World ExploraSean: Tigers

After catching four hours of sleep after my 3 AM arrival, I promptly showered and switched hostels. I spent my first day in Chiang Mai roaming the streets and visiting a bunch of random temples throughout the main city square. I was shocked by how cheap it was. Northern Thailand is basically half the price of its Southern counterpart. I saw accommodation for as little as 90 baht, which is $3. Sushi was 5 baht, that's 6 pieces for a dollar! Tis unreal. Since it was peak tourist season, I couldn't find a super cheap hostel available, so I ended up getting a nice queen size private room for around $8/night. I later found if I would have walked one building more I could have saved 2 bucks a night, dammit!

Pretty cool temple drawings, I love the elephant/bird/dragon creature

Chiang Mai is full of two things: Temples and Tourists

Pretty cool elephant shrine

ATM on wheels?!?!?!? Never seen this before, genius!

Cat Nap

I spent the next day bumming around and looking up tours and comparing prices since I didn't really know what I wanted to do in Chiang Mai. I ended up booking a full day tour that started at 7:30 AM and ended at 8:30 PM, but about 9 hours of that was spent driving verses 4 hours seeing things/eating. Our first attraction was a hot spring, but it was really more of a breakfast stop than anything as the hot spring was a tiny hole in the ground with steam coming out of it. I ended up finding a banana/egg crepe which was weirdly good. We then drove another 1.5 hours to the White Temple, which a bizarre modern day temple/art project. When you first walk up to the entrance, you can't help but wonder...Why the fuck is there a predator statue coming out of the ground? But at the same time you're also like, that's awesome!

When you head through the gates and start to walk towards the temple, you see a bunch of hands coming up out of the ground, as if they are hands rising from the underworld. Some of them even have painted fingernails, which is just plain creepy. There's giant statues on either side of you of crazy looking dudes with swords. Once you cross the bridge leading to the main entrance, you have to take off your shoes and turn off your camera, because no pictures are allowed inside. When you initially go in, it appears to be a normal temple... and then you turn around and see the back wall, simultaneously realizing it's the weirdest temple ever. There's paintings of Superman, Spider-Man, Minions, Anime, etc. Heck, it even features Neo from the Matrix.

Meh.

This is just like my tree back home, except these heads are fake

Creepy Awesome

The White Temple

The next leg of our journey was another ninety minute ride to The Golden Triangle, which is a spot where the Mekong river forms a triangle where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar converge. I skipped optional boat ride along the river that allows you to get a better view of Myanmar and enter a tourist market in Laos in order to save 330 baht since I was heading to Laos in a few days anyways and the boat didn't actually dock in Myanmar. We had to wait, you guessed it, ninety minutes for the people on the boat to return and then we headed to a buffet for lunch. Since I'm seeing some room for improvement in my body lately, I as trying to avoid fried food, which was 80% of the buffet's content. Thus I filled my plates with rice, noodles, and veggies. I did allow myself two pieces of popcorn chicken, but I didn't even enjoy it!

I'm trying to base my dieting off one of the principles in the Dalai Lama's book, "The Art of Happiness". Basically you don't do things just because you like them, you do them because the end result is that it makes you happy; The whole purpose of your life is to be happy. i.e. You might like Pringles and Snickers, but they make you fat, which makes you unhappy. It's basically the trade off between short term gratisfaction and long term happiness. It's such a simple concept, but I have found it to be quite effective. After lunch we went to the Myanmar land border crossing, which also happens to be the Northern most point in Thailand.

Do you know what this statue and my penis have in common? They're both referred to as the Big Buddha

Where to next.......

Myanmar Border Crossing

If I was a ninja turtle, my name would be Seanatello and I'd wear a V-neck. We both know you were wondering

Our next drive was a mere sixty minutes, taking us to the hillside tribes of Northern Thailand, which included the Karen long neck and big ear tribes. There wasn't really anything culturally enlightening about the visit at all, the village itself was partitioned in a way that only shopping stalls were accessible/visible. There were 4 different tribes total, but there was no real interaction with them. The girls wearing the gold long necks looked sad and bored, basically just dolls on display to bring in tourist's money. I didn't stay long, because while their dress is interesting I don't enjoy knowing their culture likely fizzled out and is now just a means of making money, and likely a meager sum at that. I'm not sure if it's better to take an attitude of survival of the fittest or a stance of needing to preserve cultures that are antiquated by the majority of the population's standards. But the middle ground where they exist just as a show, is just weird to me, it just seems so fake.

