Thailand Day 1 (March 15, 2009)

The ship took awhile to get cleared in Thailand, so Dean, Jaclyn and I decided to stay at the port due to the fact that our FDP to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo village was leaving in just a little under two hours. Once the buses arrived we headed to the Tiger Zoo. It wasn’t that long of a ride to the Zoo. Apparently, Thailand is known for animal training among other things (kind of random but I’ll roll with it). When we arrived to the Zoo, my first thoughts were “Wow, looks a little run down.” And that is exactly what the inside looked like too. The place was huge though. We had a little time before the “Tiger Show”, so we continued to explore the Zoo and ended up running into a trainer with an elephant that was picking tourists up with his trunk. So, for a little under five dollars, we each took turns getting picked up by an elephant with his trunk. The trunk felt…weird. The elephant looked miserable too…I’m sure I’d be miserable if I had that job. After that venture, it was time for the “Tiger Show!” As we entered what looked like a run down outdoor auditorium, we saw about nine tigers being kept in an underground cage. The show started with a pig running out and biting a rolled up flag which fell down and read something along the lines of “Welcome to the Tiger Show”. The tigers then did tricks ranging from standing on podiums to jumping through rings of fire, pretty impressive. Next, we were directed to the “Crocodile Show”. Crocodiles (which looked to be drugged out) sat and opened their mouths while the trainers did tricks around them. After the crocodile show, we headed to the “Elephant Show”. Elephants, of all sizes, did tricks ranging from basketball shooting to dart throwing. Let’s just say it was an interesting experience. Other attractions at the zoo included baby tiger feeding, orangutan picture taking, etc. To cap the “interesting” experience off, as we were heading to the exit gate, we came across a circular cage with windows all around it. The sign next to the cage read “The Happy Family”; and inside was a tiger running around ripping apart what looked like to be some sort of meat, a pig running from what looked to be a trainer with some sort of stick, and two dogs nervously shaking. All in all, the Tiger Zoo was one of the most unusual places I have ever visited…but it is Thailand. Next the buses took us to a world full of miniature sculptures and buildings ranging from the Eifel Tower to the Leaning Tower of Pisa…but there was a McDonald’s – we did a quick lap of the “miniature world” then grubbed. The McDonald’s had a Double Big Mac as well, so of course I took one down. It felt good to get back to the boat, due to the fact that it was probably one of the most random days I have had on the voyage…but I did get an FDP out of the way. That night we headed to Pattaya, and experienced some of the night life on “Walking Street.”