Day 326 - Tiger Kingdom - Wat Chedi Luang - Wat Pan Too -Wat Bupparam
Wednesday, May 29th, 2019
It was hard to open our eyes today. We slept in and had breakfast past 9:00am. We had an Asian breakfast of rice soup with eggs. Not my first choice but not bad! After breakfast, we were trying to figure out what to do. Well, mostly me, because Gregory was absorbed in his book. That's great but I also like to make plans to see how long are we going to stay in Chang Mai. We had planned to visit some temples but then I found the Tiger Kingdom and thought that the kids would love to see real tigers. Gregory was happy with the choice so around 1:30 we went to the Tiger Kingdom. I can’t believe that it was me who found this activity and wanted to go inside the cage with the tigers, what was I thinking?
When we got there, we had to choose which tigers we wanted to see. I had read that we had to choose the size of the tigers and because I had seen pictures, we all had agreed to go see the cubs. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any so Daniel and I chose the small white tigers and Sunshine and Gregory chose the medium-sized tigers. There was no way I was going to choose the big tigers.
Gregory and Sunshine went first. They went inside the cage with three medium-sized tigers that seemed very big to me. I was extremely nervous, even if 3 trainers went in with them. I couldn’t help it. Daniel was trying to calm me down but I explained to him that even if they were just playing, there could be an accident. I started to pray and I actually cried a little bit. I just couldn’t take my mind off what could happen if a tiger jumped onto Gregory or Sunshine. I also kept telling the keepers to keep an eye on the tiger that was behind them.
It was hard to open our eyes today. We slept in and had breakfast past 9:00am. We had an Asian breakfast of rice soup with eggs. Not my first choice but not bad! After breakfast, we were trying to figure out what to do. Well, mostly me, because Gregory was absorbed in his book. That's great but I also like to make plans to see how long are we going to stay in Chang Mai. We had planned to visit some temples but then I found the Tiger Kingdom and thought that the kids would love to see real tigers. Gregory was happy with the choice so around 1:30 we went to the Tiger Kingdom. I can’t believe that it was me who found this activity and wanted to go inside the cage with the tigers, what was I thinking?
When we got there, we had to choose which tigers we wanted to see. I had read that we had to choose the size of the tigers and because I had seen pictures, we all had agreed to go see the cubs. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any so Daniel and I chose the small white tigers and Sunshine and Gregory chose the medium-sized tigers. There was no way I was going to choose the big tigers.
Gregory and Sunshine went first. They went inside the cage with three medium-sized tigers that seemed very big to me. I was extremely nervous, even if 3 trainers went in with them. I couldn’t help it. Daniel was trying to calm me down but I explained to him that even if they were just playing, there could be an accident. I started to pray and I actually cried a little bit. I just couldn’t take my mind off what could happen if a tiger jumped onto Gregory or Sunshine. I also kept telling the keepers to keep an eye on the tiger that was behind them.
For some reason, the tigers were paying a lot of attention to Gregory. They are trained to watch the trainers and ignore the people who are patting them, but they wouldn't ignore Gregory, they kept turning to look at him!
The scary moment was when they wanted the tigers to play with a cardboard box attached to a stick. The trainer swung the box back and forth and the tigers would stretch and jump for it. I was so nervous that the tiger would jump on Gregory or Sunshine. I kept telling them to step back.They seemed to be taking forever inside the cage. I think they gave them extra time, the trainers were laughing when I said they were done and that they should come out! I was so nervous that I told Daniel that perhaps I should give my ticket to Sunshine or Gregory because I didn’t want to go in.
The scary moment was when they wanted the tigers to play with a cardboard box attached to a stick. The trainer swung the box back and forth and the tigers would stretch and jump for it. I was so nervous that the tiger would jump on Gregory or Sunshine. I kept telling them to step back.They seemed to be taking forever inside the cage. I think they gave them extra time, the trainers were laughing when I said they were done and that they should come out! I was so nervous that I told Daniel that perhaps I should give my ticket to Sunshine or Gregory because I didn’t want to go in.
When it was our turn, I calmed down and went inside the white tigers' cage with Daniel. There were 2 young tigers and they were playful but only with the trainers. When one of them lied down, the trainer told us to pat him and we took some great pictures. They also had another trainer play with the cardboard box and this time both tigers were jumping and playing in the water. It was a great experience and definitely a highlight for the kids.
After spending some more time in the Tiger Kingdom, we went back to old town. Afterwards, we walked to see the famous temples including the Wat Chedi Luang. The kids were not thrilled but the architecture is Lanna style. We saw giant Buddhas, women practicing traditional dance and wearing traditional skirts. It was just beautiful. We bought boba tea and kiwi smoothies near the temple and we sat to watch the people walk by.
After that, we walked back to our hotel but on our way, we stopped in two hotels to check them out. We couldn’t book one that we liked online but we told the manager that we would be back tomorrow. We stopped at a grocery store for snacks, meaning dinner, and then we finally made it to our hotel. We ate our snacks in the restaurant while we worked a little bit, Gregory on his novel and me on the blog. I’m getting lazy about it but I can’t give up considering that I have one more month to write about.
After spending some more time in the Tiger Kingdom, we went back to old town. Afterwards, we walked to see the famous temples including the Wat Chedi Luang. The kids were not thrilled but the architecture is Lanna style. We saw giant Buddhas, women practicing traditional dance and wearing traditional skirts. It was just beautiful. We bought boba tea and kiwi smoothies near the temple and we sat to watch the people walk by.
After that, we walked back to our hotel but on our way, we stopped in two hotels to check them out. We couldn’t book one that we liked online but we told the manager that we would be back tomorrow. We stopped at a grocery store for snacks, meaning dinner, and then we finally made it to our hotel. We ate our snacks in the restaurant while we worked a little bit, Gregory on his novel and me on the blog. I’m getting lazy about it but I can’t give up considering that I have one more month to write about.
For pictures please click here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MnRPMkC6V5JQ9b268
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