Tygers of Chiang Mai & Lady Boys

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Good evening readers I hope you are well

************* you may needed to edit this before passing to mum! **************

So today's blog is about my experiences with tigers and lady boys (I put tygers as a homage to the Tygers of Pan Tang for those of you who know them, so it's not a spelling mistake lol)

A group of us took the opportunity to visit Tiger Kingdom where you get to interact with the big cats one on one. You can choose big, medium, small and very small. We took a tuk tuk which is big enough to take 8 of us, so not like the ones I'm used to.

When we got there two of the girls opted to go and see the snake show about 10 mins ride away as one of them had been to Tiger Kingdom before.

I opted to sit with a big and a small tiger. The big ones were a few years old and the small ones about 10 months old. You choose what experience you want, the more you choose the cheaper it gets compared to the individual rates. You then have to sign your life away basically saying if you get mauled to death it's not their fault lol. You then pay your money and wait until you are called. 4 of us wanted a big tiger experience. You have to leave your bag outside along with any other paraphernalia but can take a camera in. You also have to read the safety safety instructions e,g don't touch their paws or face and always approach from the front so they can see you before you touch them (or they eat you lol)

The tigers are bread in captivity and used to being around people but are still wild creatures and still dangerous. They have handlers/keepers who make sure you are kept safe whilst you are in the enclosure. The animals are not drugged in any way either.

So we all entered the enclosure and walked to the first tiger of our visit. We took some photos and then some of us siting with the tiger petting and stroking him/her.

We then moved to the central location which can be viewed by visitors when they arrive. We then interacted with two of the big cats. They are such beautiful creatures and so much bigger when you are up close and personal. The fur is not as soft as I thought it would be and when you stroke and tickle them you have to do it quite firmly. Their paws are massive and their tails can hurt if they suddenly whipped you with it. And of course their long wiry whiskers lol. We were allowed to pet their hind quarters and back and tickle their tummies if they let you. We had photos taken petting them and also lying near and around them. Very exciting and nerve racking, but such an amazing experience and one I will never forget!

After we did the big cats I moved to the next enclosure to play with the young cats. 3 of them were all lying head to take and on their backs so I could tickle their tummies and then had my photo taken with tow cuties who were play fighting.

After visiting the tigers we all regrouped and waited for the tuk tuk to return. Whilst we were waiting the heavens opened and there was a torrential down pour. We had to make a dash for it when the tuk tuk arrived. We then decided to head back to the hostel as we were hungry. We got back and found a little place and ordered. We didn't quite get what we ordered but it was nice. We wanted fried rice but got boiled and Fliss got a completely different thing from what she ordered but still ate it. I had to go get my diet my diet coke from the fridge as it never arrived lol but it was cheap edible and the old guy doing the ordering and cooking was a bit of a character.

After lunch we headed back to the hostel for some pool time but the heavens opened and we had a thunder storm so that put paid to pool time. So we had snooze time instead.

We all arranged to meet again at 7pm to go for food and wander round the Sunday market which is a real tourist attraction. We all gathered at the allotted time and headed to the restaurant Chow knew. It was run by an Ialian guy and had traditional Thai food, Italian, some English too. We sat outside on two tables as you couldn't actually sit inside as there were no tables. There was a canopy over the tables which was lucky as a few minutes after we arrived and sat down the heavens opened again and there was a massive down pour along with thunder and lightening.

Lots of people at the market were rushing by with umberellas, plastic rain macs (the kind you can buy from theme parks before you go on water rides) and even plastic bags on their heads festival stylie lol. The market vendors had to put plastic sheeting over their wares to keep the rain off. Puddles were forming in the streets and people were dashing about trying to get out of the rain and find shelter. Unfortunately we didn't have long to wander around the market as we had to reconvene again at 8.45pm to head off to see the lady boys. It's a shame we didn't get to spend longer as there were loads of stalls to browse round and as previously mentioned it's a real tourist attraction and one mentioned in guides and on line.

We all gathered at the appropriate time and place and headed towards our tuk tuk. We had to cross a busy main road and walk through more market stalls to get to where we needed to be and it was still raining, and we had to paddle through large puddles with our flip flops on lol. We got to the tuk tuk and took a ten minute ride and disembarked and then we a few minutes walk to the venue. There were lots of cheap restaurants around vying for our custom and yet more market stalls.

The venue was at the end of a street and was quite a large place which probably seated about 100 people. There were lots of tables and chairs at the front around the stage area and taller tables and bar stools towards the back. It was quite dark in side with subtle lighting at the back and was a bit brighter near the stage. There was a bar but we had waitress service of course the waiting staff were lady boys and some of them very attractive and one definate drag queen. You could have your photo taken with them but you had to pay for the privilege. You also had to go out side to use the loo, pay 3 baht and go through a turnstile to get in!

There was another group of westerners men and women on the other side of the stage i would say in their late teens to early 20s who seemed to be partying hard and having fun. We were a lot more sedate. We sat by the stage in any seats we could find. The rest of the audience consisted of Thai couples, small groups of friends, single guys, European guys with Thai girls, and small groups of guys many if them travellers like ourselves, etc all a very mixed bag. The waiting staff made sure we all had drinks and when they brought you your change the tray had tip please written on it! Cheeky :-)

The show then started and the voice over man billed it as the greatest show on earth but i had my doubts about this claim. The glittery curtains went back and the show started. The opening number consisted of 4 male dancers dressed in red sparkly suits with calf length black boots and black vests. There were also 4 other lady boy dancers in red sequin and feather outfits and the leading role was dressed in a similar fashion with a huge red feather head piece and tail feathers lip syncing to the song.

So this theme continued all evening, I could imagine the chaos back stage during the costume changes. The lady boys did look amazing and more like women than men, which I guess is the point. Some had invested in boob jobs and were well endowed in the bust department and some hadn't. No sign of mens bits at all, yes I did check lol. They had amazing toned bodies and could put many women including me to shame. Joe who sat next to me was struggling to get his head round it all bless him, I was just jealous lol.

There were feathers and sequins and wigs and Lycra during all the songs. One dancer had to constantly adjust her wig as it looked like it was due to fall off. On occasions steps were missed, lip sync was a bit dodgy and co-ordinated turns missed, but all in all the whole group loved it. The dancers, especially those that took the lead roles put their heat and soul into every song. But the high lights were Rihanna and Britney. We all commented later about their dancing shoes and how worn and knackered they looked from all the dancing and how big they were as of course men's feet are bigger than women's, and there must be a specialist supplier for sparkly silvery lady boy shoes lol.

Rihanna came on and lip synced to S&M and pulled a guy out of the audience from the group I mentioned earlier. He was sat on a chair and Rihanna danced and gyrated around and sat on his lap. Then Britney came out to join in and continued the theme. They took off the willing victims shirt - I say willing victim as he seemed very happy to be there and was no shrinking violet lol. It was all very sexual and high energy And good fun to watch and made us laugh and daps in amazement.



Britney did make a reappearance later to lip sync to Woamiser and danced in the audience and busted some yoga type moves during her dance routine. How flexible she was. Again very energetic and high energy.

So the finale was thank you for the music by Abba when all the dancers reappeared on stage. We then sang happy birthday to one of then lady boys and then got dragged up on stage to dance with them all to some disco tune I didn't really know. Good fun had by all. After that we all headed back to the tuk tuk paddling through the puddles which were still around from the deluge of the rain, chatting about the show. We caught the tuk tuk back and headed for the hostel but the driver did struggle to find it's location but we got there in the end. So then it was off to bed as we had a big day ahead the next day ...........



Update to follow



Xxx

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