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Published: March 15th 2008
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Tiger Temple
Stu stroking the tiger Hi!
Thanks for all your comments, it's really nice to hear from everyone.
On Wednesday 12th we visited a place called the Tiger Temple. Basically it's a rescue centre for harmed or poached animals which was set up by a Buddist Monk. The story goes that one day a local found an injured boar and unsure of where to take it took it to the local Buddist temple. The temple took the boar in and cared it back to full health and it carried on living in the temple grounds. The locals heard of this and started taking the injured animals there. One day a local found an abandoned tiger cub whose mum had been killed by poachers. They took it to the temple who looked after it and it carried on living with the monks who bought it up. The tiger became tame because it had always been around humans. Nowadays the tiger temple is home to 17 tigers and 2 baby tiger cubs...so cute! They are all tame so visitors can therefore have pictures taken whilst stroking the tigers....a very surreal experience!
We got a pick-up truck there from Kanchanaburi town which we shared with another
Tiger Temple
The kitty loves it's tummy tickling! English couple, a New Zealand couple, a family from Australia and three Russians. The temple house other animals as well but the main stars are the tigers. The tigers each have there own living space but everyday between 3 - 4.00 pm they get taken to an open canyon where the visitors can meet them ad get up close. I (Michelle) was the first to go upto the tigers. Kneeling and sitting next to these amzing creatures whilst stroking them was just out of this world. They appear so graceful but could be quite savage if they wanted to be. Luckily we found the tigers on a good day and one even rolled over to have its tummy tickled (just like Sparky and Oscar!) Once we left the canyon we saw a crowd of people and wondered whay was going on. We headed over and there were two tiny tiger cubs running around everyone....gorgeous (see picture attached). Whilst the tigers were bought back to their living space, the humans all had to be kept in a pen. It felt strange being the ones in the pen whilst the majestic tigers roamed free. once the tigers were back in their "homes",
Tiger Temple
Michelle stroking the tiger we were allowed out of the pen but just as they opened the gates, trucks came down and threw food everywhere whcih made a stampeed of animalsall gather around us whilst they ate their food....it was very surreal (although Michelle wasn't too keen on the muddy wild boars after watching too many episodes of LOST!) It was a fantastic day!
WE've found a ncie local restaurant and made two new friends yesterday in the form of two little white cats (our substitutes for Sparky and Oscar while we are away). Talking of friends, we keep bumping into the Australian guy from Melbourne whilst we've been here, around three times now....I'm sure he thinks we're stalking him :-)
On Friday 14th we cheated from all this independant travelling business and did an organised day trip...our excuse is that we couldn't have done it any cheaper independantly! It was approx. 12pounds each from 8.00am - 6.00pm, including all entrance fees, food, drink and transport. First the minibus took us to Erawan National Park which is about 1 hours drive from Kanchanaburi and home to a stunning 7 tiered waterfall. We sepnt approx. 4 hours here and it was gorgeous. We
went for a swim in the second tier and got nibbled at by all the fish....some were shockingly big! It was a really hot day and after walking through what was like a tropical forrest to reach the waterfall, it was really refreshing to jump into the water. We got talking to an Irish girl whilst at Erawan who had been living and working in Australia for the apst year and was doing a tour of Thailand on her way back home. She gave us some tips on the Islands in Southern Thailand as she had just been there. We found out that she had been staying in the hotel as us whislt in Bangkok (Rambuttri Inn) at the same time but we had never bumped into her.
Anyway, after Erawan National Park we got taken to Krasae cave next to the Death railway track. The cave had a large gold Buddha inside and our guide told us that it was used as a type of hospital during WW11. The Death Railway gets its name from the thousands of prisoners of war who died whilst building it from inhumane treatment from the Japanese during World War 2. We got
to ride the Death Railway which had really ncie views. Our last stop was the Bridge Over the River Kwai. Today it just looks like an ordinary train bridge and it was hard to imagine all the suffering and deaths that the Bridge had caused during it's construction. Another interesting day!
Today (Saturday 15th) is our last day in Kanchanaburi (we have already extended our stay because we love it here so much). Tomorrow morning we are getting the bus upto Lampang in Northern Thailand (around 8 hours), ready to start our Elephant Mahout course on the 19th.
This will probably be our last blog for about a week or so because the Elephant camp doesn't have internet.
We hope that you're all alright and we miss you loads. Keep your comments/messages coming as it's really ncie to hear from you all.
If I don't get chance to ring (because I'm unsure of what the telephone system is like over here)....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD for the 19th, I will be thinking of you and hope you have a great day!!!
Lots of love, Michelle & Stu xxxxx
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Krystyna
non-member comment
How wonderful!
Dear Michelle and Stu Great to get another very interesting blog. I really enjoyed reading it and the photos are gorgeous! What an experience you are having, you are so lucky. You were brave going up to the tigers even though they were tame, you just never know with animals. You know what I am like with dogs! The photos are gorgeous, I will have to share this with my neice as she loves tigers. Continue to have a wonderful holiday, remember slip, slap, slop! Have a safe journey to your next destination and I look forward to your next blog in a week or so. Love from Krystyna and family xxxx