Tigers save the world

Hands down one of the best experiences of my life, making Thailand a sure thing on my list of the top 5 places in the world! .

Tigers, cubs & kitties oh my! This Tiger Temple, run by monks is where you can touch, pet & walk huge tigers. You get up close and personal when a giant tiger head lays in your lap. Meow!

Kitty Kat in heaven, being with my own kind. We were even privileged enough to see the trainers exercise, more like play, with the big cats. They put us in a cage & surrounded us with 6 full grown tigers. They brought out some toys & wow - jumping, stalking & rough housing ensued - right in front of us not more than 5 feet away, if that. I can't tell you how cool this was. Well, pictures are the proof!


PS - oh yeah, we saw the bridge over the river Kwai too. We had lunch & had to endure a 4hour bus ride each way - so totally worth it.

The latest version of the bridge of the river Kwai

One of the many items in the store by the bridge :)

For 3USD I got to feed this little guy his bottle.

Getting a helping hand & some instruction with the kitten :)

Our first group shot

Kitty likes the belly rub! Brian the kitty whisper.

That's one big dude!

Rough housing

and a little stalking...

What's left of the last tourist

Tiger's really can fly!

My very own photo session - in kitty heaven

See all the fabulous pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157625154310023/

Back to Bangkok

If you can get past the dirt and grim, Bangkok is a city with great energy & atmosphere where shopping reigns supreme. We stayed on the West side of the city in the Banglamphu area, which in the last 20 years has developed into a world famous "backpacker ghetto". It offers cheap accommodation, ranging from 'mattress in a box' style hotels to reasonably priced 3-star hotels. It definitely has a rockin pulse & a wicked crazy night scene - not that we went out that much. The few times we did, we had a great time. We met up with our friend Martin, from Rarotonga, and he showed us that all the food carts turn into bar carts at midnight. Taylor and Denis came up from the wedding and we wandered around Khao San road, eating scorpions and drinking beers until exhausted. We just couldn't hang as the scene didn't get into full swing until about 1am. One could go 24/7 there, if that's what you are in to. Us, well, we went to look at some old crap :) as usual.

The guardian at the gate

Our last day in Bangkok before heading north, we spent visiting the reclining Buddha. Supposedly this is the largest of it's kind in all of Thailand. I think it was pretty big, and maybe they should extend that statement to include East Asia?

The reclining Buddha - so big it doesn't all fit in the picture.

This temple was so much more. First, the Buddha was huge and indoors. Second, it was just one of a series of Buddha statues and temples in the complex. It was really quite something. We just thought it was one outdoor structure. We had no idea just how cool it would be, and it was located directly across from the Palace. I had shorts and a tank top on, so we couldn't go in there. However, that was fine by us because by time we were done with Wat Pho, we had had it. There is just only so much you can absorb.

Standing, lucky Buddha

One of many halls lined with Buddhas - so cool!

One of the temples

I think this was the happy Buddha?

Inside a temple making offering in a borrowed Hawaiian shirt

Brian snacking on a Scorpion - oh yes he did!

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157625154208437/

The Wedding Party

We had one day in Bangkok, where we needed to do some shopping and last minute prep stuff for the wedding we were to attend. Wouldn't you know it, I was so sick that it took all my effort just to get to the hotel. Which of course we didn't have reservation for or even one picked out! After Brian telling the bus driver to stop so he could take a step outside the door and hurl, we were on are way downtown to hopefully a bed. Brian being the super hero he is, not only found us a great place in a fun location, at a resonable price, but got us into our hotel room at 9:30 am. A saviour as that's where I remained until 11 am the next day when I could finally lift my head up and get out of bed. Then off shopping we went because the mini bus was due at 4pm to take us down south to Pattaya (the town near their house). Joy.

One of the main reasons to be on this side of the globe was to attend our friend's from SF, Thai wedding in October. The wedding was set to occur on the 10th hour (am), of the 10th day, of the 10th month, of the 10th year, and lasted 14 hours (if you count the 2 hours of prep time)! And, it was to happen at the home they built.
First, there was a parade of the grooms family & friends (us included), who brought food offerings to Vena's family, the groom having to "buy" his way into the family (and had to brow additional money from others since he ran out) and all. Then there was all of Vena's siblings (15 of them) & their kids, the ceremony, the blessings, the food, the pool party, the reception, the singers, the Thai dancers, and then more food (jumping shrimp salad - yes it was alive, now that's fresh). Too bad I didn't have much of an appetite.

Their beautiful home

The food offering

It was a wonderful day and we felt very privileged and bless to be included in their special day. Unfortunately, the camera battery died and we only had taken a few pictures, but hopefully we will get more from others at at later time. Plenty of pictures were taken by all. But, click her to view our Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157625154105117/

Phuket Town / Veggie Festival

Phuket Vegetarian Festival

A colourful event held over a nine day period in early October, this celebrates the Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind.

We arrived on opening night of the festival on our way to Bankok. The streets were lined with food booths 2kms long. A dream come true for me and I was going to eat my way through. And, I did. I wanted to try everything. Not such a good idea. Just because it was vegetarian, I should have known better and stuck to the rules. You know, nothing raw, only fruits that come with peels (like bananas, or organges), no ice, be wary of dishes and nothing steamed in bamboo or leafs. Those are the rules.

With that said, off we ran. The both sides of the streets were lined with wall to wall vendor booths selling everything veg! Yummy.

By pure chance we stumbled into the temple to watch what we can only believe was the opening ceremony. Luckily I was already wearing my long shorts covering my knees and had a white long sleved t-shirt I could throw on.

It was crazy. People everywhere, some in trances but none with knives through there face, at least not yet. Once they raised the golden tree, we were back on the street for more treats.

