In my previous blog entry, I mentioned how easy it was to travel within Thailand. It really is. The only thing that might make it a bit difficult are the signs– some bus and train stations have no signs in English, and signs written in Thai would seem like hieroglyphics to any outsider. Luckily, Thai people are generally helpful and friendly. You can expect most of those working in hostels or hotels to help you out and point you in the right direction. Once you know exactly where to go, everything is going to be a breeze.

There are lots of day trips that you can do from Bangkok. What caught my eye was Kanchanaburi. I’ve seen pictures from other travelers where they bathe with elephants and hug full grown tigers. How awesome is that? Ayutthaya is closer and thus more popular, but i wouldn’t be able to bathe with elephants there. No tigers there either. The child in me was obviously winning, so me and my friends opted to go to Kanchanaburi for our elephant fix.

Getting there is easy. Of course the easiest way is to book a tour with your hostel. At around 1,500 – 2,500 Baht per person, those tours are pretty cheap. But if you hate fixed itineraries and you’d rather go on your own, there are mini buses leaving from Khaosan Road. If you really want to cut costs, there are public buses and trains leaving from Bangkok. To take a train, you need to go to the Thonburi Train Station. You can easily take a metered taxi to this train station. Just ignore the tuk tuks, they will most likely scam you and it would be as expensive as taking a cab— unless of course someone from the hostel can arrange a tuk tuk ride for you with a fixed predetermined fare. You can take a city bus to the Thonburi Train Station, but take note that many bus stops have no signs in English so you have to plan your route well. On the other hand, buses to Kanchanaburi leave from the Southern Bus Terminal which is a bit farther away from Khaosan. Again you can take a cab or bus to this station.

There are other things to do in Kanchanaburi besides visiting tigers and elephants. There are a lot of war museums, and those are a part of a lot of day tours. We checked out a few and we weren’t really impressed. It’s quite interesting if you want to learn more about what happened in the country during World War II. But these aren’t really good museums and they don’t seem to be well maintained. You won’t be missing much if you decide to skip em. After lunch we went directly to the elephant sanctuary.

At the entrance, we saw a lot of kids coming out and we could see that they had lots of fun. They all had huge smiles on their faces, and some even stopped to tell us how awesome it was. So basically you can do the whole tour, wherein you ride the elephants first before bathing with them on the river, or you can just choose one. My friends just chose one activity, I was the only one who chose both lol. After a few minutes, I was riding an elephant. At first it was no big deal. it was like riding a horse or a camel, which I’ve already done before. The sheer elevation though makes it totally different. And the elephant didn’t seem to be mistreated, which was one thing I was worried about. Besides, people have been riding elephants for centuries, i doubt if the elephant was greatly burdened by my weight. I’m certain it could carry a whole lot more. Halfway along the path, the elephant suddenly stopped and it didn’t seem to want to follow the other elephants. Guess it was hungry because it started eating some plants nearby. That was when one of the guides came over and poked the elephant with what looked like a sharp stick.

Ouch.

The elephant moved a bit, then stopped again. So the guy poked him again, several times while shouting. That was when the elephant started walking again. So yeah it worked, but that didn’t feel right at all.

After the ride, I had to transfer to another elephant. Apparently there was a different group of elephants that you can swim with in the river. The guides gave us a brush that we can use to scrub the elephants. For some reason, the elephants seemed to like it. I was so close to this elephant, and i was looking at it directly in the eye. I gently touched its face, and it was surreal. After a few minutes, the guide asked us to do certain poses while he takes pictures. It was fun at first, then the guide told me to stand on the elephant’s head. That seemed a bit off. I asked him won’t it hurt the creature? He said no. he even told me that it was one of the most popular poses that tourists do. Maybe the elephants won’t really be bothered, maybe for an elephant I’m just as heavy as a fly and it wouldn’t mind if a person stood on its head— the whole idea still didn’t sit well with me. i told the guide I’d rather not do it. After about 30 minutes the guide told us it was time to leave so we rode the elephants again. I guess they loved where they were because they refused to stand up. Out came the sharp poking sticks again, and they were poked on the head, on the sides, on their behinds until they stood up and walked. At this point, it was evident that we were in no elephant sanctuary. it was a tourist trap where elephants aren’t treated well, and I felt quite sick supporting such an establishment. Back at the receiving area we were asked if we wanted to feed the elephants— for  a fee of course. Clearly another ploy to get more money from tourists, but i said yes and bought a few bananas. Feeding the elephants was the least I could do for them after all that poking that they had to endure. Guess they were really hungry, the clusters of bananas that we bought were gobbled up in a second.

That poking stick rears its ugly head.

As we left the so called “elephant sanctuary”, we were debating whether or not to go to the Tiger Temple. After what we have witnessed, we wondered if the tigers were treated the same way. Since we were already in the area, we figured we might as well pass by. It wasn’t such a good decision, because in the Tiger Temple, things were even worse. There’s no poking with sharp sticks going on— i don’t think the people manning the place would even dare. But those huge tigers being held by people as seen on pictures on social media? If they were tamed, despite several ethical questions that such practices raise, it would have been somewhat okay with me. But obviously those tigers weren’t tamed. They were chained and heavily sedated. And the sight of tourists smiling and laughing while taking their pictures beside a heavily sedated and chained tiger was outright sickening. Then there’s an area where tourists feed tiger cubs. One cub seemed to be spurting out milk and it was obviously full already. Yet it was still being forced fed because there were still several tourists waiting for their turn to feed the cute little cub. Like the sight of sedated tigers, it was sickening. You’d think that these tigers would be well taken care of since monks apparently run the place. It’s a place where they exploit both animals and tourists and it should not be called a temple at all.

totally sickening.

I know a lot of locals depend on these places to earn their daily living, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of these animals. I wouldn’t want these places to be shut down since a lot of locals would be affected, but they have to find a way to run these attractions without abusing the animals. Sure getting up close with a wild animal is exciting, but we should also try to think about how these animals are treated. A quick thrill isn’t worth the abuse of animals. In Africa, they have managed to create elephant encounters with tourists without hurting the animals, i don’t understand why they couldn’t do the same in Thailand. After visiting these so called sanctuaries, I’ve realized how incredibly immature I was. How pathetic I was to think that bathing with an elephant and holding a tiger would be so cool. Yeah it was, but at what expense? The most effective way to make ourselves heard would be to protest with our money. If you’re not okay with animals being mistreated, then don’t support such places. Spread the word. If enough people avoided these places, that would send a signal that we do not approve of their practices. There’s nothing wrong with people making a living out of animals, but they should treat these animals with care and not abuse them. There are legitimate animal sanctuaries where we can interact with animals, we just need to know which ones they are. These legitimate sanctuaries need our money to continue their operations. It would be best to avoid those places that offer quick thrills at the expense of wildlife. I have definitely learned my lesson, and since that day trip to Kanchanaburi I have become incredibly selective of those attractions that i choose to visit and support.