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Published: August 25th 2011
Day one of our 3-day trip to the countryside surrounding Bangkok commenced with us ending up on a morning tour with a large group solely made up of Israelis. I wondered if, as a nation, they are particularly keen on visiting floating markets but they appeared largely disinterested. We had fun. As we serenely progressed down each canal we were witness to a mishmash of amazing fresh fruit, counterfeit handbags and tourist trinkets. Each stall holder was equipped with long, hooked poles with which they would snag a passing boat and drag it to their shop- like funfair hook-the-duck, only on a bigger scale. Then would follow a bizarre conversation where he listed everything that he sold whereupon we said “no” after each. Slightly weird since we hadn’t actually entered the shop under our own volition. Karen’s target for the day were new sandals but sadly her search proved shoeless, although not fruitless as the obligatory coconut was purchased. The young Israeli couple behind us had the most ferocious haggle I had ever witnessed, before leaving without the £4 bejewelled hairclip. Although not wishing to promote stereotyping, as a Scotsman I took careful notes from the Jewish chap on the wonders
of frugality. The next part of the tour gave us something for nothing so was welcomed all round- some samples of the palm sugar. This demonstration showed of how coconut palm sap is collected and processed and was even more popular with the local wasp population than the tourists. Karen got a bit icky when a few of them committed harikari in the bubbling vat of sugar. It turns out that the end product looks and tastes just like Scottish Tablet (that’s fudge to those on the wrong side of the border)!!!
After a quick bite of lunch we traded our Israeli friends for a motley crew of young Essex kids and Aussie dudes who eagerly traded stories on who had shot the most guns, seen the most sites and jumped from the highest aeroplanes. Our destination was “The Tiger Temple”. Now, Karen has never hidden her love for big cats or her disapproval for zoos and keeping animals under lock and key. She had read before that there were around 90 (largely orphaned) tigers who lived with Buddhist monks, mostly raised from small cubs but that the temple had not gained the support of the international wildlife community and
did not participate in any breeding programmes. The jury was out. Well, that was for about 2 minutes until we saw the first monk walking his tiger down the street. I can now picture Karen as a 5-year old on Christmas morning. Every corner we turned there was another tiger that needed to be stroked and systematically photographed. A “you can’t have a bike” moment ensued when we were informed that all the tickets for the feeding of the cubs were sold out but were soon quashed when the gleaming dolls house of an opportunity arose to feed, bathe and exercise the 14 month old tigers. The mettle was grasped for a mere 1000 baht (£25) and in no time Karen was knee deep in tiger poop as they frolicked around her. My role as video cameraman was crucial, thankfully just for our records and not for “…and finally” story with Trevor McDonald on the News at Ten. We now have a cache of tiger photos large enough to rival National Geographic magazine. The excitement seems to have banished the animal welfare issues for now. They all certainly appeared healthy and contented but they did seem a bit benign, which
seems to remove a degree of the aura around them. The bigger ones were chained which gave us a strange mix of comfort and discomfort.
We are now housed in a Spartan little shack on sticks right on the beautiful River Kwai with no other tourists for miles. No TV. No internet. No pub. Half a mile walk ended in the purchase of a couple of emergency chocolate bars that were more wafer than chocolate. A nice wee Thai lady with two wee girls and a mongrel cooks our dinner whilst we watch BBC world news. Apparently that Gaddafi chap is getting a tough time just now. We feel like we are on the edge of the world and everything normal feels distant.
Day two was a trip to a the local town of Kanchanaburi, where the Japanese set up a prisoner of war camp during WWII. These became known as death camps as the levels of mortality were so high due to poor conditions, lack of medicines, prisoners being overworked and disease. Apparently 40 men died for every 1km of the 415km track that was laid. We went round a very informative and moving museum and then walked
Tiger Temple
Playing catch the stick!the “bridge over the River Kwai” and took the train along the infamous track. All a little sombre but fascinating. On a completely different subject, we randomly found a baby tiger in the street with some dude who was posing for photographs. We were quietly disapproving of the blatant breach of animal rights but took as many sly free photos as was humanly possible and moved on to look for more dresses from the market stalls. Unfortunately there were only 150 colours and patterns of the expensive £3 frock Karen wanted and, after several try-ons and a bollocking in my direction for not showing suitable enthusiasm, we left empty handed. Fortunately after we got off the train 75 minutes down the track there were more markets stalls with even more versions of the dress. This time I showed appropriate willing and we (she) tried on some more frocks before deciding it was all too much to bear and abandoning the plan. I clearly have a lot to learn in the art of haute couture purchasing.
