In Thailand, a close encounter with tigers

It is certainly not routine when one is able to lie down with a tiger, pat it on its head, have a tiger's head on your lap, play with young tigers or to feed a tiger cub with a milk bottle. At the Tiger Temple sanctuary in Thailand, all of this is possible if you have the heart and courage for it.

The Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery, popularly known as Tiger Temple, in Thailand's Sai Yok district of Kanchanaburi province, provides a lifetime experience with the big cats.

Located about 175 km from Thai capital Bangkok on Highway-323, the excitement starts building up from the moment you embark on the three-hour journey. It is when the tigers are before your eyes and one is roaming freely, though quietly, around the big cats that one realises how special the moment is.

With monks, local trainers and staff and several foreign volunteers in attendance, the Tiger Temple offers perhaps the closest and safest encounter with tigers - from one-month-old cubs to those weighing over 250 kg. At present, there are 127 tigers at the monastery - one of the largest group of the big cats at a single place.

As one enters the Tiger Temple gates around noon, one can find several tigers lazing around, being walked around or the younger ones busy in other activities. Alert Thai staff and foreign volunteers not only keep a close eye on the movements of the tigers but also on the scores of visitors who come to the complex daily.

"This is a real close experience with the tigers. I don't think there is a better option available anywhere else," Australian tourist Sara Evans told IANS.

The attendants help visitors to take pictures as the tigers laze around. Visitors are also taken in turns to walk the full-grown tigers and young cubs with a leash for a photo-op. At 1,000 baht (Rs.1,900) per person per activity, one can play with young tigers in one enclosure, feed tiger cubs in another one and get to keep a tiger's head on one's lap.

"One feels scared and excited about the whole experience. You are doing all this with the tigers, even touching them, without any barriers or fences," Tushaar, a 11-year-old visitor from India, told IANS with a degree of awe.

The complex, spread over several acres of natural forested area in western Thailand, not far from the Myanmar border, is home to not only tigers but other wildlife like deers, wild boars, water buffalos and gibbons, among others. The monastery was established in 1994 but the tigers came a little later.

Though the monastery has faced criticism and scrutiny about the tigers being drugged, those who manage the complex strongly refute this.

"Why can't we all live together.....after all, we all have the same blood.....and it's red," the abbot of the monastery, Pra Acharn Phoosit, pointed out.

On the frequently asked question of the tigers being drugged, the monastery's official response was: "No, they are not drugged. Tigers are nocturnal animals, so they sleep during the heat of the day. The tiger's eyes are better adapted to lower light levels than their prey. So, they can surprise their prey with greater ability in darkness. This means they are more active and hunt at night. Adult tigers are naturally lazier, whereas the cubs are more active and will play if it is not too hot."

The monastery management added: "A wild animal that has been sedated is more dangerous because they become disorientated by their surroundings and everything around them becomes a threat. This brings out their wild instincts and they are more likely to attack."

Monks at the monastery say that the big cats have been "hand-reared with compassion (by them)". The tigers get whole chicken, beef and dried cat food. The meat is cooked due to the Asian bird flu scare and so the tigers do not get the taste of blood and associate blood with food.

The Tiger Temple offers various programmes from morning to evening for visitors. The main programme begins at noon and ends around 4.30 pm - giving visitors ample time to be up-close and personal with the tigers.

Getting there:

* The Tiger Temple monastery is a day-trip from Bangkok. It is about 175 km from Bangkok and takes three hours by road (Car/Van).

* An Innova cab from Bangkok to Tiger Temple and back can cost 2,500-5,000 baht (for the whole day).

* Entry fee per person (adult or child) is 600 baht.

* Each activity inside costs an additional 1,000 baht per person per activity.

* Red, yellow and orange coloured clothes are no allowed as these can disturb the big cats.

* Attendants/Volunteers help get you near the tigers and also with photographs on your camera/mobile.

* Bangkok is connected by air to 10 Indian destinations, including the four mini metros.

Accommodation:

* A room in a five-star hotel in Bangkok costs between 3,500 and 4,000 baht.

Eating out:

* A buffet in a posh Bangkok hotel or restaurant around costs 800 baht.

* A dinner buffet Baiyoke Sky Hotel's 78th floor restaurant in Bangkok costs
850 baht.

* A two-hour boat ride in Bangkok and dinner on board costs around 1,400
baht.

Half the tourists in Nepal are from India

According to report released by the NTB Friday, a study, which it has undertaken on a daily basis throughout the year 2012, found that at least 694,136 Indian tourists visited Nepal in 2012 and 528,321 of them entered Nepal through eight border points.

NTB estimates show Nepal received 1.33 million tourists in 2012, including Indian arrivals, through surface transport.

The survey, 'Indian Visitors to Nepal by Land 2012' reveals that a total of 152,710 vehicles entered Nepal through the surveyed border entry points or eight busiest entry points between the two countries.

The number of overland Indian visitors was 520,522 in 2010 and 298,821 in 2009.

The survey, the third of its kind, shows, among the eight border points, Belihiya and Bhairahawa saw the highest inflow of visitors, accounting for 48 percent of the total Indian arrivals, while arrivals from Vittamod and Kakarvitta accounted for 14 percent and 13 percent respectively.

NTB said figures from the Rani entry point in Biratnagar were excluded because of incomplete data.

