Day 43 - Erawan, Tiger Temple and Loy Krathong

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I hired a motorbike for the day as I couldn't find a tour that covered what I wanted to do and I was fed up of being sat on a bus!! I found a great deal for a 125 manual at 3 quid for the day with half a tank of petrol!!!! Ther was even a helmet!! Amazing!

After getting a 'map' from the coffee shop next to my hotel that rented me the bike (as I write this I see that it may not have been the wisest idea!) I headed off to the Erawan waterfall. According to the 'map' this was just under 30km away so after about 25 mins on the road, I nearly fell off the bike when I came to a sign that said Erawan 51km! Apparently the map was not to scale!! Onwards I went and eventually got to the waterfall - nearly 80km from my hotel!!! Fortunately it was beautiful and I went swimming in one of the levels. I can't offer a description that covers just how beautiful - the photos speak for themselves! There were also monkeys in the forest and I managed to get a couple of quick pics beforethey ran off!!

A couple of hours later and I was on the move again. This time to Tiger Temple (there were real tigers there!). It was sort of on the way back according to the 'map' and at one point, I did think to myself 'Right, you are heading down an empty road in the middle of the Thai countryside where you haven't seen another westerner for about an hour and no-one has a clue where you are.' Actually, my concern was more about running out of petrol than for my life as the petrol (something I have a personal history of!) as the guage had said full ever since I left the coffee shop. Hmmmm Leaded? Unleaded? Diesel? Lol! Anyway, it's half the fun not knowing what will happen next!

I successfully navigated myself, via the correct pump at the petrol station, to Tiger Temple. Again, I was not approptiately dressed (although I had tried harder this time). This temple did not allow sarongs so I ended up having to BUY a t-shirt and some trousers to wear which nearly tripled my entrance fee. These bloody tigers had better be worth it!

I didn't have much time there when I finally got in so rushed straight round to Tiger Canyon to have my photo taken. This place was a real tourist conveyor belt and was pretty grim. I had a couple of minutes to have my photo taken before I was pushed (literally) out of the way to make room for the next tourist. Still, I only went for the photo. I was one of the last people admitted so was able to walk the tigers back towards their home for the night. This made up for everything. I had a real live tiger on a lead in my control. H&S worst nightmare!!! Lol!

I got back to town and headed to the river as it was the festival of Loy Krathong which is traditionally performed on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month, which usually falls on some day in November. The floating of a ‘Krathong' - a banana-leaf cup - is intended to float away ill fortune as well as to express apologies to Khongkha or Ganga, the River Goddess. Some believe that the ritual is meant to worship the Buddha's footprint on the bank of the Narmada River, while others say that it is to pay respect to Phra Uppakhut, one of the Lord Buddha's great disciples.

I chose myself a beautiful purple orchid krathong and floated it off down the river and under the bridge, taking away everything I wanted to leave behind. :-)

I returned the bike, 180km later (my longest day trip on a bike!) and headed back to the hotel to pack.

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