A couple of days soon becomes a couple of months!
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2008
1
20
41
Trip End
Aug 2009
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Friday, December 5, 2008
We leave two months later as locals.
When we arrive we book into our hotel, a lovely place run by a British couple. We follow the advice of our friends from the bus and on our first day visit a place called Tiger Kingdom, about 18 kms north, in the town of Mae Rim. Here we get to play with tigers, from newborns to year olds. The place is quite new, only open since March. While falling in love with the tigers Suzi is already trying to blag us jobs there. We leave several hours later with a phone number and a promise that Tong, our new friend will speak to his boss about us working there.
While not really expecting anything to come from it we continue our day trip.
We visit the temple at Doi Suthep, a fantastic chedi with views across the city from its mountain vantage point
A table full of tigers.
. We then travel the short distance to the Royal Palace, the winter residence of the Royal family. The flower gardens are the main draw here, the palace buildings being quite restrained and ordinary. We then visit a Hmong mountain village, or rather a busy market stall masquarading as a traditional way of life. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back!We then head to one of the many Whats that are scattered around the city. Chaing Mai is second only to Bangkok for the number of monk-houses! Here we spend a surreal 90 minutes in a Monk Chat. The monk talks to us about the pillars of Buddhism, their beliefs and their way of life. He also destroys our preconceptions of the orange-robed men. He says that he loves it when the Americans give him KFC at alms, shows us his Cannon SLR camera, does a magic routine and then ends up arguing with Dave saying that it is okay to steal!! This coming from a monk! We thought they were veggie, peace loving, non-materialistic men of a greater purpose. But the more we see the more we learn. Even the local tabloids are filled with stories of monk infidelities, fights and even paedophilia! I kid you not ( no pun intended ).The Catholic church begins to look tame by comparison.
If you want to you can speak with them yourself, you can reach them on - monkchat@hotmail.com.
That night we call Tong about our possible jobs
Dave and the newborns.
. He says yes, we can start tomorrow. The next day we go to Tiger Kingdom, this time as staff.
We initially say that we'll work for two weeks. The staff all make us feel most welcome, we go for dinner with them and soon become like one of the family. They are all related to each other or live with each other.
Two weeks pass quickly, the day before we are due to leave, and after they have thrown us a Leaving Party, we change our minds and decide to stay longer. Suzi can't be pulled away from the tigers. A few phone calls to Quantas and we are staying for another six weeks.
We have since moved from the first hotel to a cheaper guesthouse in Chaing Mai, the Bow Chaing Mai. Very clean and quiet.
You won't be suprised to know that Dave then gets sick again, luckily you can buy the antibiotics in Boots!
We spend Christmas Day with the tigers and then have our Christmas dinner at Pizza Hut! No turkey and sprouts for us!
We see in the New Year at a karaoke house party with the people from Tiger Kingdom. We are even forced to sing!
Dave and the tigers.
On New Years day we move. We rent an appartment, well a room with a shower, in Mae Rim. It costs us the princely sum of 50 pounds a month. We then spend everyday working at Tiger Kingdom, talking to tourists and playing with tigers. Evenings are spent eating cheaply, you can eat a noodle meal for less than a pound for two people.
The tigers are fantastic, the longer you spend with them the more they recognise you and the more they respond to you. Soon we both have favourites. And the scars to go with them.
Towards the end of January we are working, sorry volunteering, at Tiger Kingdom when Dave recognises one of the visitors. It's only one of his mates from work, who is now living in Mae Rim. Just proves what a small world it is.
Before we go we decide to visit the local shooting range, Suzi has visions of being the next Jack(ie) Bauer! We blat off a load of 9mm rounds, Suzi using the Glock 17, the policemans weapon of choice. Her shooting is dangerously good, Dave had better watch out!
We then leave Chaing Mai with heavy hearts and fly to Bangkok.
We promise to return to the tigers.
