by Missie Hills | Jul 26, 2015 | Asia, Europe, International Adventures
As the weather continues to get hotter and the days continue to get longer, I find myself daydreaming about my next adventure. Sadly, our next scheduled trip isn’t until November. What was I thinking when I decided to skip this year’s summer vaca so that we could spend the holidays in Europe? I must have been crazy thinking that I could last that long in between travels! Now, all I have is my memories of last year’s summer vacation spent in the perfect mild weather of the Mediterranean Sea to feed my wanderlust.
When Jason told me that his number one bucket list country was Turkey, I thought to myself, why? OK, maybe not to myself. Maybe, very openly and rather bluntly. “Turkey, how boring! What about Paris?! What about Rome?!” But he quickly made me feel pretty sheltered and naïve. And all it took was a few Google image searches of Istanbul and the Mediterranean Sea. It was time for this small town country girl to step outside her comfort zone and experience something completely different.
So, after convincing our family that visiting Turkey was perfectly safe, we packed up and headed on a non-stop flight to Istanbul. And one more short flight and bumpy bus ride later brought us to the coastal village of Fethiye staring into the pure blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
We had just enough time to explore Fethiye’s famous tombs before our sail boat left the docks. These 2,400 year old tombs were carved into the mountainside by the Lycians. These were the first of the many tombs we saw scattered throughout the Turkish coastline. As we gazed up at the massive rock structures, we couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe and amazement. Plus, the view of the city with the blue sea backdrop was breathtaking.
We could have stayed up here all day, but we had a boat to catch. So we walked the small curvy roads towards the coast until we found the docks. And excitingly, we boarded our boat ready to meet our new boat mates. We had 8 days at sea ahead of us. Which was a little nerve-racking as we had no idea if we would get along with the other 12 people on the boat. However, it didn’t take long for that worry to go away. We had an amazing group of people from Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, and of course the US.
After introductions and learning the house rules, we began our sail. We spent the night anchored in a quiet cove where we swam in the Mediterranean water for the first time. Then, we had a delicious fish dinner on the boat and a night of drinking games to wrap up our first day at sea. That night, we were rocked to sleep in our cabins by the soft ocean waves while we dreamt of our adventures to come.
Those dreams were interrupted by the sound of the boat’s motor at first light that morning. I rolled onto my side to ignore the loud hum, and for a second, I thought I would go back to sleep. Then the boat started to move, and as it gained speed causing it to rock heavily, I quickly learned I was not going to sleep any longer. So, I stumbled my way to the deck and found a resting spot at the back of the boat. Soon everyone else joined, all looking quite green. The captain brought us loaves of bread, which seem to help with the sea sickness, and we all loaded up on Dramamine, which seemed to help a little more. And after a few heaves over the side of the deck, we all started to question how exciting our adventure at sea would actually be. However, despite the sea sickness, we still were in awe at the beauty that surrounded us. Eventually, we came to stop and had a wonderful Turkish breakfast which was perfect for refueling our now empty bellies. Then another short ride later, we arrived at Butterfly Valley, our first stop on the coastline tour.
Butterfly Valley is exactly what the name claims. A huge valley in which butterflies migrate to every year. Unfortunately, we were not visiting during butterfly season. However, that did not diminish the spine tingling views. As we neared the valley masked by a layer of morning fog I felt like we were about to step foot into Jurassic Park.
Once ashore, we took a short beautiful hike into the valley where we found a small waterfall. We climbed up the waterfall and were rewarded with an amazing view of the valley and sea. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend in this one location. So, we all reluctantly re-boarded the boat and started back at sea once more, this time better prepared for the oncoming sea sickness.
Our next stop was Gemiler Island, also known as St. Nicholas Island. Yes, Santa Clause himself. The island contains the ruins of five Byzantine churches. We spent our afternoon trekking through the ruins. Every corner we turned brought something new and exciting.
