Petting Tigers

We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed out in a little song taew. We went to see the Bridge over the River Kwae and take a train ride over it.

We then headed towards the tiger temple. We decided to eat an early lunch so we could maximize our time at the temple. So we told the driver to stop at a place that served vegetarian food. (After seeing how they fix meat even Jon is willing to eat vegetarian. It’s disgusting.) It ended up being a cute little road side place that served the best fried rice.

Caitlin’s popularity gained us some mangos for dessert. Can you see the entire staff watching her eat?

Onward to the tiger temple

We chose to get there when they opened so we could see them bring the tigers out and then spend some time with them while they relaxed in the sun.

Let me clarify something before you see these pictures. They are not edited or changed in any way. If you see a large ferocious beast with its head in my child’s lap then it is very real and actually happened. Because of the angle some of these pictures look photo shopped to me. They are not!

Each person was allowed to sit behind them, while they were being fed and watered, for a photo op.

The kids were getting restless and so I took Caitlin with me to explore while we waited on the monks to finish feeding the tigers. People kept touching Caitlin and hugging her. It gained us some free water and she got to sit on this table and pet this baby tiger. He had gotten over heated so they had soaked him with water. Caitlin wasn’t sure she wanted to touch his wet fur, but after a moment seemed okay with it.

After they were fed we all waited a safe distance away for our turn to walk a tiger down to a canyon where they rested for the afternoon. Dominic got several turns. Caitlin was having a meltdown and missed her extra turns. Baby girl needed a nap.

Once we reached the canyon we were guided one at a time around to all of the different tigers so we could have our pictures taken.

It was a little disconcerting to see my 3 year old little girl being led by the hand into a canyon full of tigers and my not being there to protect her. She was in heaven though.

Dominic was able to hold a tiger head on his lap. A great moment for him - a terrifying moment for me. I’m okay if the tiger head is in my lap, but that’s my baby boy who is flirting with danger!

It was a wonderful experience that I’m so glad we were able to experience. I don’t think my children will ever forget it.

As we were leaving Caitlin was given a bonus. A water buffalo was enthralled with her and kept licking her hair and arm. We had just passed one that smelled horrible and Caitlin and I discussed how gross it was. So she was less than thrilled to have one licking her. Jon ended up feeding him/she his water.

 Another celebrity photo op for Dominic and Madeline. These guys thought they were twins.
See Laura laughing? It was amusing to us how "famous" our children seemed to be.