The survey reveals that 152,710 vehicles entered Nepal through the surveyed border points. The highest number of buses (8,133) as well as the highest number of cars, jeeps or vans (15,882) entered from Belihiya. The highest number of motorcycles (27,275) entered from Vittamod and Janakpur entry points.

NTB said the survey considered only those Indian nationals who traveled by vehicles bearing Indian number plates. Indian visitors who traveled Nepal in other modes of transports such as rickshaw, tanga and even foot were not included in the study.

"Only vehicles which obtained permission to enter Nepal are included in the survey," an NTB statement said.

The figure is based on the assumption that a bus carries 32 passengers on an average, car and jeep five and motorbike one passenger.

As government statistics do not take into account Indian tourists entering Nepal by land, the objective of the survey was to estimate the number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal by surface transport.

Following is the entry point-wise break-up of tourists and vehicles: Bhairahawa (353,297 tourists / 37,646 vehicles); Vittamod (103,947/36,937); Kakarvitta (93,654/27,032); Birgunj (84,371/25,073); Nepalgunj (44,720/10,289); Mahendranagar (33,841/10,980); Dhangadhi (19,337/4,753) Biratnagar (8,386/2,498 in four months).

Virtues of eating with hands: A Kerala banana leaf experience

Why should one eat with one's hands? Eating food with your hands feeds not only the body but also the mind and the spirit

That is the Vedic wisdom behind Kerala's famous Banana Leaf Experience whose pleasure can only be appreciated fully, it is said, if one eats with hands and not fork and spoon.

Traditionally, Indians -- not just in Kerala -- have always eaten with their hands but the experience and its virtues have been elevated to a gastronomic art by the chefs at Vivanta by Taj Bekal, a picturesque 26-acre resort in the northern Kasaragod district of Kerala, flanked by the famous backwaters and the Lakshadweep Sea.

And to lend logic to the eating-by-hand experience for fussy foreigners, especially Westerners who would think twice before scooping up curry with their fingers, the maitre d'hotel lays before each guest at Latitude - the multi-cuisine restaurant with an accent on regional Kerala cuisine and a scenic view of serene waters and swaying palm fronds - captured pithily in printed paper the "Vedic wisdom behind eating with your hands".

"Our hands and feet are said to be the conduits of the five elements. The Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. The thumb is agni (fire) -- you might have seen children sucking their thumb, this is nature's way of aiding the digestion at an age when they are unable to chew; the forefinger is vayu (air), the middle finger is akash (ether -- the tiny intercellular spaces in the human body), the ring finger is prithvi (earth) and the little finger is jal (water)," the paper explains.

The 'banana leaf experience' has been redefined by the hotel from the traditional 'sadya', or banquet, in Malayalam, says Ashok Pillai, the executive sous chief.

Sadya is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on a banana leaf on special occasions, during weddings and other celebrations. All the dishes are served on the leaf and eaten with hands sans cutlery, the palm and fingers being cupped to form a ladle. A sadya can have about 24-28 dishes served as a single course and is usually served for lunch as it is quite heavy on the stomach. Preparations begin at dawn and the dishes are made before 10 in the morning on the day of the celebration.

"At Vivanta by Taj at Bekal we have given a twist to the experience by adding delectable preparation of fish or meats as per request," Samir Khanna, the affable general manager, told IANS during a recent trip.

The centerpiece of sadya is navara, a medicinal rice type, that is one of the native genetic resources of Kerala and famed for its use in Ayurveda. Navara is used as a nutritional rice and health food and is said to be therapeutic for conditions such as arthritis, paralysis, ulcers, urinary tract infections, neuralgic and neurological disorders.

For a novitiate to Kerala cuisine, the food does not stop coming, and the helpings are as much as you can ingest. Most people stop at the second helping and react in surprise when waiters with buckets of curry offer to ladle more on the leaf-plate.

Foreigners, after their initial cultural reservations about eating with their hands, awkwardly slurp and lap up the food, any messiness be damned. As a concession to non-vegetarians, karimeen or pearl spot, the local fish, is served fried or in curry form.

Since the "experience" requires some preparation, those guests who want to partake of it need to intimate the chef in advance and tables are laid out separately in the restaurant for those who are eating on the banana leaf.

A typical sadya menu:

Banana Chips

Jagerry Chips

Achar

Kerala Pappadom

Parippu Curry (Simmered lentils enhanced with ghee)

Pachadi (Preserved cucumber in Yoghurt)

Inchi Puli (An emulsion of tamarind, jaggery and ginger)

Kichadi (Coconut enriched gravy with pineapple)

Erissery (Mashed Pumpkins and red beans in coconut)

Kaalan (Raw banana cooked in mildly spiced coarse coconut)

Olan (White pumpkin simmered with beans in coconut milk)

Avial (Ethnic vegetable cooked dry with coarsely ground coconut and yoghurt)

Thoran (Any local vegetable cooked dry with coarsely ground coconut)

Kootu Curry (Assortment of vegetables and spices)

Sambhar (Stew of lentil and vegetables)

Pulissery (Tempered yoghurt with turmeric with curry leaf infusion)

Pachamoru (Spiced butter milk)

Banana

Payasam (Dessert with jaggery, coconut milk flavored with cardamom)