We spent the night anchored outside Gemiler Island. We had a pretty easy night as everyone was still feeling a little queasy from the first day of sailing. We settled in our cabins for a much needed good night’s rest. That was the idea anyhow. Mother Nature had other plans. I woke up that night with the boat heavily rocking back and forth. I could hear the hard rain hitting the deck above and the loud roars of thunder. I wondered if we were safe. Surely the captain and crew would let us know if we in danger, right? As the boat creaked from the heavy rocking, I feared it would rip apart. But there was nothing I could do, other than curl up and try to think of better things. Eventually the storm passed and the boat survived. And once again I was awoken by the loud hum of the motor at first light. I made my way to the deck and found my wet seat. A few minutes later, we were off to sea.
That day we were awarded with a walk through the village of Kas. It was nice to get our feet on solid ground for a bit. Then, we spent the clear night under that stars enjoying life.
The next morning, we started our day in a small village called Ucagiz. It seemed like nothing more than a fishing village, until we wandered across these tombs.
After a few hours of exploring, we boarded back up and rode by the Sunken City, which sounded a lot more interesting than it actually was. Then, we arrived at Kaleko, where we explored a crusaders castle dated back to the 4th century B.C.
For the night, we headed to a nice cozy cove area. We found a pirate cave to explore and then spent the rest of the evening swimming. That night the boys headed to shore for a crazy bonfire, and the girls stayed on the boat and slept under the stars, slumber party style.
The next morning, we stayed in the cove and spent the day swimming and kayaking around the cove. That night we got all dolled up and went to a small pirate bar hidden in the cove. We spent the night dancing with all the other travelers sailing in the area.
For the last couple days, we sailed back in the open sea stopping at a nice beach here and there. When we arrived back in Fethiye, we spent our last night together in a hookah bar knowing that we would most likely never see each other again. That is the bittersweet part of traveling. You meet amazing people and get to know them closely for a very fleeting moment. Then you part ways and go back to your own corner of the world. Sure, you exchange emails and become Facebook friends. But as the days pass you realize that the people you met on that trip are quite different then the people you see in your Facebook news feed. But then again, you never know when our paths may cross again.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | May 3, 2015 | Asia, International Adventures
After two weeks touring Thailand with our dear friends from Miami and Chicago, a little alone time was welcomed. And what better way to wind down our trip than with a quick stop in Cambodia to explore the temples of Angkor Wat? OK, so maybe the “wind-down” wasn’t as relaxing as one would have hoped. But after a few days on the beaches of Phuket, I was ready for a little more adventure before our return to reality. So, we said our tearful goodbyes and hopped a quick plane to Siem Reap where the adventure began, Tomb Raider style.
Thailand is a pretty touristy destination. Technically, Angkor Wat is too. So, I’m not quite sure what I expected when we got off our plane and stepped into the tiny one terminal airport. Perhaps we had become accustomed to the busier streets of Thailand. Cambodia, on the other hand, was a bit more laid back, made obvious by the children riding their bikes to school and the random cows grazing in the ditches. After a leisurely ride on many dirt backroads, we arrived in our small boutique hotel bubbling over with anticipation of seeing the temples. So, we wasted no time. The hotel set up a tuk tuk driver, Mr. Theon, to cater to us for our entire stay. So after buying our three day passes, we immediately headed to the best temple for watching the sunset.
This temple required a short hike up a hillside where it was situated high enough to get a good glimpse of the sunset over the forest trees. And right away, we got to experience the crowds of tourists that Angkor Wat temples are famous for. It’s quite amazing how many people flock to these temples every day. I suppose that proves just how amazing the views and atmosphere of these ruins are. However, it does dull the experience a tad when you need to share it with hundreds of strangers. Nevertheless, we took it all in, our first temple sighting and the vast jungle surrounding it.
We headed back in to town and found a small local restaurant nearby where I had the best duck of my life. We would have liked to explore the city’s nightlife, but it was a long day of carrying backpacks through the airport. Our backs ached. Thankfully, we were able to get massages in our room which put us right to sleep.
The next morning, Mr. Theon met us 5:00 AM. The hotel packed us a breakfast and we headed to the temples while it was still dark outside. We arrived at Angkor Wat with hundreds of other tourists all stumbling in the dark to find the best spot to watch the sun rise. Most people gathered around the pools setting up tripods and staking their claim on precious space. We tried this, but the crowd proved to be a little much for me. So, we set up the tri-pod directly in front of the entrance into the Angkor Wat complex and sat on the stone pathway to eat our breakfast while the sun slowly rose above the horizon. And as the sun did its thing, we starred in amazement at the vast temple before us.
