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Lisa and Simon`s Around the World Tour
As we stepped over the border into Thailand, it was like being in a different world. The first thing we came across was an air conditioned convenience store. It was luxury to go into a proper shop instead of a stall in the street or in someones front room to buy water. Next to this was a starbucks equivalent. I was so pleased to get back to what, after 2 months in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, I now regarded as luxuries.
The bus that picked us up at the border was a ..... yep you guessed it, air conditioned minibus. It was made even better that we were now on smooth surfaced dual carriageways all the way to Bangkok. Civilisation!
Since we left Bangkok a couple of months previously, we have survived on a diet of rice and noodles. We did try a pizza once in Dalat but they didn't have a clue how to make it and had cooked it in a wok! It was disgusting so we stuck to fried noodles or rice. Our craving had reached an all time high by the time we reached Bangkok, so we hot footed it to Burger King. Oh, how good it was!!!
We stayed in Bangkok for 24 hours and headed off the next day to Kanchanaburi, 2 hours drive West of Bangkok. This place is famous primarily as it is the location of the bridge over the river Kwai. There a several museums, visitor centres and memorials of those allied POW's who perished whilst building the railway under the control of the Japanese army during WW2.
We checked out Kanchanaburis attractions, but our main reason for coming to this area was for the Tigers. We had heard about a jungle monastary where the monks had a collection of these and other animals and we had to check it out. The place is about 30 miles west of Kanchanaburi close to the Thai / Burmese border. It turns out that the monastary has for some time been a refuge for abandoned animals, and when you enter the grounds there are deer, ostrich, peacocks, pigs etc etc roaming around. They began keeping tigers when one came to them as a cub rescued from the taxidermist a few years ago. Now they have eleven of them, 4 of which are cubs.
We were able to enter the enclosure (a quarry with a bit of rope at one end) during their afternoon playtime. We watched them nervously for a while, before being invited by the monks to sit with the tigers. It seemed like absolute madness. Simon was a bit nervous, as the pictures show. Surprisingly I was more relaxed, and when one of the cubs rolled over for me, obviosly wanting his belly tickled, I was only too happy to oblige! It was a wonderful experience, one that I will treasure forever.
Our other experience with big game in this part of the world came when we visited an elephant sanctuary. We had come not to ride them (extremely uncomfortable) but to wash them at the end of the day. We climbed aboard with the mahoot (elephant guide) who led the giant out into the river. Then, armed with a big scrubbing brush, we got to bath elephants!! It was incredible! We would soap them up, scrub them and then they would, at the mahoots command, dunk down into the river to rinse before reemerging sparkling. Magical!
Still unable to believe what we had done, we were led to an area where a couple of babies were being treated for upset tummies. Both were adorable and, despite their condition wanted to eat and play, one even pinching my flip flop!
After our time getting close to the animals, we jumped on a bus and retuned to Bangkok.
Lisa
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