Monkeys, & Elephants and TIGERS--- OH MY!

Kanchanaburi, Thailand was an amazing daytrip from Bangkok. Our trip to Thailand would not have been complete without visiting the incredible tigers and seeing a countryside setting of the country we have wanted to visit for so long.

So, before going on our big adventure, we debated what daytrip to take from Bangkok. My friend Meaghan's boyfriend, Devin, had told us about this amazing tiger sanctuary, where monks find hurt, abandoned baby tigers and nurse them to health.
Obviously Ian and I were extremely blown away by the sound of this. Touching full grown and baby tigers? We had to see it to believe it. Devin had never been there, so we had to do some research. Only one of our Thailand travel guides even mentioned it because the Lonely Planet authors don't seem to think it is safe.

The other option was Pattaya. We heard Pattaya was dirty and the “red light district” of Thailand, but they have a crocodile farm there and you can take pictures with tigers and ride elephants. Needless to say, Ian didn’t think it would be the best choice to go there. So once we got to Bangkok we searched different travel agencies to find the best deal. We ended up finding an amazing day trip that offered so many different things!

Kanchanaburi is a small town about 2 and a half hours outside of Thailand. The population is 61,800. It is most famous for the Kwai River and the Death Railway, The World War Two museum, as well as the site for the World War Two prisoner-of-war camp. The tiger sanctuary is a common destination as well. First, we went to the Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery. Most of the buried soldiers here are British and Dutch and the cemetery is a gift from the Thai people to the families of the soldiers who died on their soil.

Next we went to the Kwai River Bridge, otherwise known as the Death Railway bridge and the World War Two Museum, also known as the “Jeath War Museum.” It was an interesting insight to the Second World War and offers a beautiful view of the River Kwai Bridge. The River Kwai “Death Railway” bridge was incredibly eerie. We stood on the bridge thinking ‘So many people died to make this tiny bridge.’ There is a movie that we have yet to see that made the bridge famous, called “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. The bridge was a very small (it is roughly 3 km long) but was a strategic part of the Death Railway to Burma. It was estimated at the time that the railway would take 5 years to build properly, but the human laborers were forced to have the railway completed in 16 MONTHS.

We then ate a quick lunch of rice, stir fried chicken and vegetables and headed to the old rickety train. It was good to travel along the countryside and see a part of Thailand we would have never seen. The only drawback was that the train was over capacity so we were standing for most of the ride! We met a really cool traveler named Tanya, who is a lifecoach back in England, time flew by as we chatted with her about all of her travels. After Thailand, she was planning on heading to India.

Next, they took Ian and I to KAEW Elephant Camp. It was a very cool experience to ride an elephant through the forest. It was even cooler to feed the cuties plantains! But Ian and I both said we would never do it again, unless we were sure the animals were not being mistreated. Animal rights aren’t important in the Thai culture, and it is very unfortunate. Our guide was carrying this huge blade/hammer and I was hoping that he wouldn’t use it.

After our elephant ride, we went to a beautiful waterfall, took some pictures, saw a monkey chained to a tree (terrible) and said goodbye to Tanya. We began our journey to the Tiger Temple, which is actually a little outside of Kanchanaburi. It was incredible. Horses and other animals were roaming freely as we set down to the tigers. It was quite the site, with all the tigers lying down in front of a small canyon. A monk takes your hand and leads you to each tiger to pet them and get a picture with them. At first I was really nervous, but the tigers didn’t mind, so I eased up a bit. You can see it in my pictures too. I am gradually getting more and more comfortable. Anyway, then we went up and played with the baby tigers. Our main guide for the day said she came a few weeks ago, was playing with a baby tiger and….. she showed us the scar on her hand. The tiger had bit her! We sat with a monk and a baby tiger and took pictures, and then followed a little boy monk and 2 more baby tigers around, as they were jumping on each other and playing like kittens. Cows and bulls were standing nearby, surveying our experience, clearly jealous at all the attention the tigers were getting. Sorry guys, but we have you back in North America to play with!

An incredible trip that I recommend to anyone planning on going to Bangkok!