You can read all about Angkor Wat and the other surrounding temples here. I am not a history buff, so I will spare you all the butchering of the details. Yes, knowing its history made the temples that more grand. But even without a tour guide giving us blow by blow details, I was in awe. Still, I had Jason with me who had read quite a bit about the temples prior to arriving in Cambodia. He was all the tour guide I needed.
As the sun came up, it started to get hot. Really hot. I mean seriously. I live in Houston. I should be used to this kind of heat. But I wasn’t. That didn’t stop us, we loaded up on water and continued to explore while soaking our cloths with sweat.
Our next stop was the ancient capital city, Angkor Thom, which contained many small temples (well, small compared to Angkor Wat but still rather large). We started by exploring the temple Bayon, most characterized by the dozens of faces carved into the temple towers. This may have been my favorite temple, although it is really hard to pick. The other temples in the area paled in comparison to Bayon, but that didn’t stop us from exploring each one of them. At one point we did get somewhat lost in the jungle. We wondered around on a beaten path hoping we didn’t stumble upon any landmines.
After making our way through the entire city in the high noon heat, we could have called it a day. However, we didn’t have time for that. So, we climbed into our tuk tuk, and Mr Theon drove us to the next temple, Ta Prohm. This temple is best known as the Tomb Raider Temple. It was a smaller temple then some of the others we had explored, but it had its own charm about it. It was overtaken by the forest. Huge tree roots had dug their way into the stone and started to bring the temple down. I really did feel like Angelina Jolie, well minus the hundreds of other people crowding the temple with me.
And after climbing through the ruined temple pretending we were in an Indiana Jones movie, we were exhausted. Mr. Theon dropped us off at a restaurant where we re-fueled and debated calling it a day. No time though. So, back in the tuk tuk we went. We hit up multiple more temples, all too small to remember their names, before we couldn’t take the site of another temple and finally called it a day.
Back in the hotel, we showered the red dirt and sweat off and relaxed our aching feet. Then, a bit refreshed, we ventured out to find food. We landed on Pub Street, which was bustling a bit more like what we encountered in Thailand. There was a pretty vast market in the area. So, we shopped and ate some street food snacks before settling in at a restaurant and filling up with beer.
The next morning, we met Mr. Theon at 6:30 AM and headed out to finish up the last of the temples. We stopped by Angkor Wat one last time to catch a few shots of the sunrise. And then took our time through the remaining last temples, soaking it all in. We bought some Cambodian treats, including tiny little clams in a spicy sauce. And then we were through. We were all templed out. It was an exciting three day trip. Perhaps, not the relaxing end to the long vacation one might of hoped for. But that just isn’t our style. We made our way back to Bangkok for one last night before returning to reality.
And now, I sit on a rough turbulent plane ride on yet another boring work trip, dreaming of the day I can return. Southeast Asia has won our hearts. And there is still so much more to see.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Apr 9, 2015 | Asia, International Adventures
So, what is the first thing you think of when you think of Thailand? Well, if you are like most people, you probably think about “The Beach”. You know, that Leonardo DiCaprio movie that came out like 15 years ago and made everyone who saw it want to flock to Thailand immediately. Well, that is how we spent our last few days in Thailand, relaxing on the beautiful beaches in Phuket pretending we were young pre-Titantic Leos looking for good times.
Phuket wasn’t what I imagined it to be. Who knew that I would fly half around the world to go to another Cancun destination? Well, despite the 18 year old party atmosphere, we were able to find our own little nook of relaxation on Kamala Beach. This beach was a smaller less crowded beach just north of the oh-so-popular party beach, Patong. The water was crystal clear, turquoise blue, and bath water warm. The beach was lined with adorable restaurants, massage stations, and (our favorite) smoothie shacks. I would like to give you guys a blow by blow of our adventures here, but I fear I would bore you as our adventures consisted mainly of laying under umbrellas, getting massages, and drinking mojitos.
We did force ourselves away from the beach occasionally for a little action. We took a ferry to Koh Phi Phi island so we could actually see the beach that Leo was filmed on. We ended up on a tour called Bob’s Booze Cruise in which we were crammed with 20 other teenagers. The success of the trip varies depending on who you talk to. For instance, the extremely drunk kid that puked on me seemed to be having a YOLO kind of time. However, those of us who were puked on were not really in a YOLO kinda mood. Despite the crowd (and the puke), we still saw some amazing scenery.
