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Published: August 16th 2008
We were picked up bright and early from our hostel and we walked to Khao San Road to meet our tour guide and driver for the day. We got into the back of a minibus with a few other travellers. A few of which were already talking about their experiences with tigers and the tiger temple-perhaps they have been before? Being our first excursion we were really quite excited but also a little apprehensive as we had been promised alot for what we were paying!
Our first stop came a few hours later, in the Kanchanaburi Province, where we saw the floating markets. Imagine your local weekend market selling items unique to your area. Then instead of walking through the market, put yourself in a long open canoe with 6 other people sat one behind the other and place the market stalls on the banks of a narrow river/canal. Then add in another element, London style congestion with narrow boats! Now throw in people shouting broken English in your direction and the searing heat and you have a picture in your head similar to what we were experiencing! An experience it was! We did buy a few small items, like
a strawberry scented fan for about 2 pence and I had a cococut milk drink, drank straight from a coconut, but a real coconut much larger than any I had ever seen! We were also given a quick rocket boat (think long and narrow speed boat) tour of the floating villiage which was an added benefit we were not expecting.
Our second stop of the day was the Bridge over the River Kwai. This area, the start of the infamous World War Two Death Railway, was quite a spectacle and well worth the stop. You are able to walk right across the bridge, some 20 ft above the water with no guard rail and the odd missing plank. Not for the faint hearted and slightly more of an effort for Rachael then first expected. Still we have the photos to prove we did make it all the way across! We were even lucky enough to watch the train slowly edge its way across the rickety bridge! We also chose to visit the local museum and learn a little about the hardship and tragedy experienced in this area.
The final stop of the day was Tiger Temple which was
for both of us a mixture of emotions. In some ways we had saved the best until last, if you are qualifying the best as most exciting and exhilarating! On the other hand if you are classing the best as most heart warming and pleasing to the eye then I am afraid we are at the lower end of the scale. Tiger Temple allows you to come up close and personal with some suspiciously docile Tigers. Great for photos but if you actually look at the scenario; A queue of people waiting to sit next to some possibly drugged tigers chained to the floor in the searing heat; perhaps the photos are not really worth the cruelty. You are frequently assured that the tigers enjoy what they are doing and are just extremely well trained-possibly truthful as some of the tigers were in fact very angry and could not have been drugged. On the other hand was this just a show to take away from the fact that the other tigers were in fact just being used as a tourist attraction? Who knows, we like many took our photos and moved on. We were also able to play around with
some smaller, less well trained and slightly happier tiger cubs. The cute little guys were really playful and loved to be tickled, just like your typical domestic dog or cat. The odd person got bitten, but I wasn't!
The journey home featured lots of photo sharing and the group was much more social. Our first excursion was a success and we did get everything we were promised. I guess in this case we just were fortunate enough to get a good price, first time for everything!
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Steph & Keith
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We've just looked at your photo's and could not be more jealous! Can't wait for the next installment. Love to you both. Xx