[Kanchanaburi, Thailand] Up early for our train ride to Kanchanaburi. First up, getting ripped off by the local taxis! All of them refusing to turn the meter on for a trip to the nearby train station and instead demanding a flat fee of 200 Baht for what should, in our estimate, have been a 50 Baht trip.

We arrived at the train station, our wallets somewhat lighter, and hung around people watching while we waited for our train. There were maybe 4 other honkies catching the train this morning. We suspect that most people take the much easier and faster option (and cheaper since it cuts out the cheeky taxi driver) of a minibus that picks you from your hotel. We like to be different sometimes.

We arrived in Kanchanaburi and can now say we have been on the Eastern Orient Express. Even it was for all of 5 seconds as we clambered through it to get from our train to the platform. It did look very larny though. The dining car was elegantly set with cup crystal glasses and shiny silverware.

After walking a looong roundabout way to the backpacker area we eventually settled on a room at the Tamarind guesthouse. It had quite a lovely view of the river and we were glad we had found it. Usually we are lazy and settle for the first place we look at but this time we looked at at least 3 other guest houses.

We immediately organized transport to our main reason for coming to Kanchanaburi, to touch the tigers at the controversial Tiger Temple. Apparently it started out with a few tigers that had been rescued from poachers being given to the local monastery. It has since grown to 75 tigers, a leopard, goats, horses, buffalo, wild pigs, deer and whatever else seems to come the monks way. There have been accusations of the tigers being drugged and mishandled, and not properly cared for. It’s hard to say though, it’s definitely a bit of a zoo/circus, but the reports about them being cooped up in tiny cages was definitely wrong.

We arrived at the ‘tiger canyon’ to find about a dozen tigers all chained up. Some on some rocks, but all in the shade and all but one fast asleep. After a brief intro on how it all works we paid a thousand Baht extra to have a photo with the both of us together and me holding one of tigers heads in my lap. This is an extra on top of the individual photos you get of you on your own with the tigers which is included in the entrance fee. All the tigers had one handler looking after them and we were led by the hands by one of the many many staff to our first tiger. The Tigers head was plopped directly in my lap and he barely moved he was so fast asleep (I can understand why there are rumors of drugging). Our guide then snapped photos of us with the huge beast before leading me on to another tiger to get a shot of me on my own. We were then led by hand back to the start to drop Sim off so that I could be led around to get my picture taken with about a half dozen different tigers before they did the same with Sim.

It was all a little bit surreal. They whip you round pretty fast so I was a little bit disoriented and like a complete gonk, I landed up not looking at the camera for most of the pictures. Sim did much better than me managing even to catch one tiger by his tail.

It was a unique experience. The tigers were all sleepy and docile but this is what they have all grown up with since they were cubs so they are used to the handling, and it’s only for a few hours in the afternoon that they do this for. These tigers would not survive in the wild so they are better off in captivity having grown up in it. They are no worse off here than if they were in a well run zoo.’There are quite a few western volunteers there and I would have thought that if the bad rumors were true, the place would have been shut down by now.

We wandered off after our pics and got a couple of up close snaps with some young tigers. Then wandered around the rest of the ramshackle temple grounds before heading back to the canyon to watch the big tigers for a while. We are glad we did as at closing up time, the handlers were taking some of the tigers back to their enclosure and we got another photo opportunity with them.

BTW the foto with me standing next to a tiger with Sim looking down at something? He was looking at a big steaming stream of tiger pee as the big male marked his territory on the way back. It just missed our feet! Apparently getting sprayed with tiger pee is good luck in Thailand. So I guess we have got ‘almost’ good luck then.

[Pictures from the gallery: Mom can we keep him ? I really hope he doesn’t turn around and take offence]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi