Bangkok at Night

I'm winding up the photos from Thailand with these night shots of the Bangkok skyline that Ross took. Yes, Ross!

I enjoyed Thailand. I didn't really like Bangkok-it's just big and smelly and smoggy. The tigers were the best part. If I go to Thailand again I'd like to visit the Northern part.

I don't know where we will go next, but I'm stoked about New Zealand 2016. I want to celebrate my real birthday bungee jumping, caving, swimming with dolphins, or soaking in hot springs. I don't know why, I'm just attracted to New Zealand.

Prairie Dog?

So we saw this prairie dog in Chinatown in Bangkok. Ross stopped because he saw a policeman taking a photo of something with his cell phone. Yeah, this is so strange, and so wrong. And yes, he's wearing a Hello Kitty hat. Totally bizarre.

Wat Traimit and Chinatown

We went to Wat Traimit to see the largest solid gold Buddha. He was big and shiny. The temple was really neat. Then we walked to Chinatown and just wandered around a lot.

There were a lot of medical shops in Chinatown. I took photos of dried lizards, snakes, and these dried sea horses.

Ross watched some guys play Chinese chess.

We ate some street food in Chinatown. This was our chef. We had fried noodles, with a fried egg on top--smothered in chicken, vegetables, and gravy.

Ruins of Ayutthaya

We visited two areas of Ayutthaya with ruins. We saw the famous Buddha head that is cradled by the roots of a tree.

We saw many, many Buddhas. Many of them were missing their heads or other parts. When invaders came in they tried to destroy the Buddhas. Why can't people just get along? I did not pose with any of the Buddhas. I think it is disrespectful. We saw one lady posing behind a headless/armless Buddha--putting her head in arms in place. That's tacky.

Seeing the ruins at sunset was spectacular.

Bang Pa In

On a sweltering day we visited Bang Pa In, the King's Summer Palace.

There were many topiaries  shaped like animals.

We really liked the Chinese Mansion. Built of teak, it was nice and cool inside. I was super impressed with a camel bone carving that was displayed in the mansion. Photographs were not allowed in that area. I wanted a postcard--but dumb people didn't have one. I can't even find a photo of it online.

Star Meat

What is STAR backwards? Yeah....That's star meat.

The tails were disgusting. The whole thing was disgusting. Flies everywhere. I didn't try it. If I'm ever in prison camp, and I'm desperate, I'll eat rat. Otherwise, no.

These barbecued quail were so gross. Flies climbing on them. And I saw a grasshopper in one of them.

Apparently that morning the hotel staff was cooking cicada and some people tried it. We missed it. That's something I would have tried.

Thailand, Spelunking

We had a second free day--a break from the tour group. I wanted to go see some famous waterfalls, but decided a day of rest was in order. After breakfast with our new buddies Renee and Rose we chilled.  Rose doesn't like boat rides, and since the only way to leave the hotel was on a speed boat they opted to also have a day of rest. Then we ran into them on the way to the cave close to the hotel.

We took a lovely walk to the back of the property, paid our entry fees, then followed our guides up, up, up a set of stairs to the cave entrance. At the top of the stairs we were instructed to "Sit Down!" After a brief rest our guides led us through the caves.

None of the photos do the cave justice. The cave was cool, but very humid. Water was dripping in some areas. The girls pointed out different rock formations that looked like certain things...like a monkey or crocodile teeth. The younger girl kept singing "wash yo heeee-aa," which was so cute. (She meant watch your head.)

Bats call the cave home and we saw many of them. They were large--much larger than the Mexican Free Tail bats we have here in Austin.

Here is Rose posing with our two adorable guides. Ross wanted to take them home. He's a sucker for little girls. I know that might sound creepy, but sometimes he just wishes he had a daughter.

Here is a video that shows the bats.

Thailand: River Resort Paradise

We had to take a boat to get to our riverside hotel. It was like a little piece of paradise. Each step revealed a new, sweet smell--in contrast to Bangkok.

The hotel had extensive grounds that included an herbal garden, many jack fruit trees, pineapples, a diversity of flowers, citrus trees, and lots of wildlife too.