We boarded the luxury bus at 7pm bound for Bangkok. Now, back to those rules. Well, what can we say, we broke em. Not thinking, drunk on veggies or in that "trance" or something, we ate some stir fry (delicious as it was but not worth it) in a banana leaf.

By 9pm we were sick. By morning I was praying for the bus to be there. It was terrible. Food poisioning twice in 3 days, not fun.

Meow

Festival pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157625260037808/

Ao Nang, Hong Islands, & Phi Phi

Ko Mook was great and we planned on island hopping our way through the southern islands. One problem - it was low season and apparently a lot of forms of public transportation were just not running = i.e. ferries, mini vans & buses.

We paid extra to avoid going through Trang again only to have to go through Trang, again. Well, that's traveling for you and just part of the adventure.


Anyhow, we arrived late in our next destination. A little town called Ao Nang, near the popular beach town of Krabi. It was great! It was like we walked into civilization again with a Starbucks and Subway. Yeah I know, but that Starbucks latte was so hard to resist and soooooooo good. Meow!

All kidding aside, this was a very cute little beach town. And, it was perfect for my morning runs. Can you say beach and shopping and massage oh my.
Since our plans to island hop were derailed because of low season we opted for a Hong island tour as the next best thing.

The morning of the 5 island tour however, it rained so hard that we had serious doubts of going. So did the tour people who asked if we still wanted to as the streets started to flood out. Being that everyone else was game and we had nothing else to do, we went for it.

We boarded the speed boat via the beach.. It was going to be a wet one! The weather cleared, the islands were beautiful, and we had a nice day of swimming, snorkeling and sightseeing after all.

Next stop, a quick ferry ride on one that was running, over to Phi Phi island. Pronounced Pee Pee. So that explains why it's pronounced "Poo ket", and not "fucket". he he. This was the hardest hit of all the places in Thailand, during the Phuket Tsunami due to it's shape. All I can say is that it has recovered. It's like the Miami beach, spring break of Thailand. We didn't make it to the full moon party, but our sheetrock free, all wood hotel, had a litter of kittens, so I didn't care about anything else.

I got double the trouble, and am loving it

We shared a great dinner on the beach, toes in the sand, with a great sunset and a bottle of wine. I don't know if it was the Mexican food, margarita's or the Thai food, but that night didn't go so well. By the next morning I was feeling better, but not great. That's okay, I had a day to recover before the Vegetarian festival began back in Phuket town.

View Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157625278852746/

My side of the island (Ko Mook)

After Phuket, we still had 10 days to kill before our friends wedding we were to attend near Bangkok. We decided to explore the southern islands. Off to Trang – the gateway to the south - we traveled via luxury bus. Trang = not so pretty.

The thrill of the long tail boat adventure over to Pawapi Resort on the Island of Ko Mook was only replaced by the majestic first glimpse of the resort itself, and landing on the pristine beach was just the start of our magical stay. When the ad stated beach front bungalows, they weren’t kidding. We were 10 feet from the water on our cute stilted accomadations.

Our lunch out on the veranda of our beach bungalow was followed by a candlelight dinner on the beach, with food made to order. She might not have been able to speak English, but she could cook! The accommodations exceeded our expectations, and we were so relaxed that when one of the owners (who was English guy named Neil) offer to let us stay another day, we did! Located on the “quiet” side of the island, one is just a few short steps to a traditional, local fishing town, either direction. It was amazing to see real life and a bit shocking. It really makes your appreciate the States. However, these people are helpful, friendly and happy. For a change of pace, we took a short motortaxi ride over to the other side of the island. The taxi is a scooter with a side car that goes up a singletrack trail the 3,5 km to the other side. The ride itself was so fun but we decided to save the 50 bat (30 bat = 1 USD) and get some exercise in at the same time by walking back. We stopped at the hillside restaurant for a cold one but hurried back to have dinner at our place. We knew our girl would be waiting for us. What we didn’t know was that she had waited all day, just for us, and didn’t/couldn’t go home until we were back.

We were one of the 9 “pholongs” (Gringo being the Spanish equivalent of this word) or “round eye” on the island.

Our last day here and the reason we came to visit this island was to see the Emerald cave. Move of a really exclusive private beach that you have to swim/ paddle through a cave to get too. Just another really amazing experience that almost didn’t happen. Because of all the jellyfish in the water, we decided to rent a kayak and paddle in verses swim in. This option meant that we had to time the tides correctly to have enough clearance to get through the cave to the other side. When we arrived, there was a big tour group in the water heading through. I wasn’t sure if we made it in time but we decided to go for it. However, we forgot one critical thing – our headlamp! What were we thinking, of course it was going to be dark in there!

The first attempted we entered the cave and immediately saw a huge jelly in the water. Thank goodness we decided to paddle. That was shortly replaced by me freaking out when it got so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. The second attempt, Brian made me lay down and put the paddle over my body/face in case the clearance was too low. I still freaked out. So then we tried to borrow a headlamp from the tour boat anchored outside. No one spoke English.

Then kitty logic kicked in. I made Brian jump in the water and swim it with the camera. At least he could take some pictures. Great, he wasn’t so thrilled though, knowing that there were jellyfish, but he did it anyhow while I hung out on the kayak just inside the cave. In my defense I dropped him off past the jelly, just before the darkness. He was back in mere minutes. He said it was no problem, the cave made a turn but we could get through easily, and that he would just tow me through. I closed my eyes and away we went.

Fear of the unknown is the scary part and we easily made it through as promise. It was fun actually, once we got around the corner and I could now see the light. As we came out of the cave and emerged into the cove, it was gorgeous. A secluded, white sand beach and minty clear water.
After 5 minutes, the tour group headed back, and 5 minutes later another couple on a private tour headed out. We were alone. It was COOL. – See pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157625277524690/

Meow!