Bangkok Day Two

This was the day I'd been waiting for. We were visiting the Tiger Temple! I'd made the reservation almost a year ago and was really looking forward to it. About a month before we left on our trip, there had been a report on CNN that they were abusing the tigers and selling parts for various medicines. It sounded awful. There is also a web site which talks about the horrible way they treat the tigers, how they are drugged, etc. I almost canceled our visit, not wanting to support such a place. I'm very glad we found out for ourselves how they treat the tigers.

 

We were picked up at our hotel at 5 a.m.!!! We had a 2 hour drive out to the temple. We just had a driver, our guide lives near the temple area so we picked him up at the market. The itinerary said we would buy breakfast for the monks at a market. I wasn't imagining a 7 Eleven! We bought coke, beer and snack cakes, interesting breakfast food for monks! Our guide, Jackie, didn't speak English very well, but enough to get by. About 30 minutes from the market we went thru a HUGE tiger mouth arch into the area. The temple was started when someone found a tiger cub after killing it's mother. They gave that cub to the head monk at a monastery. He raised it and decided to dedicate his life to saving the tigers. There are so few left in the wild, it's pretty sad. They now have about 95 tigers of all ages. They are in the process of building an amusement park type place for people to visit, with a huge "island" for the tigers to roam free. There was a lot of construction going on. They are even building a hotel.

 

We stopped at the entrance where they sold T shirts, etc. They had tables set up for offering the food to the monks. They arrived and we were to place 2 items in each monk's container. The containers were pots with cooked rice. It was strange putting coke in with the cooked rice. We were to give any left over food to the last monk. The table next to us had a lot left over. The girl put 2 items into the monks container. He said very bluntly "You have to give the rest to me, that is the rule!!". He was from New York, with the accent, interesting monks. We then walked up to the temple area where the monks would have breakfast.

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All around the temple platform was a railing and tied to the railing were about 20 tiger cubs of various ages, 6 weeks old being the youngest. We each had our own tiger to feed a bottle of formula to. They were SO darling....and messy. I had formula all over my top and shorts but it was worth it! There were a lot of volunteers who took our cameras so we could concentrate on the cubs while they took pictures. Once the cubs had their fill, they all fell sound asleep! After a bit some were wrestling with each other, so cute. We sat thru the monk's prayer. I asked a volunteer from Germany how long the prayer would be. She said anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, we "lucked" out with a LONG one, I thought it would never end! After that the monks ate while we continued to play with the tigers. When they finished, we were offered a buffet breakfast. It was AWFUL!! I ate some rice, that was about it. When we finished we were each given a cub to walk back to their cage. Some could walk on their own on leashes, the tiny ones had to be carried. I was the first to head to the cage. My little guy didn't like being carried so I grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and he settled down. I was the only one who actually went into the cage and put my little guy down. They had cleaned the cage while the cubs were out with us. Not a great enclosure, but they were taken out to play daily, so not bad.

 

Next we went to where the older cubs lived. They were about 10 months old, so maybe half grown. We bathed them with shampoo and a hose. The volunteer with me shoved me around to stay away from the tiger's head. They treated the tigers nicer than the people! We were then led to the play area. They had rice sacks attached to bamboo poles to entice the tigers to play. There were at least 10 of them, running around the enclosure, not on leashes or anything. Most were attacking each other in the water. I didn't know tigers enjoyed water so much. I got one guy to grab the bag on my pole. He wouldn't let go so we had a tug of war, he won. I was almost pulled into the water. If I'd have fallen, I would have had tigers all over me, playing like they played with each other. Since they probably weighed about 80 lbs at that age, it wouldn't have been a good thing. Smart that I dropped the pole. The volunteers were screaming and laughing at all the tiger antics. I think they were having more fun than we were and the tigers were definitely having a great time. It was a lot of fun.

 

The next tigers we encountered were adults. They were on leashes for us to walk down into a canyon they have set up for tourists. These guys were big, but walked nicely on their leashes. They had been raised to do so from cubs, so pretty well trained. This morning tour was only open to 12 people and sells out daily. The 12 humans were put into a "cage" while the volunteers played with the big guys. They were running around attacking each other as well as chasing the rice sacks, jumping off rocks into the water and having a great time. It was fun to watch. We were told that if we return in the afternoon we could have pictures taken with the big guys. I don't think that was to be included in our tour but the guide agreed to take us back after lunch.

 

We went to an outdoor restaurant whose owner is the vet for the Tiger Temple. I ordered fried rice with pineapple and chicken. It was served very simply, a pile on a plate. It was better than the expensive meal we'd had the day before, yummy. We watched a video about the vet and how he takes care of the tigers. We looked around at the store without finding anything of interest. We had over an hour to kill before returning to the Temple. Our guide finally said it was time to go.

 

There were a lot more people at the area when we returned. We walked by a cage with a huge bear in it on the way to the tigers. Not sure what kind it was, it had a white stripe across it's chest. All the large tigers were laying around with volunteers standing by to keep visitors at a distance. We were all corralled into a "cave" while they prepared the tigers to walk down to the canyon. These were the males and enormous! We all got in single file lines, 15 people behind each tiger. One at a time we were allowed to walk right next to the tiger for a picture. Once in the canyon, we all sat on seats. Every time a tiger arrived at the canyon we were told to stand and look at the tiger. We weren't supposed to  have our backs to them, just in case. They weighed 300 to 400 lbs and were walking on leashes. If they wanted to go after someone, not much could stop them! Our guide pulled us to the front of the line for pictures. We were led to a tiger where a volunteer would put his head on our lap for a picture. They were sound asleep, so they were hauling those heads around like dead meat. The tigers were so huge, it was pretty cool to be that close. We had pictures taken with about 5 different ones, then headed out. What an AMAZING experience!!!

 

On the way back to Bangkok, we stopped at the Bridge Over the River Kwai. It is now a huge tourist attraction with shops and a market set up. We walked over the bridge taking pictures. There is a colorful train that goes back and forth for the tourists, pretty built up. We were back to our hotel well after 6, it was a LONG day. Our clothes were covered with tiger formula, mud from sitting down, dust from running tigers, and just filthy in general. What a great day!