"Do not stick anything into tiger cages, especially fingers and hands"

Ready to go!

Bye bye, Mu!

I'm blogging later in the day than I normally do (it's about 6:45pm here, and I tend to blog during our afternoon break, around 3pm).  As a result, there are more people in the lounge area, and in addition to the marching band practice from before, we're serenaded by frogs.  These guys are super loud all evening.  We've taken to saying hello and goodbye to them when we're coming and going after dark.  Oh, and I learned today that we've been unfairly blaming the neighborhood wat for waking us up with its loud-speaker -- it turns out to have been the school (the one with the marching band) all along.  Sorry, wat!  Also, sorry that the pictures are formatted so weirdly.  Blogger is not cooperating, so I'm just giving up.

Incoming!  And a guide in the foreground

The last 2 days have been repeat-ish activities from the last trip.  We still took a bunch of pictures, especially today at the Tiger Kingdom, but many of them are pretty similar to pictures from last year. They will still go up on Facebook, though. :)  Anyways, yesterday we went ziplining, and today we went to play with tigers!

Gibbon mom and baby

Ziplining was really very similar to last year, especially since we went with the same company.  There are many others that have sprung up over the last 2 years (and even before that), but Flight of the Gibbon is the original, best known, and most extensive.  There are 32 platforms (not all are ziplines -- some are rope bridges and such -- but most are) and about 5km of zipline total.  The longest is 800m and there are 2 300m ones that are pretty awesome, too.  Our guides (Hobbit and Shy, apparently) were ridiculous and enthusiastic, just like the guides last time.  I think it's a job requirement. 

Beautiful waterfall

Although the experience wasn't new, we had a great time!  It's pretty exhilarating to be flying through the jungle, and the view all around was spectacular!  We were in a group of 6, which was nice because there was less waiting.  Overall, the course was less crowded than last year.  We saw other groups (and got to see other people zooming by on neighboring ziplines), but we didn't bump up against other groups, which was nice.  We were definitely in better shape this year, too -- the hike up was still not very gentle (the company's description of the trail), but much less tiring.  At the end, though, we went to see a waterfall that we didn't see last time, and that hike was a killer!  There was a hugely steep and long climb, about 35 floors according to my fitbit.  The view was pretty glorious, but I'm not completely convinced it was worth it.  The climb back down was almost worse!  Needless to say, we got massages upon our return to Chiang Mai. :) Oh, and we also saw an actual gibbon family, which was adorable.  Unlike last time, they didn't take pictures with our cameras (though they had some photographers along, taking photos for purchase, which we declined to do).  Perhaps to make up for this change, we got free t-shirts.  Heh.

Us and a medium tiger

Kitty is sleepy

Belly rubs!

Today, we went to the Tiger Kingdom.  Although the name is similar to the place we went to last year, it's actually a different place, in a totally different part of Thailand.  I had done some research ahead of time, and it seemed like this place didn't have complaints against it about tigers being drugged or mistreated (sadly, the Tiger Temple, where we went last year, has.  I wish we'd known this before).  They do sleep a lot, but that's because they're cats!  They sleep 18ish hours a day just naturally!  Anyways, we weren't convinced that the space was super great for the tigers -- some of the areas were quite big and had activities, but others were smaller and seemed boring.  The people who worked there were mostly pretty good with them, though there was some poking and prodding.  To us, though, it seemed more like familiarity than meanness.  The way the guides interacted with the tigers was kind of like how we play with our cats at home -- you pick them up and move them around if you want, but most of the time, they do their own thing.  The tigers also seemed pretty playful and content.  So, leaving aside the general issue to animals in any zoo-type environment, I think this was a decently good place. 

Us with a grooming small tiger

Playful babies

The Tiger Kingdom allows you to choose which cages you want to visit.  We decided to do 4 out of 5 -- smallest, small, medium, and big (the 5th is another small cage, with different tigers).  The rules said not to pet the tigers' head or paws, since that would seem like playing or attacking, but we could sit behind them, pet their backs and bellies, and snuggle up to them.  Although the sign said guides wouldn't take pictures of you, ours offered to themselves, so we were able to get a few pictures together. 

Taking a nap

Overall, we had such a great time!  The tigers were mostly chill and snuggly (they love having their bellies rubbed, apparently), with some of the younger ones roughhousing with each other in a very familiar cat way.  There was so much cuteness!  They also romped in the water as we watched, and just were generally ridiculous and adorable.  I think I actually liked the small ones the best -- they were the most fun to watch.  The very little ones spent most of our visit sleeping.  The only downside was that I think I'm allergic to tigers!  After laying on the big one, I developed a rash on my chin and arm!  It went down after I washed off, but was a little unpleasant.  I guess it's not super surprising, given that I'm slightly allergic to cats, but still.

Not a tiger, but this little girl was waiting in front of our door

Anyways, tomorrow will be another repeat activity (the Chiang Mai Zoo) and an evening foodie tour, and the day after that, we're going tubing!  And in 3 days at this time, we should know our fate for next year -- it'll be internship match day.  Wish us luck!