The eye(s) of the tiger!
Door: Caroline
30 Januari 2010 | Thailand, Kanchanaburi
NOTE: We'll place both english and dutch blogs on this site from now, you will get a seperate mails for both.
Let op: Vanaf nu plaatsen we zowel de nederlandse als de engelse blogs op deze plek. Let dus even op de titel van de mails en denk niet: o, die heb ik al!
'Sawadee ka' from our (second) veranda in Kanchanaburi. A wide view over the river, a beautiful sunset... We may just have moved up the road, the river may be the same river as before, it still feels like we are in a different village. We left Sam's House for Pong Phen Guest House, which had the added extra of a pool. Friday was about 'moving house' and relaxing and we succeeded in doing both. The pool is only small of course, but good for a dip. Doing laps – my new-found hobby at home – is not really an option, you have to turn so often it would make you dizzy. The room is light, airy and spacious. The bathroom huge. The air-co is a lot less noisy.
Lying on our sunbeds we were contemplating what to do Saturday. Either a train trip up to Nam Tok, along Death Railway, or a visit to Tiger Temple. The latter being somewhat controversial as it is said that the tigers would be drugged in order for us tourists to have our picture taking with them. That said, we ran into a couple of South-Africa who had visited and who had the same mixed feelings about going there, but enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the evening exercise of the tigers (an extra 500 baht and only about 15 people). Making choices is the hard part of traveling independently I guess.
In the end, the tigers won and after having picked a bright pink scooter for the journey (see picture at dutch blog), we set off for a 38 km ride to the savage beasts. The ride was far less attractive unfortunately then the bike-ride to My Son in Vietnam last year. No quaint little roads lined with rice fields or water-buffalo's lazily having a dip. Only highway and only about one turn to make. After about an hour we arrived at the temple. Derelict! Not at all what one would expect from such a big tourist attraction with such a high entrance fee for Thai standards... but then that is exactly what the Lonely Planet tells you about it, if not in so many words.
Once in we could not resist doing the 'whole program'. After all, just having your picture taken with a very tired (or drugged) tiger wasn't really worth the trip. So we were easily persuaded to part with even more cash for a few special extra's: feeding cubs and the afternoon exercise session for the big cats. However controversial and however two-sided the tourist trap may be, it was an awesome experience to play with the tiny tigers and to watch the big ones play with eachother at their afternoon outing off the leash. With us standing a few feet away behind a fence only chest-high that would have fallen over had one of the tigers sneezed...
Now sitting comfortably with a drink and free WiFi enjoying our last night in Kanchanaburi. Sunday we'll laze about until two and then make our way to the Bangkok station for the night-train to Chang Mai.
Let op: Vanaf nu plaatsen we zowel de nederlandse als de engelse blogs op deze plek. Let dus even op de titel van de mails en denk niet: o, die heb ik al!
'Sawadee ka' from our (second) veranda in Kanchanaburi. A wide view over the river, a beautiful sunset... We may just have moved up the road, the river may be the same river as before, it still feels like we are in a different village. We left Sam's House for Pong Phen Guest House, which had the added extra of a pool. Friday was about 'moving house' and relaxing and we succeeded in doing both. The pool is only small of course, but good for a dip. Doing laps – my new-found hobby at home – is not really an option, you have to turn so often it would make you dizzy. The room is light, airy and spacious. The bathroom huge. The air-co is a lot less noisy.
Lying on our sunbeds we were contemplating what to do Saturday. Either a train trip up to Nam Tok, along Death Railway, or a visit to Tiger Temple. The latter being somewhat controversial as it is said that the tigers would be drugged in order for us tourists to have our picture taking with them. That said, we ran into a couple of South-Africa who had visited and who had the same mixed feelings about going there, but enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the evening exercise of the tigers (an extra 500 baht and only about 15 people). Making choices is the hard part of traveling independently I guess.
In the end, the tigers won and after having picked a bright pink scooter for the journey (see picture at dutch blog), we set off for a 38 km ride to the savage beasts. The ride was far less attractive unfortunately then the bike-ride to My Son in Vietnam last year. No quaint little roads lined with rice fields or water-buffalo's lazily having a dip. Only highway and only about one turn to make. After about an hour we arrived at the temple. Derelict! Not at all what one would expect from such a big tourist attraction with such a high entrance fee for Thai standards... but then that is exactly what the Lonely Planet tells you about it, if not in so many words.
Once in we could not resist doing the 'whole program'. After all, just having your picture taken with a very tired (or drugged) tiger wasn't really worth the trip. So we were easily persuaded to part with even more cash for a few special extra's: feeding cubs and the afternoon exercise session for the big cats. However controversial and however two-sided the tourist trap may be, it was an awesome experience to play with the tiny tigers and to watch the big ones play with eachother at their afternoon outing off the leash. With us standing a few feet away behind a fence only chest-high that would have fallen over had one of the tigers sneezed...
Now sitting comfortably with a drink and free WiFi enjoying our last night in Kanchanaburi. Sunday we'll laze about until two and then make our way to the Bangkok station for the night-train to Chang Mai.
-
30 Januari 2010 - 16:01
Inge:
Staat je goed die roze scooter ;-)
En, hoe gaan jullie nu naar Bangkok ? Wederom luxe met de taxi of ... -
30 Januari 2010 - 16:30
Ba:
Lekker temperatuurtje zeg!
Het is hier nu 2 graden....dat geeft toch een extra dimensie aan het vakantiegevoel :D
Is zo'n scootertje niks voor in Haarlem? Kan je die niet in je rugzak meenemen naast dat tijgerwelpje? -
31 Januari 2010 - 20:24
Ans:
wat een mooi plaatje van jou met de babytijger zo lief en peter met die grote tijger zo stoer.wel verstandig om er achter te blijven zitten. je weet maar nooit hè? -
02 Februari 2010 - 16:34
Shon:
that is a big wobbly have a wicked time -
05 Februari 2010 - 19:27
Netty:
Het is dat ik je ken, anders zou ik toch denken dat daar een biologe zit en het leven van een jong en wild tijgerwelpje aan het redden is... Heel veel plezier samen! x
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