Kanchanaburi: Waterfalls & Tigers

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Hi everyone!

The last couple of days we have used our swamp home as base while we ventured out to see some of the popular attractions Kanchanaburi province has to offer.

Yesterday (Feb 12th) we headed to the beautiful Erawan Waterfalls. It took us about 2 hours to get there on a local bus, but boy was it worth it! The Erawan falls are basically a sequence of 7 tiered waterfalls, reaching each one by walking/climbing wooded trails. As you head towards the top you lose the majority of the crowds, leaving you free to swim in the plunge pools, slide down the falls, and generally have a great time, in paradise like surroundings. It was so nice to be able to swim in the cool water in the heat of the day, although the hundreds of fish biting your feet took some getting used to! It was a great day out, a definately highlight of the trip so far. It was also good to have made the journey ourselves, as opposed to using one of the many overpriced organised tour companies.

Today we went to the (in)famous tiger temple. For those of you who haven't heard of it, after taking in a single injured tiger in 1999, the monks now have 9 proper domesticated tigers, and allow people to come and take photos with them. A lot of controversy lies with whether the tigers are drugged, or just merely tame. Following our successful use of the public bus system yesterday, we made our own way again. We had to walk 2km to get to the temple, but having walked so many miles already this week, that was no problem.

As an attraction, the tiger temple is pretty poor. Apart from the tiger photos, there is very little to do there, and to describe it as a tourist trap is an understatement. From what we saw also, you get the impression the tigers are probably sedated. I cannot believe that a mere tame Tiger would be as subdued as these. There is also a feeling that the monks are now cashing in big style, by asking for bigger donations for 'special' photos etc. However, the photo's we got for the standard 300 baht entry fee, are still stunning. I have attached a couple to this post, and trust me there are many more. These are from Paul's camera, so hopefully they have come out great. It may still be a while until Paul's (and the rest of mine) photos appear in full on Flickr, so hopefully these will give you a sneak peak!

Tomorrow we are getting a night sleeper train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, we purchased our ticket today, about 550 baht which is a bargain. The train leaves at 22.00 tomorrow night, so we will probably leave here about 16.00 and grab a bus back to Bangkok before making our way to the train station.

I have got a few more pictures on Flickr, and organised them into manageable albums. It is the albums you really want to browse through, as the main photostream is in a bit of a mixed up order.

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Photos

Jumping into Plunge Pool
These pics are just of one of the pools, there were 7 in total, some unbelievably picturesque.

Tigers!
Just a random photo. There are better ones that I am sure will be decorating the Walton + Hingley mantelpieces shortly.

Paul With Tiger
Doped up, or Loved up...You decide!

Comments

[Melly]

nooooo
drugged tigers??? i am NOT happy about this...at least it's not leopards, nice pics tho. jealous, yes.

[lalaseal]

Tigers
Just thought you should know that Tigers are nocturnal, and during the day they pretty much sleep.

[hingus2000]

Doped up felines
Even if their sleepiness is due to them being nocturnal, it is hard to feel 100% comfortable with 'volunteers' for the 'sanctuary' spraying water in their face to get them to look lively for certain photos.