Last night I made the stupid mistake of googling for any injuries that had happened via the animals at tiger temple. To say I was nervous when I woke up this morning was a slight understatement! Signing a disclaimer after paying yet before entering the park didn't ease matters either!
We had a wonderful day though. The tigers are set up in a canyon with a backdrop of a waterfall. You are taken to meet 4 or 5 tigers by a member of staff who holds onto you and guides you round and take the photos. It was quite nerve racking but you soon forget when you are that close to these beautiful creatures. Most of them have leads on that are fastened to the ground but they were all pretty asleep in the heat. As the temple is run by monks I had to have my shoulders and knees covered, so I felt like joining them on the floor I was that hot! It was all over so quickly. Some of the tigers were huge, I couldn't believe I was that close and you finished off with a beautiful cub-I couldn't help stroking it like it was Sasha! Then I watched Ben have his turn. 1 of the tigers put it's head up to have a massive yawn and you could see him jump!! Great picture though. After we'd finished there was a thunderstorm for around 15 minutes. The tigers certainly aren't drugged like the internet rumours suggest as they all woke up. Some of them were play fighting, some were stretching and using a tree as a scratch post, some moved more under shelters and others just wandered around as much as their leads allowed. It was nearly the same price as gaining entry to have your picture taken together with the tigers and get the famous photo of the biggest tigers head on your lap but we didn't have enough money on us. Probably a good thing for our budget and after watching for a while I don't think it was worth the money and I was quite happy with our photos. There were a couple more cubs to see in a separate area, then they brought a big tiger round that was drinking milk from baby bottles (at least 10 bottles whilst we were there and it just kept on going!!) so we could have our photo with that tiger together.
The tigers seemed happy enough though I don't suppose you see everything that goes on. They only go in the canyon for around 3 hours a day and some tigers were in their enclosures when we had a walk so maybe they don't use the same ones every day.
The temple was set in a large park, with peacocks, warthogs, deer, yaks and much more roaming around. A big herd of yaks walking towards you isn't what you would want!!
When we got back we had to complain about our bathroom. It was swarming with flies. I'm not being a girl but there is a difference between flies you should expect when your window is permanently open and flies being around like something has died! There was a tiny leak coming out of the tap and spraying on the floor which I think was the cause as lots were around that. I told the woman in reception who taped it up, covered up the window with magazine paper and then bleached and washed the whole room. I was impressed! She did a good job. Much happier now, it was only going to get worse. I hope Lizzy managed to escape though.
Tonight I had another curry, but this time Penang. Obviously it was fit! We have gone for 3 days without beer or any kind of alcohol so were ready to make it 4 days tonight. We did so for our meal but after a little nap we realised it would be 3pm in England meaning soccer Saturday!! After a stroll around we ended up watching the 2nd half of Stoke/Blackpool and the start of Chelsea until it went midnight with a beer each. 3 full days without beer isn't bad though! And very hard to do in the sun!
We're up early tomorrow for a full day of a trip. We've slightly changed which one we're doing, picking a lesser picturesque waterfall which I don't think you can swim in but meaning the trip includes Hellfire Pass and it's Memorial Museum and keeps the elephant trekking, bamboo rafting, a temple cave, riding Death Railway and seeing the bridge over the River Kwai. It's also cheaper which means we won't feel guilty watching United with some beers and have promised ourselves a burger mmmm!
Uploaded a few of our first pics (all I could do in an hour!) of Beijing. The address is http://s1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff498/atkins777/ and also it's time to link to Ben's blog. Obviously he's the writer so his is better! But he can upload more photos as well http://benhibbs.posterous.com/