After lunch it was time to ride on elephants. We, of course, are seasoned elephant riders (or mahuts as we call them in the trade)
Tiger Temple
Bath time... after our travels in India. This much more fun than before, as we had clearly been upgraded from our mundane, run-of-mill Indian elephant to a 4X4 one which took us into the river and up and down hills! Awesome fun for about 20 minutes followed by a chance to ride the elephants in the river where they sprayed us with water and reared up so that we fell off. After one less-than-elegant river dismount I found myself trapped between 3 large elephants in deep water and a strong current. I was about to make for the shore when my path was blocked by a considerable mass of pachyderm faecal matter, leaving me the decision of risking being swept away to my death or immersing myself a very organic body scrub. Despite urges from the mahuts, I worked hard to hold my position and allowed the fragrant suspension to pass harmlessly downstream. I am sure there is a joke in there about being up shit creek. A paddle may have helped. Oblivious to my predicament, Karen was like 5-year old whose birthday is on Boxing Day. “Don’t make me choose whether the tigers or the elephants were the best” was her
only summary.
The morning of day three took us to the most fantastic series of waterfalls imaginable, the Erawan falls. There were seven levels of large falls with beautiful crystal clear pools, perfect for swimming after a sweaty climb up the limestone hill, through the humid jungle. Many smaller falls were visible in between each level. It was lovely to get a bit of exercise and see a bit of the countryside. Despite having several massages/foot rubs since coming to Thailand, Karen was less enthusiastic about the free fish-nibbling-skin-scouring which occurred in the pools if you sat still for more than 20 seconds. After much shrieking and yelping she retired to the safety of the river edge and photographed me. Photographic evidence suggests that I could have supplied enough food for several years of fish nibbling so I think I should perhaps cut back on the pad thai noodles. The photo of me in the waterfall casts my mind back to George Michael in an early Wham video however I suspect that I may be alone with this thought. It was a beautiful morning but cut short as we needed to be herded to a safari park. We wondered
Hut in 'the sticks'
Our view and a good friend of ours called 'Chang'... whether we should request that we remain at the falls all day but decided to stick with the programme. With retrospect, we should have stayed there as the safari park turned out to be more than a little distasteful to our British palates. We were “treated” to a crocodile show which comprised of several 8 foot crocs being manhandled before various members of the crowd were invited to put money in their mouths or even “surf” on their backs. The latter moments were complete with the Hawaii 5-0 theme tune blasted over the PA system. We seemed the only ones in the crowd who felt that this was not really appropriate. The Israelis reappeared on mass and were hugely enthused by this and subsequent shows.
The elephants were next to be demeaned and stripped of their dignity. After much bowing, rearing onto 2 legs and curtseying, the elephants were lined up for more paid photographs with eager Israeli tourists to be held in their trunks. I think the eagerness of the crowd to exploit the situation for their own benefit without any thought of the animals was what was so distasteful. Karen left in tears whilst I left a little
disgusted shortly after. Just outside of the elephant arena was a huge adult tiger tethered a large table by a chain so short that it couldn’t even stand up straight, far less turn around. On another table, less than 10 yards away, were 3 baby leopards of varying ages, again on short chains. All of these photo-opportunities clearly make the park a lot of money but we would prefer to see the animals in the large enclosures that they clearly had. The Israelis clearly didn’t share any of our animal welfare concerns as each opportunity was grasped with gusto. I suppose British views have only changed within the past generation since circuses were shunned so we shouldn’t expect others to share our views. It also made us question our tiger and elephant interactions over the previous few days. Karen has plans to inform trip advisor.com of the safari park whilst I am thinking of putting Ailsa on a table in Pittencrieff Park to see if there is a market for German Shepherd photos.
Back to Bangkok now and probably heading for a few days in Cambodia soon!
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Michelle
non-member comment
:) :(
Love this update too and the photo's but like Karen I think I may have been upset with certain scenarios. xx