Thailand: Floating Market and Fruit List

So March 1st was a bunch of tourist traps, including a coconut sugar place and the floating market. Our crappy tour guide didn't do a good job explaining what was going on. We took a speed boat from one end of the floating market to the other. We ended up shopping by walking along the market rather than floating by--which would have been cool. Lunch wasn't provided, so we got a bunch of little things from street vendors. It was all good except the mango smoothie--the mango wasn't ripe.

Ross was thrilled that we found a vendor with Khanom Thuay--a coconut milk custard. It was yummy.

So this boat was at the first place we "shopped." I bought some mango from the vendor.

We ate a lot of fruit on our trip including: mangosteen, mango, coconut, ladyfinger bananas, fried bananas, guava, dragon fruit, longan, lychee, pineapple (lots and lots of pineapple), cantaloupe, watermelon, durian (in cookie form), pomegranate (fresh squeezed juice), rose apple, orange (juice), raisins, papaya, and rambutan.

Critter Spotting: Thailand

So we saw lots of critters in Thailand including: cats, dogs, a rat, whatever this boar-looking thing is, peacocks, cranes, herons, a water monitor, a bunny, a duck, chickens, pigs, water buffalo, tigers, bats, lizards, geckos, cows, a turkey, goats, elephants, deer, fish, eel (in a fish tank), baby bears, lots of butterflies, other hoof stock, and lots of other birds and insects.

Best Birthday Ever, The Topper

So after riding elephants we went to eat on the River Kwai, which means River River--the way chai tea means tea tea. It was a tourist trap place, but the food was fine (although we didn't trust them when they said some of the stuff was beef.)

The story of the Burmese-Thai railroad is sad. The bridge over the the River Kwai is a reminder of the depressing story. We saw the bridge, we walked a little on the bridge, I was done. I did take this photo of a towering Guanyin statue at the Chinese Buddhist temple across the river.

On the drive back to Bangkok I was still pumped with adrenaline and declared it the best birthday ever. I said that if I could have cake it would just push everything over the top. When we got back to Bangkok I felt exhausted and filthy. We showered and then the doorbell rang--yes, the hotel room had a doorbell! Two giggly young men came in with a birthday cake, card, and little present. I almost cried. Here I was expecting to get a slice of cake from 7-11 or the bakery in the mall, and the hotel brought me my very own birthday cake to my room. That topped off the best birthday ever.

Best Birthday Ever, Elephant Riding

After the explosion of tigers we went and rode elephants. I'm glad we did it. It was just us, the elephant, and the elephant handler going through the jungle. Apparently while we were out on our walk two tour buses full of people came, rode, and went.

The coolest part was when the handler stopped to water the elephant. He gave her a bucket full of water, she sucked some up in her trunk then put it in her mouth and swallowed it. Then he just gave her the water hose and she shoved it into her mouth with her trunk and gulped down the water periodically.

I got to ride on the neck for a while. Elephants aren't soft. The skin is super thick and rough. The hairs are short and stiff.

Many of the elephants in the camp had pink spots that made them even cuter than just-grey elephants. In this photo the elephants were lining up to be fed by the tourists.

After our ride they gave us some watermelon and water. Oh, and we were totally suckered into buying a photo--of us in the water with the elephant. As part of the elephant-walking circuit they walk through the river. Sometimes the elephants suck up water and spray the tourists. Our elephant was nice and sprayed the water off to the side.

Tiger Temple Part 6, The Largest Tigers

So we had an opportunity to pose with a four year old male tiger. The hands in this photo are because I decided to lean over. I wasn't going to touch his head, but they freaked (and rightly so). No matter how many times they gave us safety instructions I think my brain had melted with those baby tigers and I just wanted to cuddle 'em all.

So after our final posed photos they corralled us in with a rickety chain link fence and the crazy tiger man pictured above exercised the tigers. He yelled at them. He rode them. He chased them. He hung boxes over their heads to get them to jump. One tiger would jump off the rock structure in the middle of the water area down into the water. Sometimes the volunteers also wedged a stick with a dangling "toy" on the top of the mushroom structure. One tiger jumped up, grabbed at the toy, but it didn't budge. He ended up falling and smacking the packed dirt--on his side. It was loud and looked painful.

