Tigers, Guns and Chiang Mai, Thailand - 12-16 May 2011

Band photo

The Tiger, the Big Cats.  It's not often that you are able to see a Tiger and even rarer to be able meet one and stroke one.  The tigers are now unfortunately endangered and not many remain in the wild due to the spread of humans, hunting etc.  Many are totally against keeping these magnificent creatures in captivity and I agree with them to a certain extent, however, places like Tiger Kingdom who are completely dedicated to raising and maintaining the tiger's health is not a concern for me.  I heard plenty of rumours before arriving at the Kingdom that the animals were drugged so they remained docile.  I do not believe this to be the case and I am firmly of the opinion that these animals were well looked after by their keepers.

Getting up close and personal with a tiger is a great experience, although they are welcoming and not bothered by you patting and stoking them, you know that if they did suddenly have enough, they could turn around and tear you hand off with a swift snap of their jaw.  There are certain rules that you must follow when your within the tiger's compound and should you not follow these, you may be dinner! 

Seeing the fully grown adult tigers playing with the keepers in one of the pens was amazing as they acted like their smaller feline counterparts in every way.  Chasing string, trying to claw things out of the air with their massive paws and jumping into the pool although with a much much larger splash.  Tom paid the extra money to go in with the baby tigers, I wish I did this too but I was being extremely tight on my budget.  If you do find yourself here, definitely go in with the babies and the big cats.  Just seeing them play around was astonishing and extremely, I hate to use this word, cute.

We finished off the day with a few beers whilst watching Man Utd unfortunately win the Premier League which made my Mancunian travel companions extremely happy.  We were the only people in this sports bar and the owner invited us to eat with them as they were celebrating someone's birthday.  They had cooked up lots of little dishes and meat on the barbecue.  Although we had already bought a meal from them, it was very welcome to have some more food.  Things always taste better when they're free and given to you by generous locals.

Back in Ho Chi Minh City, we had wanted to 'blow some shit up', to put it frankly but hadn't managed to as it was actually more expensive than what we had imagined.  The same went with Cambodia, although after visiting the Killing Fields, picking up a gun is not exactly the first thing you want to do.  As this was our last day together we had planned to head to a local museum, however this was closed, so we continued on our contingency plan and made our way to the shooting range where Nicky and I grabbed a couple of guns and shot at some targets for a while.  Unfortunately time goes far too quickly and so did the bullets.  I was actually quite surprised with my accuracy and managed to get most of the shots on target.

It was our last night together.  I had originally met Tom and Nicky way back in Saigon, early April and had travelled with them, bar a couple of side trips through Cambodia, Laos and into Thailand.  We had had fun, experienced anger and frustration and had many many laughs and it will be strange not to have them around anymore.  They had to catch their flight to Darwin from Singapore on 28 May and thus did not have long to get down there.  I, on the other hand hadn't made any firm travel arrangements just yet so could continue ambling along leisurely.  People ask, what's it like to travel alone?  Don't you get lonely?  The answer is simple, you're never alone for long.  You meet people everywhere, sometimes the strangest places and stay with them for a while.  Up until now, I have only been truly alone for no longer than one consecutive week. 

As a celebration of our last night, we headed back the Tiger Kingdom in Town and splashed out on some nice food and enjoyed the bands that were playing, especially the drunk Thai man who was very exuberant with his dancing whilst singing.  A great last night to part ways.

The following day, we hung out for a while the next day waiting for Tom and Nicky's bus which turned up a little late and following some handshakes and manly hugs, I was suddenly alone, the first time in two months.  My feelings were mixed as I would have loved to have travelled on with them but just I wanted to head up North to Pai before heading South towards Bangkok.  I stayed one last night in the Royal Guesthouse as my bus up to Pai was leaving the next day.