After the booze cruise fail, I was ready for a more grown up adventure. Jason and I took a Thai cooking class which ended up being a lot of fun, although it highlighted the fact that we have entered a new phase in our lives where we would rather cook then drink ourselves silly.
And for our final venture away from the beach, we hired a traditional Thailand long tail boat to take us snorkeling which turned out to be the best tour we took in Phuket. We spent the afternoon with our faces under water until we turned into prunes. Then, we found a secluded beach only accessible by boat where we had fresh fish for lunch.
After our final sunset together, we bought paper lanterns, lit them up, and released them into the sky with teary eyes. The next time the 6 of get together, we may very well be in another phase of our lives, and it may not be just us 6 anymore. So, we drank a beer to Thailand and said our goodnights. Thailand had won us over. We all fell in love.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Mar 21, 2015 | Asia, International Adventures
“IT’S ELEPHANT DAY!!” That’s how I woke up early that morning in my Chiang Mai hotel bed while the sun was just beginning to make its appearance. Within hours, I was going to come face to face with my favorite animal with no bars or fences to distance us. My adrenalin was running high, causing me to act way outside my character. I had become a morning person, something that happens only on very special occasions. Jason (who is always a morning person) and I met the others in the kitchen where we patiently ate our breakfast while we waited for our tour guide to arrive.
We weren’t really sure what to expect from the tour we booked. I did a little research and chose Dante’s Elephant Park, because the reviews sounded as if the elephants at the park were treated well. I was very apprehensive about the whole thing. I don’t support circuses that abuse elephants. So, I didn’t want to support any other tourism activity that would be comparable to the same thing. But the only way to know for sure was to visit the park and see for my own eyes. And I will say my curiosity tends to get the best of me in these situations.
When the tour guide arrived, there were four other guests already in the van. We introduced ourselves to Alex, Caroline, and Amanda all from the States. We had a pretty good representation of the USA in that van. Houston, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.
Before we made it to the camp, our tour guide, Mr. Big (who oddly was nothing like the Mr. Big from “Sex and the City”), stopped at a local market to pick up a few items for our lunch. This gave us a good opportunity to get some snacks for ourselves as well. I bought a hat for $3 and some other food items that I didn’t know. And we piled back into the van and made our way into the hills.
When we arrived at the camp, we immediately saw the elephants off in the distance. My first instinct was to run out to greet them, but I knew better. I needed to be patient and follow Mr. Big’s instructions. So, we settled up money and were given our outfits for the day. We all looked pretty sweet in our matching mahout outfits. And they even found one big enough to fit Jason.
While we were getting dressed, we were surprisingly greeted by a curious baby elephant who decided to wonder inside the hut to see what was going on. She sneaked up behind me and startled me with her little (but still quite large) trunk. And that was my first formal acquaintance with an elephant. I was in love. Once she realized we didn’t have any treats though, she wondered on to nosey around somewhere else.
After our not so formal training with Mr. Big where he unsuccessfully attempted to teach us a bunch of elephant commands in Thai, the boys cut up some sugar cane, showing off their muscles. And we all made our way out to meet the elephant family.
As the elephants saw us coming, they started getting extra excited. I’d like to say they were excited to see us, but truth is they knew we had sugar cane. And they wanted it bad. The boys were carrying the sugar cane, which made them nice targets for trampling elephants with bad sweet-tooths. And the girls got quite the laugh as the boys starting running in every which direction trying to keep the elephants from taking them each down and stealing all the sugar cane. Soon, we all realized the best thing to do was to just feed them.
We spent a lot of time feeding the elephants in order to get use to being so close to the massive animals. We learned quickly that we needed to watch our feet especially around the two babies. Jason suffered from a baby elephant stomp which probably felt similar to having a 4-wheeler role over your feet. Ok, maybe a lawn mower, but still, owwww! If truth be told, being around these big guys seemed way more dangerous than being around the tigers we experienced the day before. But the longer we hanged out, the more comfortable we became. Well, until Mr. Big summoned the first guest to climb up top one of them. This was a whole different game!
