A Tail of Tigers
Trip Start
Jul 09, 2008
1
4
12
Trip End
Aug 19, 2008
Kanchanaburi,
Thailand
Sunday, July 13, 2008
At promptly 8 am, we experienced something that we had so far only read about. We heard some music playing in the bus station and wondered what it was for, until we heard a guard blow a whistle. Then, everybody in the station stood up with their hands by their sides for the national anthem. Luckily, our guidebooks had warned us of this phenom, so we were prepared and totes lowered our Americans by standing with all the Thais. They are really into the anthem here, and the king. They love him. He has been ruling for 70 years or something - one of the longest ruling figures in the world. He is on billboards EVERYWHERE, the money, and even is pictured above the highway bridges. You're not allowed to step on or rip money, because that would be defacing his image. We heard about one farang who thought it was a joke and stomped on some bills and ended up in jail! So, we are making our best efforts to be respectful of the dude. In a side note, you wouldn't think that we would randomly see somebody we knew in such a big city, but we definitely recognized a girl at the station.. from the "club!" That was pretty crazy. After that weird encounter, we loaded onto a bus for the two hour ride to Kanchanaburi. Along the way we noticed that, like Peruvians, Thais like to play the "how many people can we fit onto a motorbike?" game. We think we found the winner - or at least someone who could compete on a serious level internationally - with a bike ridden by two parents and two children. Unbelievable. As we drove out of the city, we noticed that Bangkok didn't really seem to end; we expected to enter the countryside at some point, but the inner ring suburbs just seemed to stretch on and on.
After arriving in Kanchaburi early (this shows promise for Thais buses), we were convinced to take a taxi to our hostel. When we walked out to the parking lot, we discovered that this "taxi" was actually a bike with a seat attached to the back of it. Somehow he hung our packs on the back and we managed to climb in. Mind you that this type of taxi may fit two Thai people, but it was not meant for two Americans. We both feared for our lives the entire time but finally got to our hostel, the Jolly Frog Backpacker's, which is kind of like a backpacker's haven. It's a beautiful place right on the River Kwai with a large courtyard, huge book exchange, and a delicious and cheap restaurant. We couldn't understand why the rooms on the water were cheaper, and wasted no time in booking one straight away. After being handed the key and finding our room, we discovered the reason for the lower price. They were literally on the water. As in they were on a raft. We thought it was going to be okay, until we started to put our stuff in and the smallest of motorboats went by. Our whole room (raft?) shook! So, it's going to be an interesting night, but thankfully, we are only paying $4 (total!) for it.
We grabbed some lunch at the hostel's restaurant, which is soo good. Susan ate pineapple and pork fried rice that came in a carved out pineapple! And Nick had a spicy pork and rice dish that had him sweating for a good hour. We then sat out in the courtyard and relaxed for a bit, since Nick was sure that these were his last moments on earth. He was positive that we were going to get eaten by tigers and thus has been calling everything "the last thing he's going to do." Then, it was time, and the air-conditioned bus that we had been promised finally showed up. What we didn't realize is that it would be "naturally" air-conditioned, meaning that we were riding on the back of a pickup truck. With eight other farangs. For 40 minutes. During what we thought were the last moments of our life. Oh well, Susan was totes pumped and deifnitely thought it would all be worth it. It was during this ride that we discovered a specific pose that can really up your Americans. It is the "lean back" pose where you place your elbows on the ledge behind you, or in this case, the rim of the truck bed. We both noticed that we were the only ones doing it (in a truck full of Europeans), and decided that it was definitely super American. It basically means that we deserve to take up more space than everyone else and that we are infinitely cooler and care less about everything than you. After striking that pose for 40 minutes, we arrived at the Tiger Temple.
Surprisingly, the Tiger Temple did not only house tigers, but a variety of other animals, as well. As we walked toward the "Tiger Canyon," we saw some huge goats, water buffalo, and warthogs. We then waited in line to pet the tigers and take pictures. Susan went first and they led her to the biggest tiger first. As she kneeled down to pet it, it snapped its head around (apparently awoken from its nap) and the worker yelled at her to get back. She started stepping back, but wearing a skirt and being bent down, she tripped and fell backwards - in front of, oh, 30 people? Mortifying. And terrifying, but luckily the tiger went back to sleep and they only brought her to smaller tigers after that. When Nick went, he really upped his American quotient by throwing gang signs while taking pictures with the tigers. A man dressed in all black got to skip the line and take the "special photos" that we were too cheap to buy with the tiger's head lying in his lap. He was also escorted by a security detail. Apparently, power in Thailand is conferred according to the size of your eyebrows, because we discovered that this guy was some big Thai politician... and his eyebrows were the bushiest things we have ever seen. At the temple, the tigers have been raised by the monks since birth, or since they were babies and were rescued from the wild after being orphaned. They are therefore really tame, but you are only allowed to pet them after they eat, because it is when they are the most lethargic. They felt amazing, and it was really cool to be able to so close to them.. they are enormous, especially their paws!
Then we got to pet a cub, which was probably our favorite part. Near closing time, they walk the tigers back to their cages, and we got to walk with them and the monk. Then the staff throws out some feed and turnips and all of the animals in the entire compound come running out for feeding time. It is a stampede - and we had to be careful not to get run over by water buffalo, cows, Asian deer, and warthogs all eager for their dinner. We fell asleep on the way home, which is not that easy to do in the back of a truck, so it was nap time in the hammocks when we got back to Jolly Frog. Then we headed up for dinner, during which an Englsh movie was playing. They play two American movies here every night chosen by the guests, which is awesome, but we were sorely disappointed to discover that the choices were Tomb Raider and Bridget Jones. Seriously? Susan was nevertheless enthralled with Tomb Raider, because she figured it was the last American English-speaking movie she would see for a while. Since Nick hasn't traveled for this long before, he scoffed at the undivided attention Susan paid to this awful movie (that she had already seen in Spanish while on a Peruvian bus), but he doesn't know that, in a few weeks, he would cut off his right arm to listen to every word of the crappy ENGLISH dialogue. So, tonight, we're just going to take it easy before heading back to Bangkok in the afternoon tomorrow to catch a night train up to Chiang Mai.
