The next morning (23 November) after a mad rush to pack, I headed down to wait for my taxi that I had arranged for 500 bhat. I hoped it was a nice one. I pondered again what I was paying for and it was tempting to ask a red taxi driver how much, but then, guessing it was probably 300 bhat; and I'd have an air conditioned (hopefully!) enclosed car just for me, the difference shouldn't be too bad. 8 o'clock came and went and with my flight fixed, I was getting a bit worried, but it finally arrived about 15mins later and out stepped...a girl! I was so surprised!
She seemed lovely and as we got underway and I asked her how long she'd been driving, she informed me that she worked at the hotel and we'd met and didn't I recognise her? Hmm...I think...the previous night? Yes, she says. Right! Okay so she's now 27 and has been driving since she was 19! Wow! And she's engaged and her fiance is also a driver.
We finally get to Tiger Kingdom, which I've been told opens at 9am. There's a sign that the place opens at 9am, but after checking, my driver tells me it will open at 9.30am. No worries, it's now almost 9am, I can wait. I wander into the reception area & see a couple of tigers in the enclosure right behind the front desk. Having heard about the alleged drugging that goes on to keep the tigers sedate, these two definitely do not look sedate as they paw and maul each other. This goes on for a while. I then wander around and check the tshirt prices - nope, will not be getting any of those either. Plus they look like crap compared to the ones at ENP. I check the prices of how much to see the tigers. They're split by the size of the tiger and to see them all as I'd originally thought would be close to 2000 bhat! Hmmm...and then I notice this 299 bhat/cage for photos. Does that mean we're not allowed to take our own photos?
I go over to the lady at the front desk and say, "Can I ask a question? Are you allowed to take photos with the tigers? Can someone else take it of you?". She glares at me, and in her nasally voice informs, "You can take photos but if you're alone then you have a problem, don't you? Why don't you read the sign!" she crescendos banging the same 299 bhat sign on her desk.
WHAT THE F**K???
I'm completely taken aback by her attitude. My brain turns and walks off. I want to grab her hair and smash it on the table. But, I convince myself that it's about the tigers and not some crazy rude bitch. I walk away and my driver comes to me. I tell her about the incident and surprisingly, my driver says that the woman gave her attitude as well.
Just then an older, American guy comes to check out the prices. She leaps from her desk and starts fawning all over him. Yes sir, can I help you sir? I hear them talk about the photos and he says that he'll pay for it as well. As he heads over to pay, I have a brainwave and dash across to him.
So, seeing the tigers today huh? Which ones? Large & small? I can live with that. So I heard you got photos? Well, if we go together, we could just take pictures of each other & you don't need to pay!
He thinks a moment and says to the cashier, no photos!
She looks confused and dare I say it, almost worried as she hurries off to the bitch and comes back with a new bill for the guy.
I unfortunately have to head to the bitch again to book my tickets. Big & small I inform her. She doesn't even speak to me this time, instead passing over a book to fill in my details. Briefly I wonder what the assault laws are in this country, but again, I try and just focus on the tigers.
So US guy & I chat for a while. He's a widower & lives in Florida.
Where am I from? Australia. You speak very good English he informs me.
I do? Umm...I've lived there for a long time, I tell him. They speak English there? He asks.
I look at him surprised, not sure if he's joking. Umm... yes, what did you think they spoke? I dunno, Australian?
Is this guy for real? I change topics and ask about him. Turns out his wife got breast cancer 3 months after they were married and fought it for 12 years, passing away earlier this year. He's almost crying as he tells me.
Doh! I feel bad for my previous geographically challenged assessment of him and now his wife. I ask what he's doing here and he says he's looking to move over. Huh, interesting! We chat a bit more and then it's time to go in!
First stop is big tigers. We're asked to leave our bags outside & I hesitatingly do so & we enter. There's four tigers and four couples. While one guy sets up my tiger, another distracts the other with a big silver ball that he taps and the tiger just follows it & stays where he leaves the ball. Amazing!
Then US guy & I go over to the first tiger. He seems pretty placid and I sit next to him, lie next to him & hug him! Then before we know it the other tiger has come back and there's some movement between the two tigers that the keeper tries to keep apart. My tiger eventually runs off and US guy has his pictures taken with the new female tiger. We then have our picture taken with a couple of other tigers - it is an amazing experience.
Then the keeper asks if we want him to take pictures of both of us? Sure! So he does. And before we know it, we're done. The large tigers were quite docile, but when you had two of them, they seemed to come to life so to speak.
We were directed towards the smaller tigers cage and these seemed a lot more "lethargic". Well, some of them. Others were more excitable and received a hit on their nose by the keeper for their trouble. Although there was one which the keeper picked up and dragged across the floor and the tiger just kind of let itself be dragged. I gotta say, I found that very strange. Again, same deal - we lie next to the tigers & get pictures taken with a couple of different ones. Then we're free to roam around and check out the other tigers.
There are lots! Some really big ones, some tiny ones and a handful of newborns. And, a lion! It was a bit of a skinny lion, but a lion nonetheless. The little tigers were by far the most active, and so cute! There were an Austrian couple by the newborns and we wondered why they were not with their mother, and thought it might be because they're trying to get the tigers used to being handled by people straight away?
Hmm...overall, it was awesome to see the tigers, for sure. Bitch experience notwithstanding, I would probably recommend seeing the little tigers as they are a lot more interactive, and yeah, go with someone who can take pictures of you.
After we left, I checked the time and realised I had plenty of time before my flight back to Bangkok. My driver had mentioned earlier that there was a butterfly & orchid place, so I asked her to drop in there, now that I had all this time. It was a relatively small place but with a huge range of orchids all growing hydroponically! They had some plants in jars that people were buying as well as a lot of jewellery made from actual flowers or butterfly wings.
After this, my driver asked where I wanted to go? Hotel, shopping mall near the airport or airport? Hmm...she seemed to be keen on the shopping mall, so fine. I thought if I had time I might be able to watch Skyfall as well! No such luck! Took me forever to find my way around this place and I spied a KFC, so I stopped there to eat. Again, I got this weird feeling that people were avoiding the area I was sitting in, but I just wrote in my journal until this group of kids sat on the table next to me. It was time, so I caught a little red taxi to the airport. I was quite looking forward to getting back to Bangkok.
Went to Bangkok Airways to get their wifi code & the lady ushered me into their lounge area which was pretty nice, so stayed there til it was almost time to board.
