The day started late as we were finally used to the time change and managed to sleep until a little after 9:00 AM. We didn’t have any plans for the day but there were a few things that I had never done that interested Shaun. He felt it was important to do something on the trip that wasn’t Rebecca related and to make a few new memories that I could carry home that were purely happy. I thought we had accomplished that a couple of nights before at Super Pu**y but Shaun didn’t have the same memories of the night as I did.
We decided to check out The Tiger Temple. It’s about a two and a half hour drive outside the city but we had time to kill and Shaun has some sort of tiger fetish so, we made a deal with a taxi for the day and set off in search of adventure.
The drive took forever. There was traffic in a lot of the small towns along the way and the going was very slow. Surprisingly, Mr. Narcolepsy managed to stay awake and the time was filled with good conversation, a can of Pringles and a lot less anxiety than I’ve been feeling lately.
We arrived around 3:00 PM, which was wonderful because most of the people were gone by then and it wasn’t at all crowded. We entered and made our way to the “temple” area. Now, I have to say this in the interest of total honesty but I want you to know before I do that it doesn’t matter at all. I don’t think it’s in any way a real temple and I’m not entirely sure those guys in robes were really monks. Now that we got that out of the way….IT WAS AWESOME!
We walked down a path and came to a natural rock enclosure filled with tigers. Right….real tigers. There were small ones, bigger ones and massive giant tigers. They were everywhere. A guide took us each by the hand and led us from one to another while another guide used our cameras to take photos. We petted them, played with their tails and they even laid their pretty tiger heads on Shaun’s lap. It was so very cool. The tiger song from “The Hangover” kept running through my head but that only made it better.
After that we moved to the tiger cub area and watched as they played in the water. Tigers play hard and they were going at it with each other and splashing all over the place. It could not have been cuter.
We walked for a while and looked at a bunch of other non-tiger animals and then piled back into the car to go a few kilometers away to see another attraction in the area – The Bridge over the River Kwai.
Until then I thought it was a factual story but I am not sure now. Whatever the case, this was the bridge and the river and we were there. It was beautiful and rural if not a bit crowded. Shaun still had Granny with him and identified a pretty spot across the river that would be perfect to set her free. That’s right….across the bridge we went.
In case you didn’t know, it’s a railway bridge. It’s still in operation and there is just enough width for a train to fit, all of which made crossing it very cool. We reached the other side and it couldn’t have been more different from where we started. There were no tourists, no gift shop….no nothing. In other words, perfection. I imagine it looks today much as it looked in the 1940’s when they either did or didn’t do whatever they did or didn’t do there. We climbed down a rickety metal staircase to the shoreline below and walked down the shore to the spot Shaun had picked out. We took off our flip flops and waded into the River Kwai and Shaun bid his Granny “goodbye…..for now.”
By the time we got back to the hotel it was time for dinner so we grabbed showers and went back to see if Ruan Urai was really as good as the night before. It was. We tried different dishes, (except for the Pomelo salad, which Shaun is now addicted to), and again, each one was a masterpiece. The skill and technique it must take to create those flavors is evident in every forkful.
It had been a full day and we were tired so we simply called it a night after that. It was a good day and for a few hours I felt like I was on vacation. I’m grateful to Shaun for that and for the new memories I have of one of my favorite cities.
sounds like a refreshing day! :-)
Posted by: Patricia | January 06, 2012 at 01:06 AM