Thailand Travel Log, Part 2

January 23,

After three nights at the Rainforest, we moved this morning to the YMCA in the northwestern part of town. For some reason, I can’t shake thinking about the Village People. That’s weird! Honestly, it is hard to look at the next two weeks positively. Who likes the idea of doing school work in Thailand? At least it’s about a hundred degrees warmer here than Mongolia!


January 26,

Things haven’t been quite as busy as we were expecting. It has been a nice ease into the grad program this week. Our accommodations are not too bad. It is off the main road, but there is a large mall within ten minutes walk. In fact, if we look out our window we can see the mall. It has been a nice place for Jennifer to go walk while I have been in class. It has also been a good meal stop. There are a couple pizza joints, an Auntie Anna’s Pretzel place, Duncan Donuts, Dairy Queen, etc. We love Thailand!!

Class has been more enjoyable than expected. There are about fourteen of us. Three-fourths of the class came to Asia at the same time we did, so we already have a familiarity with most of them. We have also made several new friends including two married couples living in Vietnam. It has been fun to meet new people and share stories.

The other great part about being where we are at is the little convenient store just outside the YMCA door. It may not look like much, but they have the best fruit smoothies in the world. What is even better is that a large smoothie is only a buck! Besides smoothies they also have great milkshakes, coffees, and various snacks. It has already become a regular stop and will probably continue to be through our stay here. The couple that owns and works at the place are also very sweet. They speak pretty good English and love to interact with the grad students that frequent the Y every year at this time.


January 29,


Time really flies when you stay busy. The first week of class is over, and our time at the Y is half over. As an encouragement to get through the week, we decided to make a trip to a popular attraction today, Saturday. We went to Tiger Kingdom!! First, there is not much better than a tiger in the animal kingdom. Second, there is not much better than getting to actually be in the presence of a tiger without a fence separating us.

The attraction of Tiger Kingdom is that you get to go in a cage with tigers that are not drugged in any way.  There are handlers and rules to follow, but it is perhaps the most natural encounter that any person can really have with a tiger.

We got a group of friends (new and old) together and made arrangements for a saung tau (a popular red truck taxi) to take us to Tiger Kingdom which is about 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai.  Having a group made the trip more affordable and more enjoyable!  There are three groups of tigers that one can choose to be with: biggest, medium, and smallest.  We all decided to do the biggest and the smallest.  After entering a door reminiscent (in a much smaller way) of Jurassic Park, we were conducted to the cage of the biggest tigers.  We had to leave our loose articles on a table outside the cage before climbing into the cage.  What an exhilarating feeling to look up and see two tigers just a few yards of open ground away.

We approached the tigers from behind as the regulations stated.  Several of our group were a little hesitant at first, but the handlers encouraged us to rub away.  The tiger’s fur was much softer than you would think.  How incredible to rub, pet, and scratch a creature of such great power and prestige!!





The tiger, of course, was loving the attention and did not really appreciate the handler constantly waking him up to get pictures.  Though a tiger is always a wild creature, these had obviously become very accustomed to people and had probably had people around since they were cubs.

Before we left the big tigers, one rolled over so that I could rub its tummy.  WOW!!!  Our incredible time with these two years olds came to an end much sooner than any of us would have liked, but that only meant that it was time to visit the two month olds.

 We had to take off our shoes and wash our hands before going into the infant area.  The young ones were so cute!  They were like big kittens.  

Jennifer was allowed to hold one in her arms like a baby, and one spread out on my lap for a little snooze.  As small as they were, it was evident that they would grow up to be big and strong.  At two months, their paws were already as large as Jennifer’s hand.

There are no words to adequately describe how awesome this experience was.  There were also a couple four month olds, but we spent most of our time with the youngest ones.  Again, our time with these wonderful creatures ended too soon, but none of us will ever forget that experience!!

 



A little scary, isn't it?

While at Tiger Kingdom, we had two more join our group.  As they played with the small tigers, the rest of us had some lunch at the restaurant.  Since we had a driver and a truck for whatever and however long we liked, we asked him to take us to the Orchid Farm that Jennifer and I went to during our elephant camp day.  We all had such a wonderful time strolling leisurely through the flowers.  It was nice to have more than thirty minutes to explore this wonder of creation.

By the time we were done there, we were all so tired that we were ready to head back to the Y.  What an adventure!!  PTL for the opportunities that He has given us!!  Our time in Thailand is much more than the work of the grad classes.  We are resting and enjoying just another aspect of this wonderful world we live in!!