Day 2 Chiang Mai - Tigers, and boxing, and ladyboys ... oh my!

Before we arrived in Thailand, we planned on taking an elephant safari through the Thai jungles. We quickly found out that an elephant safari would destroy our budget. Therefore, we opted for the next best thing: Tiger Kingdom.

The Chiang Mai Tiger Kingdom was located about 40 miles outside the town. We could have hired a tuk-tuk to take us there; or, we could rent scooters for a quarter of the price and drive ourselves there. Since we had become quite proficient in the art of Asian scooting, we decided on the scooters. Scooting in Chiang Mai was by far the easiest of all places we have scooted. The roads were straight and had a dedicated scooter lane. Plus, navigating around the city was easy because the moat provided a good reference point.

Our Scooters

Notice, our entry price included Insurance

We got to the Tiger Kingdom and it was not what we expected. We thought it was going to be a tiger or two in some guy's back yard. However, it was actually a large compound with 30 tigers and was very well organized. The pricing was based on what size tiger you wanted. They had newborns, and tigers arranged by size, featuring small, medium, large, and extra-large tigers. We selected the newborns, medium, and extra-large tigers. We were given 10-15 minutes inside the cage with the tigers. We were not allowed to touch their heads or paws, but otherwise we could lay on them or pet them. The tigers were very sleepy, so we thought they were drugged. The handlers assured us that they did not drug the tigers. To get the tigers active, the handlers used various methods such as shaking a ball attached to a stick in their faces, or they would hit the tigers in the head with a bamboo stick. We thought great, piss them off so they can attack us! We actually felt pretty safe after the first minute or so. Below are pictures with various captions of us playing with the tigers.

Newborns

Add caption

The only Lion on the Compound

 Click the Video Above to watch the Tiger Play

Large Tiger

Large Tiger getting hit with a bamboo pole to wake him up

Medium Tiger

Large Tiger

Medium Tiger

Danae and I with Two Medium Tigers

Me and the 12 Year old Connect 4 Prodigy

Later that night, after diner, we decided to have a couple of drinks near our hotel. There was a cluster of bars nearby so we went there. When we got there, one of the first bars we came to had Connect 4 and Jinga set-up, so we decided to go there. During our intense connect 4 match, a 12 year old boy came to our table. He was selling flowers. But, upon seeing us playing connect 4, he challenged us to a match. He said that if he beat us, we had to give him 20 Baht ($0.67). We agreed. I beat him the first game, but he beat me badly the next three. Apparently he was hustling me. Danae made fun of me and decided to take on the Connect 4 prodigy. The kid stomped her. After the kid left, Danae and I started playing jinga. Just as our game started, a 12 year old girl came by and offered to play us. The novelty of playing a classic American game with a kid in a bar was lost at this point, but the girl would not go away. We played her anyways.

Danae and the 12 Year Old Connect 4 Prodigy

Danae playing Jinga with the 12 year old girl

The cluster of bars were centered around a boxing ring. (See video below).  It was free to watch the matches. Thai boxing was interesting because it was kickboxing. Obviously self-explanatory, but the boxers could use their knees and feet in addition to their fists. Quick aside, after the matches, the boxers walked around with a box for tips. I felt bad for the loser because that must have been embarrassing to lose a match, then ask for tips. I still didn't tip him though because who wants to tip a loser. HA

 Click to watch a video

 Click to Watch a Vido

We went to one of the bars closest to the boxing ring and had a seat. After we ordered our beers, we quickly realized that it was a Ladyboy bar. We were tipped off by the name of the bar, "Luna's Ladybody Bar." We thought it would be entertaining, plus we had great seats by the ring, so we stuck around for a while. We even met some Australian guy there who said that he was there by "coincidence." The bar was pretty entertaining. One of the workers, Damni, even hung out with us for a while. We learned that she started her transformation by taking estrogen pills and had implants. But she actually went the entire distance, and had gender reconstruction surgery.  Later in the evening, all the Ladyboys took their tops off and started dancing around the bar. We thought this was a good time to leave. The Austrailan guy said he was going to "finish his beer" then leave. Haha.

Danae in front of the Ladyboy Bar

View of the Boxing Ring from the Ladyboy Bar

Danae, Clayton, Damni, and the Australian Guy

Danae entertained by the Ladyboys

The Australian Guy with a Topless Ladyboy with a Snake

We went to our final bar and hung out with 7 "real" Thai girls. Danae befriended them by buying them all a round of drinks. She only did this so she could ring the bell at the bar. The girls were very appreciative, and invited us to play a bar room game with them. Basically, you roll dice and based on how the dice land, you drink. If a person rolls a nine, that person must drink. If the person rolls pairs, they get to pick who drinks. The girls were great and we had a lot of fun.