She looks so enthusiastic...Poor girl

Ridonkulous

Big Ear Tribe

Their necklaces were pretty heavy, weighing a few kilos. Apparently they can't keep them off for long, because their neck muscles are too weak to support their head on their own. Wild. After the tribes we had a four hour drive back to Chiang Mai. For my last day in Chiang Mai, I had to decide between going to the national park, which has the highest peak in Thailand or hanging out in a cage with some tigers...I went with option two. Thus my tuk tuk took me to the Tiger Kingdom, which my research claimed was humane unlike the Tiger Temple further south, where the tigers have been found to be illegally imported from breeders in Laos and are widely believed to be drugged to maintain a sedated nature. Tiger Kingdom was said to start with a few tigers and they breed all the tigers in house, with the eventual goal of releasing new tigers into the wild to help restore their numbers. So on paper, it is the humane option.

Tigers are nocturnal, sleeping up to 18 hours a day, so most were asleep during my visit. A few were up to play, though it seemed forced and a few trainers were a little too aggressive in their poking and prodding of the cats, which I didn't like. The pricing system was pretty novel. There was no entrance fee, so you paid based on the size of tiger you wanted to get into cages with. Discounted package deals were offered for visiting more than one set of tigers. I went with the pick 3 option, which allowed me to hop in cages with the big (Over 18 months), small (6-8 months), and smallest (2-4 months) cats.

The baby tigers were pretty cool to see because they are basically just like kittens, but you couldn't really play with them because all they did was sleep. The small sized tigers were a little more active, as they were in a much larger cage and had some obstacles to play with and logs to climb. 2 of the tigers were moving around in the cage, whilst the other two slept. It's really weird, because at no point are you worried about them attacking you or anything, it's a really safe environment. The largest set of cats were all asleep, and they would just lay there as you piled on top of them or grabbed their tails... Which just seems pretty unnatural for a tiger. I can't imagine those tigers being reintroduced and/or surviving in the wild.

Le Tigre

While these tigers slept a lion and a cheetah had a race. When the Cheetah finished first, the Lion said, "I Won!". The cheetah was like "no way bro, you're lion!!!" And the lion said, "No dude, you're a cheetah!!!" (Well there's 12 seconds of your life you're never getting back)

You can lock me in a cage, but you can't take the sky from me...

The Eye of the Tiger

My pick for best pic. That is one adorable tiger

I'm still not sure how I felt about the Tiger Kingdom. On the one hand they're an endangered species, whose population in the wild is dwindling, so this is a good way of increasing the population. They appear to be well fed, are kept in groups instead of being isolated, and only a few tourists are allowed in the cages at a time. Plus as a tourist it's awesome to be able to get that close to a tiger. However, they still seemed a little off. One of the trainers hit one of the small sized tigers on the head with a branch and it just looked around a little bewildered. It's reaction wasn't that of a highly alert creature, it just kind of tensed up and then gazed into the distance, instead of looking towards where the hit came from.

The tigers don't really seem to enjoy humans either, it's more like they just tolerate them. I also saw another tiger roaming around its cage making weird moaning noises. Thus I'm not sure if they are drugged or not. I would lean toward saying no, but there's definitely still something off with a few of them, perhaps it's just being raised in captivity. I also felt bad for the all-white tiger, because it was isolated to a small cage by itself since it makes for it's own unique attraction.

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead

Chomp Chomp, Chump

White Tiger

The next day I had to head to Chiang Khong, which is the town you can cross into Laos from, since my visa was set to expire. I asked a lady working in one of the tour and bus ticket stalls how much it would be and she told me 400 baht for a minibus, but if I wanted the cheapest option I should just go to the bus station. She even told me how much to pay for a tuk tuk! People in Asia are incredibly kind. All in all I only saved 90 baht, but I was running super low and didn't want to have to go to the ATM again because they carry $6 withdrawal charges.

