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Published: December 25th 2006
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Today was an exciting day for me. Over a year ago, while sitting on the futon while the wind and snow howled outside on a cold February day in Thunder Bay I watched a TV show on the travel channel about a "Tiger Temple" in Thailand and it immediate became a
MUST DO activity on our trip. Many months later that was to become reality and I was itching in my shorts to get going. But before the Tiger Temple, we needed to raise our world history knowledge and pay a visit to the River Kwai Bridge.
A Peice of History
After some tasty Pad Thai for breakfast, we walked across the famous River Kwai Bridge (aka Death Railway Bridge) which was originally built out of wood during WW2 by Thai POWs under Japanaese control. The Japanese wanted to build a strategic railway through Thailand and Burma to try and capture other west Asian countries. Close to 100,000 POWs died from poor conditions while building the railway which Japanese engineers estimated would take five years but was completed in just 16 months. Crossing the bridge, rebuilt out of steel, Capri was a bit scared and held on to Vic's shirt
just in case she tripped.
Tiger Temple
Midday we caught the local bus 45 kilometers out of town and were dropped off on the side of the highway. From there we started walking down a dusty dirt road, but luckly for us some nice people passing by in a jeep gave us a lift to the entrace of the Tiger Temple, 2km away. The Tiger Temple got it's name about 8 years back when some poachers killed a mother tiger and dropped off the orphaned baby tiger for the monks to take care of. From there, news was out that the monks accepted abondend animals (primarly tigers) and their collection grew from there. They have second generation tigers, born at the temple, that are tame. The monks principle idea is to show compassion, which they have done with the abandoned tigers and from compassion they have become tame. With money collected from entrance fees and donations they are building a tiger reserve, a 12 acre moated island, so future tigers can live there more naturully and hopefully be intrigrated back into the wild. Currently, they have 16 tigers (and right now two baby tigers that are one month old)
Carol & The Kitty
She was so excited we thought she was going to try and pick it up! and one leopard.
In the mornings the temple is closed to visitors while the tigers play freely together in the canyon. When we arrived, we headed down into the canyon where about a dozen tigers lay snoozing in the shade. Every few minutes a tiger would yawn, streach out and arch it's back - just like Reggie would do at home. While the tigers were placid and snoozing they were unchained, but once they rose for a streach or became restless later in the afternoon the temple helpers (in blue) would attach a chain to their collar. The temple helpers would lead you around by the hand and you could sit by each tiger and give them a quick scratch. You can go around and pet the tigers as many times as you want and it's free! For me, a cat lover, it was a dream come true. However, if you want a "tiger cuddle" where you can have the tigers head in your lap, that will cost you 1000B ($33CND) and that was a little out of my budget. We watched the tigers for close to three hours and went in for two pettings each. Thier fur isn't
as soft as I expected, a bit coarse; and their paws are huge! They really are majestic animals. Later in the afternoon the tigers were becoming a bit restless and one tiger was ready for a snack. The monk and a helper prepared milk tablets (powdered milk and water) and the tiger lapped up the milk off the rock and chewed easily on dog bones for some leather protein and to clean his teeth.
A few times the monk would spray a yellow liquid in the tigers face when it was up and pacing around. Turns out, the yellow liquid is tiger urine and the smell of themselves helps calm the tigers because of all the different smells and noises from the visitors. Also, the tigers eat cooked meat so they don't taste blood and associate the monks, or other animals with food. To date, no people have been eaten! I found it quite interesting how calm the tigers were after only one or two generations of not being in the wild. The tigers are around the monks and helpers all day long and they are frequently touching and moving a leg or tail here or there; so the
tigers are very used to human contact. Even so, they are still cats and once a tiger lurched playfully towards a worker. Each tiger has personal profile and my favorite was a female, Nanfa or Sky Place, born in the jungle in 1999. "Nanfa is the most active and agile of all the tigers and will throw herself into any game or play fight. Her playful nature makes her quite a handful for her keepers as she will happily pounce playfully on anyone who is near. When Nanfa shows her softer side she enjoys cuddles and uses her handlers feet as a pillow while she sleeps. Nanfa is very stubborn and this often sees her being piggybacked to her enclosure when she decides she is too tired to walk." I'd take Nanfa home in a heartbeat.
The temple has taken in other animals as well and has become a bit like a petting zoo. The grounds are a refuge for cows, water buffalo, pigs, chickens, peacocks and deer that are allowed to come and go as they please. Vic was standing around and a friendly cow nudged him in the back and then proceeded to lick Vic's leg for
a minute or two. Good thing Vic grew up on a farm because it would probably really freak some people out!
At 4 o'clock all the cows and deer started walking farther down the road past the tiger cages and the temple workers threw rocks and sticks from the road towards the birds and peacocks making them scatter. Then, out from the canyon, tigers approached being lead on a leash by the temple workers. In single file, one tiger after the other, it was like a tiger parade! And they walked so well on a leash - much better than Reggie ever did! Once the tigers were safely in their cages for the night all the pigs were called back and light green veggies, like a big cucumber or squash, were thrown from the back of a truck on the road. Once the cuc's hit the ground, it was like a pig stampeed of a100 or more pigs and piglets squealing past us towards dinner. I've never seen pigs move so fast before!
For more information on the Tiger Temple ( aka Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yanasampanno Forest Monastery)
Tiger Temple We stayed till closing and then caught
a ride back to the highway to wait for a bus back to Kanchanaburi. After 20 minutes and still no bus, we flagged down another jeep taxi leaving the temple and got a ride back to town with some chatty American tourist.
The jeep taxi kindly took us to our guesthouse where we picked up our bags and headed to the bus station. It sounds like a full day already but why not try and add a 4 hr bus trip to Ayuthaya on at the end. After all, we have a schedule to keep! We caught the second to last bus out, which included a change of buses in a small town half way to Ayuthaya. One problem, when we got off the bus to change there were no other buses to take us the rest of the way. Buses stop running quite early here and now it was dark with no hotels in sight. Time for another jeep taxi? After some haggling we settled on a driver and hooked up with a french couple for the 1 hr ride to Ayuthaya. Vic and Capri have been doing really well and might even enjoy this adventurous on the
fly travel with us!
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Vicky Holland
non-member comment
Happy Birthday Carol!
Your tiger pictures are Greeaattt - as Tony the Tiger would say! What better way to spend your birthday than petting tigers in Thailand. It looks like everybody is having a great time - I wish I was there. All the best Vicky XXOO email address: vholland@kenaidan.com