Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Bangkok - Tiger Temple

The Tiger Temple was our favorite part of the whole trip.  This was our main purpose for hiring Charlie for the day.

The Tiger Temple is operated by a group of Buddhist monks.  It was started when a local farmer brought a wounded tiger to the temple years ago.  Now they have many tigers, both those born at the Tiger Temple and those who were injured and rescued.

There are also many other animals on the site including deer, water buffalo, cows, peacocks, and bears.  Most wander around in the open except for the bear Bam-Bam and her boyfriend.  The monks have them sequestered from the tourists trying to get a baby bear.



We started out by getting to walk with the tigers down to the canyon.


In the canyon you get to take pictures with several of the tigers.




We walked back up to where we started the walk down to the canyon and spent some time petting and posing with several of the tigers.



By far the best part of the visit and of the whole trip was getting to play and feed the 4 month old tigers.

Because our guide wasn't confirmed in advance, Charlie didn't know we were interested in this and got us the last spots of the day for this activity.  Unfortunately this meant we spent a lot of time in the middle of the hot day waiting.  We visited the other animals and fed the deer, Sweet Eyes.  Sweet Eyes loved Charlie and stuck her mouth into his backpack because she knew he had a snack of corn for her.


We got to go into their cage for 45 minutes.  This is an extra fee and was 1000 baht per person.  This was the best $65 we have ever spent for the 2 of us.


Tiger in stealth stalking mode.



These awesome looking boots were to protect our feet and legs from the tigers.  When we first got in their cage one of the tigers rolled over out of nowhere while I was petting her and swiped at my leg and scratched my knee a little bit.  I was glad I had the moon boots.



We got to feed the baby tigers with a baby bottle.


I just want to take this baby tiger home with me.



See, I'd be a great tiger mommy.




Look how big their paws are.  There was a 1 month old tiger at the temple.  It was about the size of a house cat.  I really wanted to take it home with me.  That tells you how much they grow in only a few months though.




This tiger knows her food is up there.



Chowing down on some chicken.

8 comments:

Kelly said...

Awesome! Just awesome!!

10yearstogether said...

Holey crap you are brave! That is so neat!

Liz said...

I am so sad the guide didn't work out better :(

Bam Bam didn't have a boyfriend when we were there- hopefully she'll get busy and make some baby Sun Bears :)

I loved all of the photos- looks amazing! I am Totes Jelly.

Insomniac said...

*sigh* You just fulfilled one of my greatest dreams. Baby wild animal bottle feeding.

Ann Marie said...

Now I want a baby tiger too.

weezermonkey said...

OH! MAH! GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all.

Kara said...

That is so cool!

Anonymous said...

weren't you scared to be so close to wild animals?!