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Published: April 5th 2008
So here we are in Kanchanabrui! We have had 3 days here and they have been much better than anticipated when we first arrived at the hotel and realised that we were miles away from Kanchanaburi city centre! It turned out however, that all of the places we wanted to see were very much spread out and the hotel is in an ideal location in the middle of them all! When we first arrived we had trouble trying to ask the guy on reception how on earth we were to get anywhere from the hotel and were told to come back to ask the manager! We had a wander around the hotel and sat by the pool for a while before finding out that the hotel has its own taxis parked outside! We planned on going into the town for some drinks on our first night but whilst getting ready the most almighty storm kicked off and lasted into the night so we decided to have an early night instead as we had been up at 5am for our flight! On our first full day, we got the taxi to the Tiger Temple which was the most amazing experience EVER! We got to the Temple just as they had let the smaller Tigers out to place which was ace and we got to stroke them and have our pictures taken. We then got to walk the adult tigers down to the canyon and have yet more pictures taken with them! We heard one of the irish voluteers talking to a guy about how cool it is to see the Tigers playing in the mornings, and after finding out that we could have the oportunity, we enquired further and bagged ourselves a morning with the Tigers on day 2! On our way back to the Hotel, we stopped off at a local market to buy fruit for the breakfast with the Monks at the temple the following morning. Well I think that we can both safely say that our second day here in Kanchanaburi has to be one of the most amazing days of our lives! We arrived at the Temple early, and met with an Australian couple and two girls from Somerset. First on the agenda was to have breakfast and look after the Tiger cubs whilst the Monks had their breakfast. This was amazing! The cubs ranged from 1month to 4months old and were adorable! The slightly older ones were a little boystrous and in to everything but the tiny 1 month old cub was so cute and we each got to hold him and rock him to sleep! Watching his sleepy eyes as he drifted off was so sweet! Whilst the Monks were eating, we had to give the cubs their milk which was cool, it was almost like feeding a todler from a real babies bottle! After this it was our turn to eat then off down to the cages. We were put into a cage about 9ft by 3ft along with the two girls from Somerset and 3 of the cubs! It felt a bit odd at first but we were in there with them whilst the keepers preparded their lunch of cooked chicken (so they dont get a taste for blood!!) and Whiskers cat food! ha It was an amazing experience to have boystrous luittle tigers jumping all over you but they did have a nice firm bite to them! Vicky is now sporting a nice bite hole in her linen trousers thanks to one of them! After about half an hour in the cage, the cubs were taken in for their lunch and they let the big boys out to play! We each walked one of the bigger tigers - around 1 year old, down to the canyon where they have their daily exercise. It was so strange to be walking a Tiger on a lead but after a while surprisingly enough it actualy began to feel pretty normal! Once down at the canyon they were let off of their leads and off they went charging down into the pool at the bottom. We were able to stand right up to the waters edge with all but a line drawn in the dust which the Tigers had been trained to keep out of! Each of the handlers had a red 'Stop' sign just like road signs and they had trained the Tigers to stop when these were banged on the floor infront of them. just to watch them running around and playing was really cool, the water made them look twice as big for some reason and the sound of their paws when they were running was mad! After having more pics taken with them and walking them back to their cages, we got to hose and shampoo them! The was also such a cool experience and our tiger (cant remember her dam name!) seemed to love the water which was cool! Not sure who got hosed the most tho, her or us!! This has to have been the best day of the trip so far and one that we most certainly will never forget!! Well today is our last proper day as we are leaving tomo at 9am to fly from Bangkok to Koh Samui for 6 days of sun, sea and scuba! Today we visited the River Kwai Bridge which as we thought was not alot more than a Bridge! (Not sure what else it would have been!) We were able to wander across it tho and almost got run over by a train! Well not quite, it was going at about 5 mph! lol After visiting the War Museum we took a wander down to the 'backpacker' part of Kanchanaburi and when we could no longer stand the heat we got a cab back to the hotel!! Not done much since then apart from sunbathing! So it is goodbye from Kanchanaburi, hello Koh Samui! Until then, take care and muchos love to all G & V x x x
P.S, is crap at getting pictures on at the hotel...pictures to follow!!!!
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sue
non-member comment
tiger temple
hi guy well it all sounds amazing.what a fantastic experience it must of been with the tigers i would of loved that.i avnt read all your blogs yet im doing that now.louis cant wait to get out there hope you meet up.take care and its great reading your journal xxxx