The one thing I haven't mentioned so far is the driving. There people are crazy. There is certainly no legislation or few laws, just common practices. Scooters are all over the place and at least half the people don't wear helmets. You'll see three people on a scooter, a parent with a three year old on the back, even younger kids being held close in the front. I even say two parents with helmets and a toddler sandwiched between them without a helmet. You'll see workers on their way to work with 15 crammed in the back of a pickup plat bed, you'll see tuk tuk school busses with kids crammed inside and some hanging off the back (San Francisco trolley style) and some holding on for dear life on the roof. Just trying to get an education.
I didn't have my camera out for a lot of my taxi rides but did have it out for the eventful trip to the airport.
Two other things I noticed. Phuket has a Premium Outlet mall with the same stores and a Sizzler. I didn't know those existed any more.
When I got to my hotel, I rested up a bit and then headed to Tiger Kingdom. I had a bit of a moral dilemma on if I should go given lax laws and uncertainty around conditions, but I figured when in Rome. Most, if not all, we're bread in captivity and they were trying to raise awareness so I took that as the positive and went with it. I got to play with some 2 month olds and 4-5 month olds.
You couldn't use a flash and I didn't have time to find the right settings so most came out a bit blurry. But I got a cd with me and the cats that should have some better ones on it. Pretty cute, huh?
Then, it was time for the big cats. The ones that can kill you. 16 month to 3 year olds. They were all tame and you had a guide with you at all times. Granted, they only had a bamboo stick with them for protection. They were definitely enclosed animals, but their eyes seemed alert and based on what started to unfold, they didn't appear drugged or anything to have humans around.
The photographer and guide were leading me around and I got in one spit with two tigers. With great urgency they told me to get close, lay on tiger, pet tiger so I did. Hopefully there's at least one picture with my eyes open of that shot. But not soon after they two cats started playing. You know, biting ears and pulling each other into the pool.
Everyone kind of backed away (there were probably 15 people inside) forgetting there were 4 other tigers somewhere in the pen. I figured at that point I had my pictures and didn't need to risk my life anymore.
Not 15 minutes after I got out, it started to rain and this happened.
Full on fight. Growling and hissing and everything That's when I figured they weren't drugged and also got a quick reminder they're still wild animals.
Location:Chiang Mai,Thailand
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