Lions and Tigers and Leopards, Oh My!

Too adorable to resist kissing (Steve, too!)

I'm going to warn you now - this post is primarily going to be lots of photos of adorable cats (and some zebras, giraffes and elephants thrown in, too). In one day I added 1000 photos to my phone, plus about 500 on Steve's camera.  Don't worry, there won't be quite so many here.

Technically, yes, the bridge over the River Kwai

We have our guide Kiwi again, and we're picked up at 5:30am for the three hour drive to the animal park.  Our rest break for the morning is at the bridge on the River Kwai.  But it's not the actual bridge from the movie - remember, that was blown up at the end (for real).  It's not the WWII bridge the movie was semi-based on, because that was blown up by the Allies in 1944.  After the (mostly fictional) movie came out, Thailand built this bridge and renamed this section of the river Kwai, in order to give tourists a spot to visit when they came looking for the "Bridge on the River Kwai."  

Milk!  It does a body good.

We arrive at the animal park a little before it opens.  Our tour company has arranged for us to have time "behind the scenes" with lots of hands on activity with the animals, particularly the cats.  We start off meeting with some of the volunteers - a group of British students in their twenties, who assist at the zoo for a couple of months.  They give us the impression that the animals are well taken care of, so we don't have to be concerned about the animals' welfare.  One of the assistants has two of her fingers bandaged, but insists it's from cutting the meat for the cats, not from their teeth.  Sure....

Nice kitty

We start off taking Kariba, an adolescent lion (7 months old), for a walk. It's actually pretty similar to walking Tie-Dye, except we have the trainer and two assistants accompanying us.  I'm holding the "leash," though one of the assistants has a second one and is actually in control of the animal.  I'm still willing to bet the lion could turn and attack before he could pull him back, but luckily Kariba never puts him to the test.  You can tell I'm a little nervous about it - we're told to stay behind him the entire time.  They tell us we can pet him, but if you notice I'm on my toes (so I can move fast if necessary) and I'm as far back as my arm will reach.

"Yum...looks tasty!"

Next I walk Louie, an 8-month old tiger.  He's pretty feisty, and a couple of times decides to stalk our guide, Kiwi, who's holding my camera.  Luckily, he doesn't see Steve imitating him!  With the trainer and volunteer assistants, they keep Louie in line.  Since he doesn't eat anyone, he gets a bottle of milk, and you can see me feeding him above.  Just like with household cats, they love milk!  (And putting their paw on your arm.  I was told to keep my arm high and support his paw.  It weighs more than you might think.  They've also had their front claws removed.  One of the volunteers we talked with said he was against the procedure, but he recognizes why it has to be done since this is a touching zoo.  We always declawed our cats' front paws at our house, so I understand the rationale, too.)



Then it's play time!  We're allowed into one of the pens for a keep away game with Shakina, an 7-8 month old adolescent leopard, and Chanel, an 8-9 month old lioness.

"I am ferocious.  I am!  I really am!"

Fortunately, we're not the ones trying to "keep away" from the cats - I think they'd quickly win.  We're told to keep our back to the fence and not to flick the "broom" towards a person, since they jump at them (again, very similar to house cats).  There are several people inside the facility with us, but there are no leashes here!

On the prowl

Caught it!

"Chicken, my favorite!"

After playing, it's time to eat.  We're brought to another part of the zoo where the adult tigers are kept.  We're given cut up pieces of chicken that we place on the end of a stick, then carefully place through the fence so the tiger can bite it off (we hold the stick at an angle, so the tiger doesn't hurt his mouth on the end).  When you're right beside them, you can see how huge they really are.  The guide does warn us not to play keep away with the meat, and I understand why - I'm sure they can take down this fence without a problem.  

Um, this tiger is looking like people may be his favorite snack.

Double high five!  Hey, Steve, I wouldn't stare in his eyes like that...

More carrots!!  More!  More!

We can't forget the giraffes and zebras!  We're brought to their area and are given leafy branches to hand out.  They are pretty polite about it (maybe it's just the fact that it takes them a minute to strip all the twigs and leaves off the main branch) until the carrots are brought out.  Who knew?!  They LOVE carrots.  Then it's a free for all.  We try to make sure everything is evenly distributed but when Steve is a little slow handing them out they give him some kisses to speed him up.

One for you, and one for you...

Now we get to play with the babies!  First there's a 3-month old tiger cub.  We snuggle with him and give him milk and a rawhide bone.

Almost as cute as Tie-Dye!

He can even do tricks!  He rides Steve's back while he does a few pushups.

Just my typical workout...

