The Tiger Temple

---

I had been really looking forward to visiting the tiger temple. I recently saw the first season of 'The Amazing Race' where they came to Thailand and one of the challenges was to collect a clue by walking through the tigers at the Tiger Temple in Kachanaburi. I knew then that I had to go and see these amazing creatures for myself.

I arranged to go on a tour of the Temple, essentially a 45min ride there and a chance to take photos for an hour, then a ride back into town. They were scheduled to leave at 3:30pm and we must have left late as by the time we arrived they were trying to rush us through and get our photos with the tigers. I had no idea what to expect and was suddenly being ushered into the tiger arena and right up beside them. I didn't even have time to think about it really but my heart was racing, it was such a scary and exhilerating experience. Most of the tigers had collars and were chained to hooks in the ground. There were a few that had no chains at all and I wasn't sure whether to fear the tigers that could run after me to eat me or the ones that needed to be chained so they wouldn't!

These tigers were amazing. I was there touching these huge, wild creatures and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be there. It was really disappointing to have arrived so late as the keepers wanted to take the tigers back to where they're kept and I had to quickly take what photos I could. My hands were shaking, suddenly from a distance realising how incredible it was to have gotten so close to them.

One tiger was kept behind and at the end, those who wanted could walk him back, keeping well away from his head and touching him at all times. I walked with him for several meters which was really cool. I was lucky to be able to get so close to the tigers as anyone wearing orange, red, pink or yellow was not allowed to. These colours were considered dangerous, a concept which clearly doesn't apply to the monks in their orange robes.

The grounds at the temple were huge and it was such a shame to see the tigers being put into small cages. A number of guide books have refused to recommend the tiger temple for apparent mistreatment of the tigers and it does not feature in this years 'rough guide' or 'lonely planet'. I only had a very small and short glimpse of the place and was not allowed to go where most of the tigers were kept. So I cannot determine if the claims are true, but did find it sad to see a few of them in such small cages.

Kachanaburi is also home to the bridge over the river Kwai. Obviously not the original but still manages to attract plenty of tourists. I walked across the bridge and then over to the nearby WW2 museum to learn a bit more about the history. But the highlight for me was definitely the tigers.

If you're interested in more info on the tiger temple, their website is listed below:

http://www.tigertemple.org/Eng/

---

Photos

Taking the tigers back to their ?cages
There turned out to be a lot of foreigners working with the tigers and only a few monks.

Walking the tiger home
We were told to keep away from his head and I kept well away

Caged
There were two tigers we could see that were in pretty small cages. We wern't allowed any further than this so I really can't comment on the living conditions or treatment of the others.

Feeding time at the farm?
These animals all of a sudden came out of nowhere to feast on their pumpkin dinner. It was chaos!

View of the bridge
There was a train that went across but I opted to walk over. Not much to see on the otherside so might have been better to get the train as it went further along.

Pakistan Road
This was such a random thing to see in the middle of Kachanaburi!!

Houseboat view
I stayed on a houseboat called Nita Rafthouse for 90B a night and this was the view from my window. Looking out over the Kwai river