Our last meal

Our last ride

Luang Probang to Chiang Mai, Thailand. 12-16 May

Tom at beginning

The bus journey was in fact a small nightmare,  sleep was near impossible as the padding on my seat is all but disappeared and the metal bar rubbed hard against my butt bones.  The windows were far too high meaning you couldn't just stare out of the window at the countryside passing by.  You could see the stars up in the sky, which was amazing but they get pretty boring after a couple of hours as they don't change.  My MP3 player was running low on battery power and my backup battery charger was safely stowed in my bag underneath.  I feared many hours of uncomfortable, sleepless and boring night's drive ahead.  The bus weaved around the narrow roads in through the hills in North Western Laos and I was probably thankful not to see where we were driving. 

Tom getting comfortable with the locals

 We stopped after a couple of hours and I was able to retrieve my battery charger from my bag.  Brilliant, I had entertainment for the following god knows how many hours this trip is going to take.  Intermittent stops allowed us to stretch our legs, relieve our bladders and get a glimpse of what the outside world looked like.  The bus felt more like a cattle transporter than a vehicle to transport humans.  A couple of hours towards the end of our trip and as the sun began rising above the hills, I managed to secure a couple of seats at the back of the bus which were a little more comfortable, although as I looked down towards my feet, an empty Coke can had attracted a swarm of ants.  I simply accepted it and proceeded to try and sleep for a while.

Next thing I remember was being woken up as our bus pulled off the road and onto a rough piece of ground that acted as a parking lot for the bus station.  We were in Hua Xai, the frontier of Laos and Thailand where we cross into a land that is the only country in South East Asia never to be colonised by a European power.  We had secured a space on a sangthaew that took us into the centre of town and to the border crossing.  An odd affair to say the least.  The border checkpoint was a tiny office on the river edge and looking over the river you could see Thailand in all its glory.  It wasn't long until we had received our exit stamp from Laos and were herded onto a long boat for our one minute ride to the other side.

We landed on the river bank on the other side and followed the crowd to the checkpoint which you could have easily avoided if you wanted to.  There was no order, no line, just fill in your arrival card and shove your passport through the hole to get it stamped.  With the stamps officially welcoming us into Thailand we found a car that would take us to where we wanted to go, a bus to Chiang Mai.  I felt an urge of relief as Thailand's roads were in much better repair than their neighbours and, maybe more importantly, they drive on the correct side of the road, the left side.  The driver dropped us off at a bus office where we booked our tickets onto the next bus leaving for Chiang Mai.  We had to wait a couple of hours but we kept ourselves busy by visiting the 7Eleven across the road to buy some tasty snacks and played Uno until the bus arrived.

I was really looking forward to getting on our first bus ride in Thailand as I had heard travel here was far easier and more comfortable.  I had grown tired of the constant breakdowns, delays and uncomfortable squashed journeys of the last few countries I had travelled.  It was time for some relaxation and comforting.  This however, was not the way things were going to work just yet as the bus had three seats to the right and two to the left, which would be fine if they weren't Asian size seats.  Nicky, Tom and I were allocated three seats on the right hand side of the bus, I was on the aisle seat and could only fit one butt cheek on.  Not good!  I was looking forward to having a few hours sleep before we arrived in Chiang Mai instead I spent the next couple of hours moving from empty seat to empty seat but kept being told to move back to my assigned seat as more passengers kept getting on.  The ticket man, finally came to me an hour before our final destination and told me that I could now go to the back of the bus where there were two empty seats where I could spend the rest of the journey.  I didn't get any sleep though as I had met a group of students who were on their way back to University following some time at home and talked with them for some time about their studies and my trip.

It wasn't long until the bus pulled into the bus station in Chiang Mai and we stepped off the bus, I said farewell to my new Thai friends and negotiated a price for a sangthaew to the Royal Guesthouse which a western girl at the bus station had suggested we stay at.  I'm glad she did get us to stay at this wonderful little guesthouse as the staff were immensely accommodating and the room was comfortable.  Tom wasn't feeling too well once we arrived and decided to stay behind to watch a few episodes of 'An Idiot Abroad' whilst Nicky and I went on a hunt for something to eat.  We ended up in a restaurant just the other side of the river called Tiger Kingdom in town which offered a variety of dishes accompanied by live music which is always a bonus.  We sat there enjoying the music for a while and savouring our fruit shake before heading back to the hotel to get some well needed sleep before going to visit the Tigers the following day.