a couple and their little girl.  By attacking I don't just mean the usual monkey mischief, I mean they were scratching and trying to bite all of them.  Needless to say, we jumped into action.  We got the family back with us, and grabbed some sticks.  Without offending any of my local PETA members, we won the fight and the monkeys left the little girl alone.  

I am normally not one to condone violence, but when a group of monkeys is trying to bite a girl that is no bigger than they are, I have no problem with swinging a stick at all.

All-in-all, quite an awesome day, got to check two things off of my bucket list.

1. Hiking Wat Thom Suea.

2. Get into a fight with a monkey.