Can-O-Deana

Day 2 of our Kanchanaburi trip was fun. After breakfast at the resort and a short trip to the steamy Lawa Cave we headed to the Tiger Temple.

This is a local Wat that houses Indo-Chinese Tigers, along with other animals, and gives visitor a chance to interact with said tigers. We arrived early so that we would have a chance to sign up to play with the baby tiger cubs. We ended up having to wait 2 hours until opening and didn't get to see the cubs as we didn't have enough cash.

Next time! (seems to be the theme of this trip, no?)

Here's how it went:

Herding the cattle down the street, through the parking lot.

Not too convincing First Aid cabinet

Love the way he is sitting. Watching CNN.

Once the gates opened at 12 we headed in to meet the Cats. We got the chance to take pictures with any of the tigers we wanted, all except the big guy that was pacing constantly. They didn't let anyone near him.

Not too many people there.

Playing in the dirt, bored with the tigers.

Checking out the other animals.

When everyone had their fill of pictures we were all given the chance to walk the tigers down into the canyon. Visitors were staged into groups of about 20 and then each member of the group got to hold the leash and get their picture taken. This was awesome. We were one of the last groups though as they wanted the kids to go with a particularly calm tiger.

This tiger was huge!

Once all of the tigers arrived in the canyon, more opportunities for pictures were available. We were able to get several group shots with the tigers heads in our laps. Ellie was the first one to volunteer to put a tiger head in her lap. Danny was not interested in this at all. He did not want to be in there with the tigers and rarely looked at the camera.

Trying to get him into position.

Ellie got spooked when the tiger shook off a fly.

When we had our fill of the tigers we headed towards the exit and checked out the other animals along the way. You would never be able to walk up to some of these animals like this in the US.

Pig crossing.

Water Buffalo

Until next time Wat Pa Luang Bua Yanasampano.

On to Part 3...

School break means entertaining 4 kids for 3 weeks. Ugh! All they want to do is sit around the house all day and play on electronics (XBOX, Ipod, Ipad, PC). I ALWAYS want to leave the house but end up doing what everyone else wants. After 2 weeks of sitting around we finally went somewhere. Ok, so we did go to Safari World, but that doesn't really count to me as we didn't leave Bangkok.

On the last Saturday before break was over we headed west to Kanchanaburi. You can learn more about this area here. The plan was to drive straight through to Erawan Falls and then make our way back to Kanchanaburi. We left late, 10am, and it took us 3+ hours to get to the falls.

Cow AND Elephant crossing.

Just your everyday Tank on the road.

By the time we parked and changed and started hiking up it was 2pm. The park closed at 4:30 so I was hurrying everyone along to get to the top before the pass closed. There are 7 steps of the Waterfall, we only made it to 4.5 before we gave in and took a dip. The steps were some of the steepest I have seen in Thailand (or anywhere else). Next time we will get there earlier and reach the top. We worked our way down as the time was dwindling. I definitely want to come back and spend more time here.

Ben trying to put Danny's feet in the water for a fish pedicure.

The 4th level was the favorite. It had huge natural rock slides. All of the boys tried it at least once. Ellie never made it around to climb up. I really wish that I caught Ben slipping off of the rock with the camera. It was hilarious!

Ellie eventually got wet just as we were about to leave.

We ate an early (Thai) dinner at one of the food stalls in the parking lot before heading back down the mountain to find somewhere to stay for the night. This was a bit stressful not knowing where we were going but we picked a place and drove there hoping they would have a room. It was already getting dark too. The setting sun made for a nice drive though, until it went behind the mountain and we were on the winding mountain roads in the dark.

We ended up at the Resotel River Kwai Resort. My thought was to steer clear of the "Resorts" in an attempt to find a cheaper room but when you don't plan ahead it doesn't matter anyway. When we arrived they said they had just one room left and it had 2 twin beds. We took it. Sleeping arrangements were quite interesting. The 2 beds were pushed together. Ellie slept in the 2 wicker chairs, that she pushed together to make a bed. Danny decided he wanted to sleep on the floor so that left Ben and I with 2 boys in 2 twin beds pushed together. We decided to sleep sideways on the beds, thinking this would allow more space. It worked until midnight when we turned everyone the right way and went back to sleep. Danny ended up back in the bed and slept in the crack between the two beds. I won't complain because I know we were lucky to find something but that must have been one of my least favorite nights sleep, EVER!

In the morning we got to see the rest of the resort and enjoyed breakfast before heading just down the road to check out a nearby cave. I have only been in a few caves in my life but have NEVER been in such a HOT cave. There was no exit on the other side (and being in Thailand) made for no airflow and the most humid, hot, steamy cave ever. We had 2 Thai girls about Ellie's age as tour guides. They were awesome and took us off the trails to see interesting stuff even though we didn't know what they were saying. We tipped them well. :)