Since my bus didn't leave until 1 PM, I had some time to kill, so I hit up Subway where I got a 6 inch ham sub for $1.50, I still don't understand how it was that cheap. My stomach was still grumbling after, but I wasn't sure if I'd have another 49 baht to spare, so I decided to just let the hunger ride until dinner. The bus ended up taking a really long time because the public buses stop quite frequently to pick up and drop off the locals who ride it. Thus we didn't arrive in time to catch the crossing, which closes at 6 PM, so I had to stay the night in Chiang Khong. There was randomly a couple who own a hostel waiting at the bus stop to pick people up, so I figured why not at 200 baht. They also had pretty cheap dinners, so I was able to get a vegetable yellow curry for another 90 baht. Let's just say all my penny saving paid off as I exited Thailand with only 120 baht left, less than $4. This also allowed me to keep the 100 baht bill for my travel currency collection!

One of the reasons I wanted to cross into Laos between Chiang Khong and Huay Xai was because you got to cross on a crappy wooden boat with holes in it, meaning I could finally complete my trifecta of crossing methods. I've already done air and land, so only sea was missing. However, they ended up building The Friendship Bridge over the river, so you now had to cross by bus. That bridge has only been open a month, so I narrowly missed my window. I'm not too upset though, because now I have an excuse to boat into another country :).

I read online the old boat method took less than 30 minutes total to exit Thailand, boat across, and get checked into Laos. The new border crossing wasn't going quite as smoothly, as it took nearly 2 hours, but that is a story for another blog.

Sexy Tiger Time Photoshoot

Baby Tiger Pillow!!!

I don't know what's going on in this photo, I look like I'm trying to seduce Tarzan

#Save the Tigers

This dude was in the small sized tiger cage....6-8 months. That is the hugest kitten I have ever seen.

It's natural for you to be turned on right now, just go with it

I guess you could say I caught the tiger by it's tail....

I'm not sure what's bigger, the tiger or the bald spot on my head.... Ladies, c'mon it's just a temporary issue from my new haircut.. L-Ladies? Falls to knees, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Random GoPros

They told me there was a predator on the loose, at first I was like, "How did they find about me!", but then I saw this guy and a wave of relief flooded through me.

Me in full tourist mode

The sky makes this photo look intense

I was so pumped when I saw the Buddha was riding this giant dragon boat

I'm not sure this statue is large enough

I spend a lot of time in crack houses, but never opium ones

My hair blowing majestically in the wind

How you doing big guy?

When I arrived in Brisbane I had no idea where my hostel resided as my google map directions said head northeast. Being a man’s man, I looked to the sky, found the sun, realized I had no idea how I could derive directions from that, decided I couldn't ask anyone for help because it’s not manly, and then turned left, because it had more skyscrapers than the right. Luckily I chose correctly, man logic FTW! I kept crossing paths with a girl that looked super lost, and I was even able to help her find her hostel! That’s right, I can officially read maps, it only took me 25 years and 3 months of travelling.

By the time I arrived to the hostel, my back was was the sweatiest, most disgusting mess you have ever seen. 15 minutes of walking in the sun with 23kg (that’s 50lbs for you dumb Americans) of gear will do that to you. The hostel facilities were amazing though, they had two private bathrooms with giant showers on each floor, so you weren't cramped into a tiny stall sized shower. After the much needed cleaning, I made plans to meet up with one of my travel friends from New Zealand, Christina, and a group of her Irish friends at the cinema.

Brissy

There were a bunch of people gathered in the square selling stuff out of suitcases...so weird!

Brisbane: We hope you have a ball...or two (I have three)

Once again, my google map directions said to turn a certain direction instead of left or right. Did I guess correctly. Absolutely not, proving I was just lucky the first time. And thus my level of manliness descended back to it’s rightful place, which is the place of non-existence. Nonetheless, I made it to the theater and met up with Christina, where we would watch Gravity. Sandra Bullock in 3D, yes, I can live with that. The special effects were amazing, but we agreed the story was a little too over the top. It’s also not like the states where there is a giant bin to put back the 3D glasses, so I was forced tpkeep them. I officially now have the ability to see the everything in 3D; My life is amazing.

