Playing with Tigers in Chiang Mai . . .
Or
Stupid Tourist Tricks Part V

So there’s a new tourist attraction in Chiang Mai, and while I usually avoid anything billed as a tourist attraction. I have to admit this one was worth the trip. Not that I had a choice. I’d already given Noom, my travel companion from Bangkok, the right to decide where we went and what we did on our trip north. So after climbing out of our respective beds at 11 am (it was an early day yesterday) we headed off to Tiger Kingdom to play with tigers. You can get there cheaply by baht bus, but with our late start on the day I opted to grab a driver from in front of the hotel negotiating a price of 300 baht for the day (Tiger Kingdom, an Elephant Camp, and various wats Noom needed to see). Good call. Air conditioning. And someone for Noom to chat with in Thai.

At the entrance to Tiger Kingdom you have a choice. Or several of them. The easiest is to forgo actually getting into a cage with any tiger and just roam through the grounds. Though I think that would be quite boring. Otherwise you can choose to visit with the adult tigers (300 baht) the teenage tigers (300 baht) or the baby cubs (500 baht). Now if I wasn’t the nice person that I am, I’d make some rude comment here about the Thais always willing to sell off their young for the right price, but I won’t go there. And I just pissed a whole bunch of you off anyway. But back to the tigers . . .

Noom had done wonderfully making decisions so far on the trip. But this one had him stumped. Here were three choices and he had to pick one without knowing which I’d prefer. His hesitation quickly turned into a downright lack of response. Which the lady booking the ‘visits’ mistook as a shrewd bargaining tactic and offered up a visit with both the adults and the teenagers for 500 baht total. Done deal.

So first up were the teenagers - tigers 8 - 10 months old. There is a warning sign they make you read first that says to approach the tigers from behind, not to touch their face or head and a few more directions which we both promptly ignored. There were four tigers in the cage, all dozing. A falang trainer was there to explain about the tigers and there were several Thai guys holding small sticks who hover over you and the tiger. I assumed the sticks were some form of protection in case you pissed off one of the tigers but they seemed rather small to accomplish that job in my estimation. I thought an elephant gun, or at least a 500,000 volt taser would have been more appropriate.

Now I’ve seen the Thai version of construction safety standards so I wasn’t feeling totally secure with the idea of cuddling up next to one of these wild beasts regardless of how ‘safe’ they were suppose to be. Yeah, big brave falang . . . but Noom, being Thai (and therefore less concerned with safety precautions) immediately laid down put his arm around one, his head on its side and started rubbing its ears. “Uh, don’t touch its head,” the trainer warned.

Noom smiled. And picked up a blade of grass and started to tickle the tiger’s nose. That woke the beast up. ”Uh, don’t touch his face,” the trainer warned with a bit more concern in his voice as I contemplated what kind of trouble I’d be going through dealing with the authorities over a dead Thai national.

Noom smiled. But the tiger just rolled over to have his belly scratched, quite content to allow Noom to have his way. I’d hate to think so, but part of me believes they have these tigers on some serious downers. But then that’s the part of me that also figured it was safe enough to play with one myself and I was soon nestled up against a female tiger pulling her paws onto my lap and scratching her ears like a total idiot. I think the trainer decided we were both fools and would get whatever we deserved as he quit warning us about touching their heads. The other three tourists in the cage with us stood watching with looks of awe and admiration at our bravery . . .or maybe those were looks of disbelief at our stupidity. Having tamed the teenagers we headed off to the adults.

Now to be a bit more accurate, these guys (and gals) are not full adults. I guess even the Thai know better than to throw falang into a cage with full grown tigers. The ‘adults’ are 12 - 14 months old. At 18 months they have to separate the girls from the boys. But they are a good deal larger than their teenage counterparts. And more awake, too. Mmmmmm, I thought. Maybe they need to adjust their medication. But what the hell, I’d already survived one tiger encounter so the gods were either looking over us or not. Besides, you have to admit getting mauled to death by a tiger would be a pretty cool way to go out. This group wasn’t quite as docile as the previous bunch but still tolerated hugs and stroking and for 100 baht the handlers will take about 100 photos of you with the tigers (comes on a CD). Great souvenir. It’s amazing the totally insane things you’ll do when on holiday that you’d never even consider at home!

Or not. One week after our visit to Tiger Kingdom, a story made the local papers about a tourist from New Zealand who got bit while visiting the place . . . 54 stitches to her leg. Mmmmmm, guess that’s a touri attraction I won’t be visiting again!

Ramble On . . .

Mosey On Back . . .

Entrance To The Rabbit Hole . . .

SIGHTS OF:

Tiger Kingdom

Chiang Mai