There were a couple different ways to get on top of the elephant. The best way though was to let the elephant lift you up with her trunk. Once up there, you had to shimmy yourself around to position yourself right behind the elephant’s ears. The skin behind the elephant’s ears is sensitive enough to feel the commands you give it. And then we walked, well sort of. Maybe I should have listened a little more closely when Mr. Big was teaching us the Thai commands. The elephant seemed rather un-phased that I was on her back, and she really didn’t care to listen to my commands. She pretty much just walked where-ever she wanted. Which for the most part meant she was in search of more sugar cane. And sitting on the elephant looked simple enough from the ground, but after getting up there, I have to say, it was quite terrifying. Being behind the ears meant I was looking straight down at the ground. I realized I could easily fall off and get stomped on by a massive elephant foot quite easily. But despite the small fear, I was on cloud nine. I was riding an elephant after all!
Once we all got our chance to try out our elephant riding skills, we took a break and had some lunch. After lunch, we had a couple beers. We were about to go on a long hike on the back of an elephant, we needed to hydrate. Then, we headed out to meet our elephant partners for the hike. Mr. Big had paired each of us up with the elephant he thought met our personalities. Not surprisingly, this meant that Jason got Big Joe, the only male in the family who was nearly twice the size as the females. I got Mee Noi, Big Joe’s pregnant wife. You could see this as a sign, but I chose to ignore it. Later, I made Mr. Big promise me that he would name the baby after me. He said he would name the baby Missie-Jay. I am assuming because she was pregnant, Mee Noi was tied up to Big Joe.
I wanted to take my camera with me, but because my previous training turned out to be a little bit more challenging than I thought, I decided against it, an action I later regretted. However, it was the right decision as for once, I actually got to enjoy the experience without focusing on the getting the perfect shot. I love photography, but sometimes being in the moment is important! This was one of those times. So, I let Mr. Big take photos for us.
We all climbed onto our elephants and started our hike. Derek was on the Baby Mama’s back, and he led the way. But she was a little too concerned with the curious baby and not at all concerned about Derek. She continuously wondered off the path chasing down the little one causing Derek to yell a lot and us to laugh. The other elephants were rather well behaved aside from the occasional butt scratch on a rock. They knew the trail pretty well. So, those commands we practiced were useless. I’m not completely convinced they were real commands. I suspect they might have been some sort of Thai profanity giving all the Thai elephant keepers a good inside giggle as we yelled them out.
The longer we hiked, the more comfortable we became on the elephants’ backs. We stopped for some water along the trail, and the elephant’s sprayed their bodies (and us) down with it. Another one of the elephants kept whispering cooing noises into my elephant’s ear. I wasn’t really sure what that was all about but it fascinated me. Soon, we came up to a small creek and the elephants plunged right in. Mr. Big brought us all beer to drink while we bathed the elephants. Then we played. The babies enjoyed trying to knock everyone over into the water. They were having the time of their lives! Which was kinda scary for those of us that didn’t want to get squished. The adults liked having their skin brushed. They splashed us with water, gave us kisses, and lifted us with their trunks.
Then we climbed back on their backs with beers in our hands and hiked back to the hut. I switched elephants with Jason so I could get my shot at riding Big Joe. He was like the Cadillac of elephants, very comfortable and easy going.
While sitting on top of an elephant with a beer in my hand, I wondered, is this a dream? It seems like the kind of weird dream I would have. Or maybe a commercial for Chang Beer. Either way, it was very real.
Yes, very real. And since that day, I have often experienced the “Elephants on Parade” dream from Dumbo as my mind is continuously wrapped up in elephants these days. I guess it’s time to head to the Houston Zoo to get my fix.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Mar 13, 2015 | Asia, International Adventures
Well, I thought this week would be my chance to catch up on my way behind photo editing. It was supposed to be a slow week. But what started out as my normal Monday, ended in an unexpected trip to my cardiologist and an unplanned surgery scheduled for the end of the week. Before anyone worries, everything is fine. My pace-maker/defibrillator’s battery, which was 8 years old, decided it was low and needed to be replaced. So, I went under the knife yesterday for a quick out-patient surgery to have a brand new pace-maker/defibrillator installed. (Installed? Is that the right word? Makes me sound like a cyborg!) Now, I’m at home recovering, a little sore and tired, but healing wonderfully, which has left me a lot of time for day-dreaming about Thailand and it’s fascinating markets.