Then there's the real babies - the 2-month old lion and tiger cubs.  Seriously - how cute are they?

I am irresistible. 

They are together in their pen, but for the ten minutes we're with them we don't really see them play with each other.  We're able to cuddle and pet them. 

The little tiger loves Steve!  The cub spends most of his time interacting with him.

"I can almost roar!"  (not yet, though)

"I am a vicious attack tiger and I will pull out your hair!" (not really)

Look at the size of those paws, even this young!

I hang out with the lion.









After we give them their bottles, they start to get sleepy.  The trainers tell us it's okay to use them as pillows.  It's a cute idea, but I actually keep the weight of my head off of him - I don't want to hurt him!

Nap time!

Our last experience is feeding the leopards.  We're told to go in and immediately sit down.  The door is only a few feet away and we have a trainer in the cage with us, but there are no leashes here!  The cats seem interested in the milk and rawhide bones, and they keep us well supplied so the leopards don't decide to see what our ears might taste like. 

This is what it looks like when I feed Tie-Dye.

They're happy to keep us cool as we ride.

Our day of animal adventures isn't finished yet!  Nearby is the Elephant Village.  After changing into swimsuits (and as Steve found out, you also want to put on long pants - even if your skin is not sensitive the elephant hide is rough) we take a short ride on them to the river.  We're able to bathe my elephant, and Steve's helps out.

Time for a rinse!

After a water war (they win) we take some fun photos with the elephants. 

Elephant kisses feel very weird!

Nice swing!

Super strength - Steve can hold up the elephant.
Those tiger pushups must have made him strong.

When we finish playing with the elephants in the water we feed them bananas and turnips.  They eat a cluster of bananas, whole - peels and all.  In case you're curious, the inside of an elephant's mouth feels slimy and gross. 

More, please!

Almost ready for the circus!

What a special day!  Our faces hurt from smiling so much!

Bangkok Tours

The gifts color coordinate with the monks' robes.

After a very light breakfast, we start off the day with a private tour through Bangkok Food Tours.  We're in the old part of town, called Bangrak.  Our guide describes herself as Chinese Thai, because historically her family came from China.  But her family has been in Thailand for many generations and consider themselves Thai.  It's surprising how long people hold on to their ancestral culture.  At this point I'd think they would just consider themselves Thai, period.  I get the impression that it's very regional here, like Italy.

Our guide is wonderful and overflowing with information - it's hard to remember it all.  I'm glad to have one of my questions answered - there are all these "gift basket" items at many of the stores along the street.  Turns out those are items you can purchase to give as offerings to the monks.  Since monks are not supposed to handle money, they only subsist on items that are given to them.  So this is similar to the donation we gave at the temple in Vietnam.

Mataba flat bread - one of the many dishes we tried!

On the tour we eat items from different regions of Thailand and other than the green curry, everything is new to us.  We start off in Chinatown and work our way around to different restaurants.  When Steve can't resist the woman with the roti (crepe) cart, our guide happily orders a banana crepe for us.  It's delicious, and one of our favorite items of the day.  The sweetened condescended milk topping (we saw it everywhere in Bangkok) gives it a special flavor.

I'm sure her hands are clean.

Steve enjoying his roti treat.

We stop at six different restaurants (plus the crepe) and try thirteen items (plus the crepe).  Our favorites are the mataba flat bread and meang kham (plus the crepe).  Meang kham translates to "one bite wrap," and I've noticed along the sidewalks in Bangkok little bags of all the ingredients for sale.  Our guide bought one full of herbs, greens, dried shrimp and other items.  You then take a leaf, and pile some of the filling into it, roll it up, and eat it!  It tastes so fresh and light - it makes a great snack. 

Meang kham bags - for less than $1!

Yum, yum!

Fried chicken with lemongrass - a northern Thai recipe.

Thai ice tea - I need a cold drink after walking in the heat!

As we walk around, I'm amused by the advertising sign right in front of Starbucks (which naturally has the prime corner real estate).  I want to go back and try one of the Ring Cafe coffees, but unfortunately we don't return to this area.

I'm also amazed by this guy, carrying a wide variety of items.  He looks like he does this all the time.  

All in a day's work!

In addition, we catch site of the hotel that hosts some pivotal scenes in the movie Hangover II.  We don't make it up to the Sky Bar, though the views are supposed to be incredible.

Sky Bar at Lebua State Tower

Our final location involves our choice of ice cream.  Of course, Steve's is eaten before I can get a picture in.