I got really lucky on my hostel room, because everyone was fun and always up for a laugh. We all ended up staying up until about 4 in the morning joking around with each other. For my next few days in Brisbane, I was on a quest to find an extra external hard drive so I have multiple backups of all my photos. It would have been a grand idea, but everything is so expensive here. The same hard drive I paid $55 for in the states costs $140 in Australia. I don’t understand why everything is so expensive, it’s not like it costs $85 more to ship a hard drive to aus than the states. Such a strange world economy we have; Money exchanges at defined rates for standardization, but prices of other commodities vary drastically by region.

Badass looking tree

Botanical Gardens

I mostly just bummed around the city for a few days, grabbed some $5 pizzas with my dorm mates, and found some cool places to walk around. Brisbane is a nice city, but it didn't have the scale or prominent locations like Sydney, so for the casual traveler a few days there is enough.

My next stop was Noosa, which is close to the Australia Zoo and is also the home of the Noosa Everglades. My hostel had free kayak rentals, so I ended up taking a kayak out for a little fun and ended up finding a little island out in the river that I pulled up onto. It would have been amazing for a time lapse, but I didn't bring my big camera in the canoe with me and there were no clouds the following day, so I missed out on my chance. I guess I’ll have to find some more islands elsewhere :D.

There are gigantic pelicans everywhere in Noosa

Lizards roam around the hostels at will, they are so cool!

The main reason I went to Noosa though was to get to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. It was about an hour ride on the bus and it was only $5 for a round ticket. The Zoo itself was $59, which some travellers consider expensive, but I thought was a pretty fair price for how cool it was. I think everyone knows that I’m obsessed with animals, mythical creatures, aliens, sasquatches, etc., so I effing love zoos. Plus who doesn’t love Steve Irwin, he was one of the coolest dudes ever. Crikey!

The Crocodile Hunter!

The zoo is really interactive as there are people walking around with birds, snakes, and lizards that you can take pictures of and even touch. There’s two paths that house kangaroos, which you can walk up to, feed, and get pictures with. They do various shows throughout the day, with the coolest being the main show in the world’s only Crocoseum. There were birds flying all around the arena, giant snakes on display, an audience member feeding an alligator, a bird flying into the crowd to steal $5 from someone’s hand...and of course the Crocodile show to cap things off.

Comfy Koala

So cool, you could walk up to the kangaroos and interact with them, no supervision needed!

Snakes scare the shit out of me, but they are pretty damn cool

There are gated sections you pass through and the birds fly all around you...very cool!

For my life coach: Red Pandas

Tigers are my favorite (proven to be real) creature in the world. They're so amazing!!!

The shows were my favorite part of the zoo trip. To see an actual croc swimming out into the water and hover, slither, and burst onto land was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The men and women working at the zoo are out of their fucking minds to dangle chickens and fish over these dinosaurs, I have so much respect for them...so ballsy. You also get to see the crocs jump out of the water to get some fish while one of their handlers is up on a platform. It’s insane because they propel themselves upward using only their tail. So cool!

The water doesn't even ripple when they swim underwater

I would wear brown pants if I was holding that chicken...

Croc Jump!

I could go on and on about how amazing all the animals are, but I’ll just do a picture recap instead :D.

Animal Poses

Koala Yoda

Energetic Komodo Dragon

The Hungover Koala

The Angry Tortoise

The Laughing Rhinocerus Iguana

The Ferocious Tasmanian Devil

The Narcoleptic Giraffe

The Hopped Up Kangaroo

Animal Headshots

Croc

They have such weird noses!

Yoda...

Do you know how the giraffe was created? Chuck Norris went back in time and uppercut a horse.

Cheeky Kangaroo

Waaaazzzzzuuuuuppppppp

Australia Zoo Hospital

They have an on-site hospital for the animals

Koala surgery

Not a bad little hospital

After my time at the zoo came to an end, I had to head back to Noosa where my Everglade trip awaited me the following morning. Would I survive camping in the wilderness with crocodiles, snakes, spiders, and everything else that wants to kill me. Would I follow my life coach's advice and bring pop tarts, the most essential survival item in the universe? Well that my friends, is a story for another blog...

Random GoPros