Chiang Mai is known for it’s wonderful night markets. Every night they have a rather large night market that has become quite famous and, from what I have heard, rather touristy. However, we were lucky enough to be visiting on a Sunday and, therefore, had a wonderful opportunity to experience the Sunday Night Walking Street.
The Sunday Night Walking Street starts at 6:00 PM every Sunday. We had some time to spare after lunch. So, we took the opportunity to explore some of the temples in the area. We saw more Buddhas, lit some candles, said some prayers, and then waited and watched as the street vendors rushed to set up their booths of all kinds of interesting things.
And right on schedule at 6:00 PM the Thai National Anthem was played (as it is every night), and the city froze in recognition. And when the anthem finished, the market was open for business.
This market was very different from the other two markets we had visited in Bangkok, Khao San Rd and Chatuchak. The first big difference was the absence of alcohol. The second big difference was the presence of local arts and crafts, making the absence of alcohol more understandable as the artists wouldn’t want drunks stumbling over their works of art. And the third big difference was the abundance and variety of street food beyond the same ol’ same ol’ meat on a stick introducing us to new and exotic flavors.
As we walked the market, we were in awe by all the amazing pieces of art. So much so that we each walked away with our very own masterpieces to hang on our walls at home. I found an elephant painting that I fell in love with. I stared at it for some time, and the more I stared, the more I had to have it. So I played it cool while Jason turned on his haggling charm with the seller walking that line between getting a good deal and offending the artist, Sakchai. They settled on a price, and Sakchai posed for this photo for me.
The aroma in the air from all the food vendors was very powerful despite the ever growing crowd. So as we walked and shopped, we stopped occasionally to try different appetizers such as ham wrapped mushrooms, pig intestines, and donuts.
Jason bought these tiny ice-cream cones. We ate them and felt like giants.
However, the giant feeling began to fade away as the crowd continued to grow and wrap around us. Soon, we felt more like cattle being herded in whichever direction the crowd pushed us making shopping or eating difficult. So, we spotted a bar tucked away behind the market and settled in to rest our feet and have a couple drinks.
An hour later we were refreshed enough to take on the crowd once more. And after being herded through more narrow streets, we found what looked like a food-court of sorts where we stuffed ourselves with more street food wonders. Then out of nowhere I heard Gaby scream, “FOUND IT!” I need to explain first: Some people are wine enthusiasts, some people are beer enthusiasts, but Derek and Gaby are the only true ice-cream enthusiasts I know. They know every method of making any kind of frozen sweet treat there is. When they travel, trying the local ice-cream is a must-do. Gaby had been on a search for what is called stir-fried ice-cream since we arrived in Thailand. Stir-fried ice-cream is a method of making ice-cream in which cream is poured on a cold flat plate until frozen and then mixed with popular ice-cream additions like fruit and cookies. It is then scraped off the plate into a crepe like roll and served. And we had just found it. Even though we were all pretty stuffed, we made room for this special treat which was delicious.
And with this additional check off our bucket list, we called it a night. We had a date with some elephants set for the morning that we needed to rest up for…
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Mar 11, 2015 | Asia, International Adventures
First I want to preface this post by saying this:
When we first looked into seeing the tigers in Thailand, I was unsure. As an animal lover, I don’t want to support any tourist activity in which animals were treated poorly, and I had heard horror stories about some of these tiger “sanctuaries” that could be compared to roadside zoos here in the US. So I did my research before we went, and I felt like Tiger Kingdom was a moral institution. My research indicated that Tiger Kingdom does not drug or de-claw their tigers. I was still a little unsure before we went, but I decided that I should trust my research. Preface over.
When we arrived in Chiang Mai (after a long night riding the rails), we had some time before we could check into our hotel. So, we hired a tuk tuk driver to get us some breakfast and then take us to see some tigers. The tuk tuks in Chiang Mai were nothing more than trucks with the bed enclosed. We piled up into one and headed into the center of town where we found a local food-court like place. We each had an amazing Thai breakfast dish for around $2 a piece. Then nice and full, we piled into the truck again and set out for some sweet tiger action.