Check out those cool reflective vests! (and the back streets of Bangkok)

We have a couple of hours' break before our evening bike tour with Follow Me Bike Tours.  We don't book a private tour this time, but we end up being the only ones for the night.  It lasts for six hours, though we don't ride the entire time.  After sitting in all the traffic the previous day, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go out in it on a bike.  However, they do a great job planning out the route. We start off on back roads and go through little alleys. It's a great way to travel through the back streets of Bangkok.

Wat Yannawa - see the front of the boat?

We visit a few Buddhist temples along the way and I particularly like Wat Yannanwa.  It's very peaceful, the gardens are pretty, and it has a giant junk (boat) in the middle of the plants.  It doesn't look like the other temples we've seen!

Is that a ghost in the window?

This building is pretty prominent in downtown Bangkok, but even by the picture you can tell it's uninhabited (and it's the only one without a poster of the deceased king on it).  I ask all our guides about it, and they all tell a slightly different story.  The Sathron Unique Skyscraper was supposed to be a luxury apartment building, but the 1997 Asian financial crisis caused the project to be abandoned.  It's believed to be haunted, and all our guides tell varying stories of people being found dead inside.  It's known as the Ghost Tower, and locals stay away from it.  Apparently it's become popular with foreign "urban explorers" though, and supposedly the guards will accept a bribe if you want access inside.  But you've been warned...not everyone makes it back out.

After the temples, we take a break to watch the sun set across the river and behind a pagoda.  

pretty scene

Chicken soup - good, but not like Mom's!

Our next stop is in Chinatown, where we walk around for awhile and try various street foods.  I'm sure Tom, our guide, picked all the hygienic places!  Everything tastes great, though I don't know if I'll ever be able to find the same carts again.

We have an amusing moment with Tom - we're served one item and the vendor only has chopsticks. Tom looks at us and asks if we're okay with them. We just look at him for a couple of seconds, and I reply yes. Then he remembers we live in Japan. Chopsticks are not a problem for us!

Chowing down in Chinatown!

You can even get drive through service from the food carts!
I'm just glad it's not the driver texting on the phone.

Common sight in nighttime Chinatown -
tables of lottery tickets for sale.

Chinatown selfie, with the stylin' vest.
Maybe I'll start a trend!

Then we ride to the Flower Market, the biggest in the world. It's open 24 hours, but we're there during the "slow" period so there's less tourists and we don't get in the worker's way.  It's almost all marigolds because most of the flowers are for offerings, so there's little variety. They're still pretty to view and to appreciate some of the religious arrangements being made. 

Some of the floral arrangements

Bagging up the marigolds -
maybe the gold color will bring wealth!

Orchids in different colors

Roses ready to be given to your wife (hint, hint)!

Stupas (built to hold relics and ashes)

Continuing on our bike ride brings us to Wat Pho, another of the well known temples in Bangkok. It's completely empty, even though it's lit up beautifully at night.  During the day it's packed, like the Grand Palace.  Of course, the official massage school is here, and you can get massages during the day - that might contribute to the number of people at the temple.  It also hosts the reclining Buddha, another famous statue. (It's closed at night, but I have no fear that we'll run out of Buddhas to behold).

The stupas have a different appearance than many of the other temples we've observed in Bangkok.  There's no glass, but the mosaics are made of pottery and are three dimensional.  It's not as flashy as the other buildings, but 
                                                             has it's own pleasant design.

Can you tell the flowers are 3-D?

After sharing some of the history Tom teaches us how to take a lotus bud and fold the petals so we can make an offering.  Now I know why merchants are selling these buds at the temples!

Before

After.  Not bad for my first one!

There's some fun guard statues here, too.  This one looks like a cross between the Pirates of the Caribbean monster and a man from 18th century London (really - a top hat??)

Normally on the tour we would also stop at the Grand Palace to see it lit up at night.  However, in the evening it's only open to the mourners making their respects to the king.  We watch as hundreds of Thai people line up to go in tonight.

Delicious!

We stop to try some more street food. Our food guide (from the morning) recommended we try this if we came across it - it's like a little wafer, with a toasted marshmallow/custard on it, with yolk candy shredded on top (I think it's actually coconut dyed yellow, because the marshmallow is white, so it kind of looks like an egg). It's delicious - my favorite item for the night.

We pause for a quick look at Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), but it's still under construction so you only get a glimpse through the scaffolding.  Our final spot is the illuminated Wat Prayoon. 

Wat Prayoon

After another trip across the river (apparently it's ok to take the bikes on the water ferries) we finally finish up at 11:00 pm, and we're tired!  And if you thought I was going to finish the post with a story about food poisoning or weird bacteria, you're wrong.  Amazingly, this is the first foreign country we've visited on this side of the world where Steve did not get sick - even after all the street food!