The Hand That Feeds

The Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi Province is both an incredible experience and an incredibly questionable one. The Temple and staff vehemently deny that any of the tigers are drugged and sedated. It's claimed that none of the tigers are ever fed raw meat, and are only fed cooked chicken so they don't gain an appetite for raw flesh. I have no idea if this really has any impact or not. Kind of like the motions of airport security being more for show than effect.

There are some tigers that are more tolerant than others, and they do select the more tolerant ones out to interact with tourists. Or at least, they do that for the full grown ones. Still, the experience of coming here, feeding, playing, and interacting with the tigers will pretty much overshadow anything else you do while on a trip to Thailand. The experience is just that truly amazing. I always recommend people try to make time for a day trip out to the Tiger Temple, as it's fully worth it.

A monk feeds a tiger.