What you’re about to see was not gonna happen. LOL

I was talking to a European stranger while in Phuket Old Town, this street full of sino-portuguese style shops, restaurants, hotels, etc, when he asks me the typical question random travelers always ask. Something along the lines of: “why Thailand? What are you doing in Thailand?”

Anywhere one goes, change out the location and that is the go-to question. I ask it myself to others. Funny enough, my parents asked me the same thing when I told them I had booked a flight to Thailand for my bday gift. So, here are the not-so-special, but special-to-me reasons I choose Thailand.

I LOVEEEEE Asian food. Second to Latino cuisine, Asian cuisine is at the top of the list. Even more specifically — Thai & Vietnamese are tied for my fav.
One of my travel & life bucket list goals is to visit all 7 continents. I’ve been to North America, South America, & Europe; Asia happened to be next. The count is now 4/7… let me know if you wanna go to Africa, Australia, or Antarctica soon.
Because of the reason stated above, I came up with the idea to make each continents’ visit something unique and can only really be done in that part of the world. I thought: “ooh, seeing/interacting with that territory’s animal! That would be epic”.

That meant - of course - elephants in Asia. The kicker is that even though I had seen there was a place called Tiger Park near the Elephant Sanctuary; I thought to myself there wasn’t a need to see tigers since they’re in Africa along with lions. When said European stranger asked me “why’d you choose to come to Thailand?” (So many Europeans are in Thailand in December so I learned because they’re on holiday).

I tell them “well, to take a pic with some elephants, they’re my animal of choice for Asia. I’m thinking tigers and lions on a safari tour in Africa next year”.

They were like “Wait, but there aren’t any tigers in Africa. They only inhabit Asia, so you gotta see them here”.

My face was in utter shook. Like NUU UHH.

Well guess who has to go see tigers then?

Luckily, I was finishing up my shopping and $6 meal (big plate of seafood noodles & Thai tea) by 3 PM and felt instant relief seeing that I had till 6 PM to stick in an impromptu visit to some tigers. Got my grab and headed to Tiger Park.

The place was so cute, and not too expensive, at least not what I thought. They had four different types of tigers to choose from: smallest cubs, small, medium, & large. White tigers are an additional special option. Besides tigers, they also have a cheetah to visit. Depending on what one chooses, the price varies for the allotted 10 minutes inside the cage with them. I went with the medium option, which cost me like $20-40 — can’t quite remember — but I had a few extra minutes to wander around before getting called into the caged area. In that wandering, the cheetah was found.

She was so cute, just laying there being a site to see.

Next thing I know, turning my head to the side, I see two huge tigers looking through the cage at me. AHH. That’s when the adrenaline kicked in. I’m really about to be in there with them and now, I can see them so closely. One time for the one time. It’s my turn to get inside, my heart starts beating a lil faster than normal.

*deep breath | in 4 out 8* OKAY! I’M READY!

Time to be caged up with a Tiger and pose. (and no, I’m not really scared, just adrenaline going nuts)

The rules are to only pet the back side and stay on that end of the tiger. Easy enough. I go walk up behind the massive cat, and bent down, I start to pet it. Wow - soft fur, and just majestically enjoying it. I think to myself “Wow, I’m kinda mesmerized right now”. Between looking at the camera and then down at the tiger, I couldn’t believe what I was doing that I didn’t even think about what other poses to make. It was like I was froze, just smiling.

Maribel walking to pet the tiger as it lays down. | Maribel caminando hacia el tigre mientras estaba acostado.

The staff gives me the idea to put up the tiger claws *roarrrr*

Omg the best.

This pic deserves to be framed and on someone’s son’s wall.

Maribel making tiger claws pose with an actual tiger.

Overall, I recommend visiting Tiger Park. I can’t say that I’ll ever have the opportunity to do that again and I’ll never forget it either. It was only about 10 minutes which goes by so fast. If you have the chance to do this, I say go ready with some pose ideas. I truly did it so spontaneously, but wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was a really special thing to cross off the bucket list. Major flex.

Staff instructing Maribel on where to sit and how to interact with the tiger. | El personal le da instrucciones a Maribel sobre dónde sentarse y cómo interactuar con el tigre.

Tigers — thanks for not being too scary & receiving my warmth peacefully. Till we see each other again. Maybe never, but who knows.

Petting some Tigers in Tiger Park (Thailand Chronicles)