Part 2 Pictures Thailand: River Kwai & Tiger Temple

IHere are more pictures from my trip to Thailand. I visited these two places on Thurs Sept 30th 2010.




Bridge Over River Kwai

It was less than a three hour drive from Bangkok to the bridge at River Kwai in the province Kanchanaburi. 

When I found out the history of the bridge just prior to arriving there, I felt very saddened that so many prisoners of war and civilians had died here while it was occupied by the Japanese. 

The bridge spans between Thailand and Burma (on the other end of the picture)

This side of the bridge is Thailand. On the other end of the bridge is Burma 

This is in memory for the Americans who perished here. 

Many other prisoners of war and civilians from other countries perished from forced labour. 

The article I found quoted 90,000 civilians and 16,000 POWs died from abuse, starvation and disease during the construction of this short railway bridge at River Kwai. The numbers are staggering considering how small of an area it is. It's truly heart breaking to know that. 

Tiger Temple

Not too far from River Kwai is the Tiger Temple. 

I went into the temple with my Dad since my Mom decided this wasn't her cup of tea haha

Here is some visitor's information including hours of operation & what attire should be worn

I didn't know about the proper attire so I had to buy an appropriate coloured t-shirt in front of the temple

You have to walk quite a bit into the canyon area to see the adult tigers. Near the entrance of the temple, there are ungated animals at a distance that you have to pass by including wild boars, camel & deer. 

Approaching Tiger canyon

The canyon where some of the adults are kept for tourists to take pictures with. 

The staff wear orange coloured shirts

You can pay extra (in addition to the entrance fee) to have pictures taken with the tigers. 

Haha - look at my face! 

Initially my Dad told me to have the tiger's head laying in my lap but I chickened out and gave the opportunity to my Dad instead :P I'm so nice huh? 

I refused to sit closer to this big tiger's head LOL  Ahhh nice & safe, close to his/her butt

Awww, these two are so cute together ;) 

Oooo this one's awake! 

It's so sad to know that there aren't many tigers left in the wild. 

Visiting the Tiger Temple was a really unique experience for me to get close to such a large wild animal that isn't gated in. The temple is not like a zoo where I always feel sad that many animals are kept in such small unhealthy enclosures. The temple covers a very large area and I'm happy that these tigers have each other and very caring staff to provide a safe sanctuary for them :) 

Would you visit the Tiger Temple if you had the chance? 

Have you been there or somewhere similar?