If there is anything I’m more passionate about than travel, it’s animals. I’m the girl cuddling guinea pigs at the pet store, running up to strangers’ dogs in the park to say hi (to the dog, not the owner), swimming with dolphins in the Dominican, making “meow” noises at angry old cats, obsessively trying to visit a zoo in every city I travel to (this did not always please the other members of my family when I was younger), and basically doing a little happy dance any time there’s any sort of animal, big or small, wild or domestic, within 100 feet of me. So you can imagine my pleasant surprise (and my happy dance) when I discovered just how many animals I would encounter on my recent trip to South East Asia.
Tigers
More importantly, BABY TIGERS! This was the thing I was most looking forward to on my trip, and it did not disappoint. I went to Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Tiger Kingdom is a bit of a chain in Thailand, there are two locations in Chiang Mai and one in Phuket. I later met some girls in Phuket who went to the Tiger Kingdom there, and they found their experience as amazing I did! I paid to see the “biggest tigers” and the “smallest tigers” (their pricing package options are hilarious).
A few of the people I was with were terrified to be in the enclosure with the adult tigers, but not me. It was such a surreal experience, to be able to go up and pet these huge, majestic jungle cats. Their fur was coarse, and you were allowed to touch their tails but not their heads (which seemed a little backwards to me, but I wasn’t going to question authority in the presence of a potentially dangerous animal).
Then came the moment I’d been waiting for – the babies! Their eyes were a pretty greenish-grey and their fur was still soft. They were just like overgrown puppies and kittens, playful and clumsy – and adorable! Taking a selfie with a baby tiger was by far on the list of my top 3 best moments in 2014. It was so hard leave!
Doves
Oh, the ping pong shows. If you’ve been to Thailand, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, well, please Google it. Let’s just say there were doves, and they came out of an unexpected place, and leave it at that. Personally, I’m terrified of birds (there was an incident in Portugal when I was 13 that involved chickens) so I didn’t really enjoy this animal encounter, but it was definitely a spectacle that should be seen! Ping pongs shows are free, and well worth the expensive drinks they force you to purchase once you’re inside. You may only want to go once, but it will definitely be an experience you’ll never forget. (Unfortunately – or not – they don’t let you take pictures at ping pong shows.)
Monkeys
This was a surprise encounter that I happened upon while on a boat tour around Koh Phi Phi, in Thailand. We were taken to an area called Monkey Beach, and it lived up to the name! Small monkeys dotted the sand in the tiny cove, and they were very used to humans. They came running up to us and took pieces of watermelon right from our hands. I even watched one pick up an empty coke can and drink out of it, just like a tiny human. We were warned that these monkeys were sometimes vicious in their pursuit of food, so we had to be a little careful. I was extremely disappointed I couldn’t cuddle and pet them, especially because there were some really cute young ones!
Flesh Eating Fish
This is an attraction found all over Southeast Asia, but the place where my friends and I did it was on Pub Street, in Siem Reap, Cambodia. You sit on padded benches around a huge tank of garra rufa fish (a type of toothless carp), and they eat the dead skin off your feet. I can be a bit of a baby in the ocean and lakes when it comes to fish touching me, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this at first. But, when in Asia, right?! They let you stay there as long as you like, it’s a good substitute to a real pedicure, plus included in the price was a free beer. So I paid the $3 US, took the can of Chang they handed me, and joined in with my screaming friends. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. You could feel the fish biting and sucking on your feet, but it didn’t hurt, it just tickled. We squealed and squirmed and squeezed each other’s arms for a good 20 minutes before deciding we’d had enough. And let me tell you, my feet have never been so soft!
Crocodiles
In Phuket, Thailand, you can go to a crocodile wrestling show at the zoo (I’m sure you can do this in other places as well, but I did it in Phuket). I think crocodiles are neat – to look at, from a distance. I would not want to be one of the guys in there with them, wrestling them, trying to pick up crocs that were longer than the person was tall, daringly putting their heads in the crocodiles’ mouths. I know, I know, it’s all a show and these crocodiles are probably extremely tame and domesticated. It was still pretty thrilling, and a cool thing to see during my travels.
Elephants
I had two elephant encounters while in Asia. The first one was in the wild, which, in my opinion, is the best way to experience animals. This was especially neat because it was the first time I’d seen an animal of that mass outside of a zoo. I was on a slowboat going down the Mekong River. This was day two of my journey down the Mekong, from an entry spot that was just after the Laos border to Luang Prabang, Laos. It was early in the morning and actually cool for once (and by “cool” I mean I could almost wear a sweatshirt without sweating profusely from places I didn’t know I could sweat) and there was a beautiful mist everywhere. Someone pointed out the wild elephants on the river bank, and we spent a few moments staring in rapture as we passed by, wishing (for once) that the slowboat would go even slower.
The second time I came across elephants on my travels was at the All Lao Elephant Camp in Luang Prabang, Laos. I knew I wanted to ride an elephant for the experience, it was a chance I might never get again, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. Up until I rode one, I wasn’t a huge fan of elephants – not that I didn’t like them, I simply didn’t have any feelings towards them one way or another. But that all changed the second I climbed up on the seat strapped across the elephant’s back. Its mahout (an elephant guide and trainer) led us onto the trail. At first, I was paralyzed with fear. I was so high up and could easily be trampled if I fell off. But soon, while on a slow, gentle, bobbing ride through the jungle, I fell in love with elephants. Mine had the most beautiful long eyelashes, and her leathery skin was unexpectedly covered in hair that prickled my bare legs. I jumped at the chance to feed my elephant bananas after the ride (she got gross snot from her trunk all over my Singha beer tank top, which I didn’t notice until I got home to Canada and was unpacking my backpack…) One piece of advice? Don’t do this after a big night of drinking. I started out fine (possibly still intoxicated from the night before…), but halfway through I began feeling like I was dying, and if there is one place you don’t want to be hungover it’s while you’re on top of an elephant, in the jungle, under the hot sun!
The list could easily be much more extensive than this. SE Asia is known for being a place where you’re able to have pretty much any experience or do any activity you could dream of, from the wonderful to the weird, and this includes animal encounters. But these are the ones I had, the ones that will stick in my memory for years and years to come. It was so amazing to be able to combine the two things I’m most passionate about. Now I’m left desperately hoping to have more travels involving animals in the future, I’d love to see some penguins in Antarctica, Icelandic sheep and horses, or a lion on a safari in Africa! What animal encounters have you had, and which are still on your list?