I realized that I forgot to tell you about our day of tiger adventures and garden visiting. To put it in context it was 6 days after my injury and the day before I got my new teeth. I'm not sure how this eventful day got forgotten in my last post. Anyway, this particular weekend I was feeling a little down because I was still recovering and was missing home a little. I was told however that this day would cheer me up. We departed Spicy early-ish. Ok, it was like 9 but that was early for our crew. We departed for Tiger Kingdom which was about 45 minutes from the hostel. Upon arriving we had to decide what tigers we wanted to go in with ---- wait...go in with?!?! The little ones looked harmless enough but I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the big ones or even the "medium" ones. It was decided we would go in with the small and medium tigers. The entire walk to the area where the small tigers were was soundtracked by the ooohing and aaahing of a few students who I figured would attempt to take the tigers out with them. There were 4 small (2 year old) tigers that we got to go in with. They were all siblings and behaved just as you would expect 2 year old siblings to behave. They ran around us to explore and played with each other. There were a lot of very cute moments. I have to say the small ones seemed more like playful house cats. I kept having to remind myself that they were tigers. The staff in with us simply had to tap them on the nose and use voice commands to get them to move or stop playing so hard with each other. After prying everyone out of the small tiger area it was time to go see the medium tigers. In coming up on the area I quickly decided that "medium" is not an accurate word to describe the size of these tigers. They appeared large to me. After receiving a few warnings and reminders, in we went. Now, for me and my previous zoo experience, going into a holding area with 2 "medium" tigers was absurd. They are NO TOUCH animals but we were just going to go in with them. Hmmmmmmm....ok! We made are way to the side of the exhibit where the tigers were and most waited back a little. One student (I wonder who!!) marched right up to cuddle with the tiger. However, in maneuvering around the large animal she managed to step on the tail. While Jane and my hearts started beating again, the students got comfortable with our new friends. We got a lot of pictures with the tigers and started to actually feel fairly comfortable with them. Below are some pictures with our friends. I still had a lot of the stitches in my mouth and chipped front teeth (hence the weird smiles).
After leaving Tiger Kingdom we headed to the orchid and butterfly garden. We roamed around and looked at all the beautiful orchids and went into the butterfly garden to watch them fly around. After that it was off to the caves. When we arrived, I decided not to hike around in the caves because I was still nursing my lip and teeth and didn't want to further injure myself in a dark, damp cave. I went in though and explored the opening to the cave. What I found very interesting were all the statues every little crevice and outcrop. Everywhere you looked there was some small (or large) shrine or statue or sculpture. After leaving the group and exiting the cave, I made my way around the grounds outside the cave. There was a crystal clear pond of waterfall water surrounding the cave entrance that looked almost like a mote. I was tempted to find the waterfall that fed but again was trying to be careful with my face. Therefore, I continued to roam and explored the numerous temples on the Chiang Dao cave grounds. There were so many and each one was intricate and unique. As I was walking around one near the front, I looked up and there were about 10 dogs just lounging on the temple. About that time, I also heard what sounded like a little thunder. I decided that it was time to seek cover. I found a covered hut with a small bench in it. This was the perfect spot to watch the storm and read some of my book. It rained, I read, and then eventually the group came out of the cave. In speaking to them I definitely made the right choice. At points during their exploration they had to crawl through small passages in the cave and climb up and down slippery rocks. Eeeek!
Eventually we made our way back to the house, had some dinner, and spent the rest of the evening chilling. I went to bed early to rest up for my trip to the hospital the next day.
Katie, watch out! You're touching a tiger!
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