Day 33
After arriving back in Bangkok rain was pooring down like crazy. We grabbed our backpacks as soon as we could and walked down to the guesthouse we had been staying at the start of our trip. Thankfully the guesthouse had a room available for us and didn’t charge us for checking in so early. We had a little sleep, as the sleep in the bus was not enough to power us for the rest of the day.
We got up again around noon. After a refreshing shower we went to get some food in the area of our guesthouse. We also booked a tour to go to the tigertemple the next day. Afterwards we made our way to the MBK shopping center to do some shopping before we would go back to good old Holland.
At the end of the afternoon we went back to Khao San Road where I bought some remaining gifts for the people back home. After all this we decided to grab some food. After dinner I felt like having a little powernap before we would go out on our last night in Bangkok. I had set the alarm for 45 minutes, though once the alarm rang – both Luc and I were too tired to get up again. We ended up falling asleep and getting a good nights’ sleep.
Day 34
After a long night of sleep we were both fresh again for the final day in Bangkok. It was going to be a long one.. We checked out out of our guesthouse and threw our backpacks into the luggageroom. Unfortunately due to lack of time we hadn’t have time to have a proper breakfast so we ended up eating pringles for breakfast in the minibus which was going to bring us over to the tiger temple (2,5 hour drive away from Bangkok). We met some nice people on the minibus, among them a couple from Santiago, Chile with whom I got along with really well. Especially as I had been to their city only a year ago myself.
After 2,5 hours we arrived at the tiger temple. It seemed even warmer than anywhere else we had been to so far in Thailand.. Literally BOILING. We bought a ticket and entered the park. We walked together with the Chilean couple. Soon enough we got to the Tiger Canyon. The canyon was full of people, mainly workers of the park and a few tourists. There we had the oppertunity to take photos with a whole bunch of tigers. Most of them were tired and sleepy. It seemed like the tigers were drugged, but the volunteers working at the park assured me they were just very tired after their morning excersize and they were saving their energy during the hottest moment of the day. We had some brilliant pictures taken and then moved on to the other side of the park.
On the other side of the park we found a few young tigers of about 5 months old. Here we had the oppertunity to pet the tigers and sit next them to take more photos. You kind of forget how dangerous these animals tend to be once you sit next to them petting them as if they’re just a bunch of big cats. After seeing all the tigers we walked around the park for a bit more, spotting a some buffalo’s and deers. Some of the monks were walking the tigers on a leash as if they really were pets. I thought it would be cool if I could walk them for a bit too. The monk was fine with it, so here I was walking my very own tiger around on a leash. I immediately imagined this was a once-in-a-lifetime oppertunity. Where in the world are you able to walk tigers around on a leash!?
We took some more photos and at the end of the afternoon we got one of the best photos with one of the biggest tigers in the park. The photo came out great too. Around 16:00 we returned back to our minibus which brought us back to Bangkok. We got back to bangkok around 18:30. We had a last drink with the Chilean couple at one of our favorite restaurants next to our guesthouse. There, a employee was hired. Some weird gay thai guy being extremely funny to anyone walking past, shouting stuff like “buy 1 get 1 free”, but then shouting afterwards “buy 1 drink, get me free”. We were pissing ourselves. I finally ran to 7-eleven to buy some Thai redbulls to take home and some other small souvenirs.
We then ran back to our guesthouse, grabbed our bags and waited for the airport shuttle to arrive. Once the shuttle arrived we got in, which brought us in about 45 minutes to Bangkok airport. We were still a bit boozed up from all the Chang beers we had been drinking earlier at the restaurant, which was fairly funny. We checked in and proceeded to the gate. Once behind customs we had our final Chang beer. A nice draught large one. We realised we were going to miss Thailand as soon as we would get on that plane, so we tried to enjoy until the last minute of our trip. Afterwards we made our way to the airplane. Twelve hours later we found ourselves back in Zurich, the place where we had been waiting for two hours only five weeks before – when the great adventure was still ahead of us.
We looked back at our trip and realised we had the best five weeks ever imagined! Nothing but pure fun and great adventures. Not one day was bad, boring or in any way shit. Another brilliant trip.
Two hours later we found ourselves back at the baggageclaim of Amsterdam airport. Eventhough we have left Thailand, the memories remain. We’ve met loads of great people and made some really nice friends we will surely see again in the future. With that I end my blog: Thank you Thailand and everyone we have met who contributed to making this trip as successful as it was! Thailand… we’ll be back!
Aug 17th 2009 – Aug 18th 2009
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