Upon arriving at Tiger Kingdom and reviewing the prices, we had to make a decision on what size tigers we wanted to see. There were four categories, tiny, small, medium, and large. Frankie, Kee-Kee, Jason, and I decided to see the tiny, small, and large tigers. Before we could go though, we needed to sign a waiver. The waiver basically said, “If your face gets mauled, we are not held liable.” But you know in better legal terms then that. It went on to say that if an accident was to happen, don’t expect a refund. This was a little concerning. I would hope that if one of the tigers attacked me, I could at least get my 40 bucks back. And it didn’t help matters that we had just read an article about a tourist that had been attacked by one of the tigers at this park recently. The danger was real. And very very exciting.
Nevertheless, Jason, Kee-Kee, and I signed our lives away. Frankie starred at the paper for some time, and then finally nervously signed as well, all while trying to play it cool.
Truth is, we were all a little nervous, or maybe excited… I’m not sure, but I definitely was feeling those butterflies.
My originally thought when choosing the tiger sizes was that we would start tiny and work up to large. However, the staff pointed us in the direction of the small first. So, we started there.
Before we could enter, we had to read the rather large list of rules which all sounded like common sense to me. “Don’t touch the tigers’ teeth or claws.” Um, Duh. This sign was a little concerning though.
Sure, don’t put your fingers or hands in the cage. But your whole body, that’s no problem.
Therefore, we walked into the tiger cage a little overcautious at first not really knowing what to expect. Our hearts were beating fast, and adrenaline was flowing through our veins. Our guide walked us over to a couple small tiger cubs laying out in the sun. He explained to us that the tigers like the attention from people, because they were all born at the park. There was nothing to worry about. But still we needed to be extra careful how we approached them. So, we laid down behind them and rubbed their bellies. They purred and rolled over for us, obviously liking the attention.
We became calmer and soon felt like we were playing with large house cats. A couple of the tigers were playing in the corner, jumping and fighting with each other. They would run around the space not really caring about the humans watching them and occasionally would brush up against my legs during their game of chase. You could see that the tigers had gone through a lot of training as they would lie down when instructed and let more visitors pet their bellies. My concerns about drugging completely went away.
I could have watched these tigers all day, but eventually our guide dragged us out so we could move on to the big beasts. Going into the big tiger cage, we felt much more confident. We were pros now after all. But then we saw one of the big tigers and all that adrenaline came rushing back. These tigers were much much larger than the tigers we had just played with. And this first one, named Nancy, was growling, jumping, and running around as it played with its trainer.
The guide took us to a platform where three very large tigers were sunbathing. The first tiger we met was named Frankie which gave us a little giggle as Frankie met his tiger counterpart. We gradually cozyed up to Frankie (the tiger not the Chicagoan) and before long found ourselves spooning him as he purred for affection.
Frankie approached Tiger Frankie extremely cautiously at first keeping a good arms length distance. After a little peer pressure though, he got a bit closer, and they became friends for life. Ok, maybe not friends, but they tolerated each other just fine.
The biggest tiger of the three was named Mike. He weighed close to 500 lbs! Our guide fed Mike some chicken, and my photographer brain took over as I tried to get the perfect closeup of his face completely forgetting that I was within feet of the tiger’s massive jaws.
Last up were the tiny cubs. They were in a small nursery full of toys. Their training was much less perfected, and they ran around playing with each other like kittens do. But they would lay down for belly pets after the trainer would command them a few times. And then they would purr, oh they would purr. With the babies, we were able to see their retractable claws up close which still looked like they could do quite a bit of damage. Frankie was much more comfortable with the cubs. Well really, we all were.
Then our time was up, and we headed out of the park still high on adrenaline while internally checking “playing with tigers” off our bucket lists and humming “Eye of the Tiger” in our heads.
(Note for all of our moms and other worried relatives who think we are becoming adrenaline junkies: Although the danger of this adventure was very real, and I will not discount it, this post was written with extra dramatic flare, well because that is what writers do. In reality, I felt perfectly safe at all times. So please don’t worry, we are still sensible safe adults.)
Until next time,
Recent Comments