When the crazy tiger guy declared exercise time over the tigers ran out of the area and were led away.

We endured the blazing sun to walk along the sky path to see more tigers. They have 128 tigers in all. We did not see the 2 lions they have. They also now have two rescue baby moon bears. They have a lot of hoofstock and an aviary on the property as well. We heard the tigers roaring. That seemed to trigger the peacocks. We made our way back toward the exit and found Jackie. He loaded us up and took us on our next adventure.

Tiger Temple Part 5, The Bigger Guys

Trying to get the tigers to play with our "toys" was my least favorite part of the experience. Most of the cats were uninterested. The volunteers/handlers with the plastic bag covered boxes had the most luck getting the tigers to actually jump up.

If we wanted to we could get into the water. Ross and I declined. It was plenty fun to watch from a bit higher up. At one point two of the tigers decided to walk behind us. They had told us not to turn your back on a tiger, so Ross and I turned around. The volunteers instantly formed a human shield between us and the tigers. It was impressive.

After that we got to walk a big tiger. I think this tiger was 3 years old. It was really dirty, covered in red dirt, so it didn't quite look orange.

Tiger Temple Part 4, Bath Time

 Ross finally got to be first at something--scrubbing the tiger.

I got a turn scrubbing too--can't forget the bum, and then we rinsed him off.

After bath time we gave the tiger a snack of boiled chicken.

The chicken was falling off the bone, so I just held it in my hands and the tiger ate it up.

Tiger Temple Part 3, Tiger Walking

So they told us that the tiger walks you, not the other way around. If the tiger walks, you walk. If he stops, you stop. If he runs, you run. Well, my tiger must have known I don't like to run, because he stopped a lot.

The tiger (about seven months old I think) did a big down dog stretch for us. Check out those claws!

So here he is, stopping again.

Our handler, Nun, was awesome. To get the tiger to move along she picked up this piece of tree and let me pull him along.

Then it turned into a game. Tug of war. I lost. That's Nun smiling in the background.

Tiger Temple, Baby Tiger Video

You can hear the baby squeals throughout. I just loved how she (I'm declaring it a she) rubbed on my head. I tried to trim the video, but blogger couldn't process it, so you have to watch some blurriness at the start.

Tiger Temple Part 2

After feeding the three month old tiger I got to hold and cuddle a one month old tiger. There were only two one month old tigers there. We weren't supposed to pick them up and carry them or drag them around. If you did, they would squeal. One of the handlers handed me the baby and I headbutted it as long as it would tolerate me. The tiger gave me a little bath, licking at my hand, but of course (just like Bailey), wouldn't lick Ross.

This is our guide, Jackie. He was super cool and the tiger knew him, so wanted to be with him instead of me.
After we cuddled the baby(est) tiger, the monks said prayers. We sat quietly and pet the tigers if they came around. After prayers we had breakfast. They brought out the stuff we had presented as offerings, except for what the monks had kept for themselves. The monks only eat once a day, and apparently they likes they shugga. Only a couple of the chocolate wafer cookies made it out front, and the Dunkin Donuts were gone. Yeah, one group brought donuts. The tourists were allowed to eat first. I was first in line, and actually Ross, Jackie and I were the only ones in our group who ate--the rest of the food went to the volunteers and staff. Ross had rice with green curry. I had rice and vegetables, and some noodles.

Oh, our group. As a bonus, lucky unbirthday present there were only 8 tourists that morning. One of the guides said that the last couple of days had been crazy, with over 30 tourists. The limit is supposed to be 20, but you know how that goes. With only 8 tourists we weren't fighting over the tigers. Each couple got their own 3 month old to feed.

After breakfast we continued playing with the tigers. The female on the right was a jerk. She kept waking up her sister, and then she was biting the baby--and the poor baby cried. Here I am telling the older tiger to quit being a jerk and to leave the baby alone. The lady in the white shirt in the background was crazy. She totally played with the jerk and let it bite her repeatedly.

After temple time with the youngest tigers we moved on to some bigger ones.