Evan didn't like it - he thought it was over rated, about 12 tigers chained to the ground on a short chain. I think the main reason he didn't enjoy it was because after the excitement of Phuket he found Bangkok a dirty, busy place and Tiger Temple was such a long drive (about 2.5 hours each way) I know the only reason he went was because I wanted to do it, he was a good sport and just smiles and played nice all day. It was one of those 'I'm happy because your happy moments.'
I loved it, I was really excited to do it but when I got there I was a little disappointed by a few things. They had more volunteers then tourists to start. You couldn't go near the tigers in the first section (have to be about 2m away) and I just found a few things like the walk down the valley with the tiger all a bit commercial - everyone had to line up in a big line and you stood at the front and had a photo with the tiger for about 10 seconds then had to go to the end of the line.
We had taken a private car to tiger temple. From memory it was 2,000 baht for the car trip and 600 baht to get in each. So in total about $175 for the day. It was expensive for Thailand but worth it and it was a long car trip. When we got there you had to pay extra to actually get time with the tigers. The only thing I wanted to do was a cub feeding but when I went to pay to do it, all the spots had been taken for the day. Only 3 groups of 6 get to do it a day. When this happened I was a bit disappointed as we came such a long way. Ev had been ill and had seizures the day before so he went and relaxed in the cab as he wasn't feeling to well and I went down to have some photos with the big tigers. While we where there we meet a couple who came from Phuket on the same transfers and flights with us. They where lovely people and when Ev had a seizure in the airport they helped me out. Well they had got tickets to the cub feeding. I was just chatting to them and told them how I missed out, me thinking nothing of it. About 20 minutes later the wife came up to me and gave me her ticket, I started crying (so embarrassing) I was so grateful! She said to me she didn't want to do it anyway and was just doing it so her hubby had company, but she said I could do that (don't think she liked animals) I was so excited and happy.
The cub feeding was AMAZING - 45 minutes with 6 people in a big caged room and 6 cubs all to ourselves! We couldn't wear shoes (as the cubs eat them) They had only 2 volunteers in with us and one spoke great english and took lots of photo's for me while I was with the cubs. She was great to ask all kinds of questions and really learn more about the place. The cubs ranged from 2 months to 5 months old. She was saying they double in size each month while cubs and the boys sleep 22 hours a day (the girls only 19) My favourite girl was the one they nicknamed 'Trouble' - she was the oldest and you could tell she was getting ready to be with the teen cats. One lady was bending over and patting a small cub when Trouble jumped on her back and grabbed her around the waist with her claws and started biting her hair - the lady freaked out, poor thing. After that everyone kept their backs to the walls. lol
All in all it was an amazing experience and I would do it again tomorrow, but I think you need to be organised. Here are a few pic's from Tiger Temple.
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