Tigers and Elephants

Hello! 

Our Tuc Tuc driver AKA our personal chauffeur, Mr Suket; took us to the Tiger temple one rainy afternoon in Chiang Mai.. and it was awesome! The tigers were super cute and very playful. This is quite an expensive day trip, especially to see the youngest tigers.

As we went into the cage I was quite apprehensive, these are real life tigers, being riled up by all the other tigers. Their cuteness took over though and I was in love, they nip and scratch just like house cats, they make sweet little noises and they are super soft.  Nick loved them and vice versa, the little buggers wouldn't leave him alone; they were tugging at his clothes and would let him tickle their tummys! 

Tiger temple was awesome, but you do have to be aware that the tigers are not treated too well, especially the big cats, it is something to bare in mind. 

The Elephant Park was much more pleasant  when it comes to the way the animals are treated. We went to Baan Chang elephant park, I highly recommend this place, they treat the elephants with patients, care and respect. The elephants are not overworked or forced to parade around with doing silly things such as playing football or paint a picture.

Again I was a bit nervous of these elephants, THEY ARE HUGE!!! I didn't really get use to them either, they don't feel nice, a bit like a tyre with hair. Nick was good with them though, feeding them bananas and letting them put their trunks on him. EW. 

The staff provided lunch for us which was a nice tasty curry with the freshest pineapple I have ever had. After lunch we started our elephant riding training. This was really fun, we learnt the commands; how to make our elephant go forward and turn left or right.  We watched the trainers do a few tricks and then we had a go ourselves! I went on the baby elephant for this, which still seemed very high up. 

After our training it was time for the real thing. We went for an hours ride on the elephants, me and Nick alternated who sat at the head and who sat at the back. They are not the comfiest mode of transport; definitely a work out for the legs though. 

After the hours trek it was bath time; this is where all the elephants tend to do their business so you had to get over how gross the water was! 

We scrubbed down our elephant and played with her in the water, she was awesome!! 

This baby elephant was a rascal, we had a few water fights with him! 

This trip was definitely the highlight of Thailand, it was a fantastic day, the elephants where treated well and the trainers clearly had great respect for them.

Sarah xxx