Beaches, Tigers, Crocodiles and Elephants.

We have discovered since settling into our new home here in Pattaya that we have so much more time on our hands.  Marcus doesn't work the extra long hours he used to, well not yet anyway, I imagine that once production starts things will get a bit more time demanding.  But for now we are quite free to fill our time with nice pleasurable things.  I don't have anywhere near as much housework as I used to as our driver/nanny/maid cleans everyday and does all of our laundry and ironing and she also watches the baby when I need to make quick trips into town. We also have a maid who comes on Saturdays and cleans the whole house inside and out, it is so nice to return to a nice clean home after a busy day out.   Marcus doesn't have any of the duties he used to either, like mowing the lawns or cleaning the bathrooms.  The only job he has to do know is go to work and do the dishes at the end of the evening meal.  I don't even cook anymore.  I think since we have been here I have cooked a evening meal a total of 4 times.  If we eat Thai food it is cheaper to eat from the local restaurants than for me to shop in the supermarkets. 

An example of this freedom is what we got up to over the weekend.  Saturday morning Marcus went to work for a few hours then he went to the gym and afterwards we decided to head down to Jomtien Beach for the afternoon.  We spent the whole afternoon relaxing on the deck chairs drinking beers.  Marcus went looking for a restaurant for our lunch as we don't like to buy food off the streets vendors walking along the beach, their food is always cold and it seems to be too much of a gamble.  He found a nice restaurant and the waiter told him that he could bring the food down to us on the sand.  How lovely, we felt like royalty and of course I tipped the guy for his great service.  That evening after the kids went to bed we decided to try out a local pizza restaurant and were pleasantly surprised.  We weren't expecting to get great pizza all the way over here in Thailand, but that is exactly what we got.

Sunday we woke up to a hot and sunny day.  As it had been overcast and rainy all week we decided to make the most of it and take the kids to the clubhouse for a swim.  It was so nice to be out in the hot sun, although we can't stay long as Judd and I burn very quickly.  Afterwards we put the kids down for their naps and I headed into town for a bit of shopping and a massage.  2 hours later I got home and we made a last minute decision to take the kids to the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo, about 30 Min's from our house. 

We caught the 3.30 Tiger Show which Judd loved but I kept feeling so sorry for these poor animals being forced to jump through rings of fire and stand up and do jumping tricks.  I got the feeling that given the chance these tigers would rip their trainers apart.  They were not happy.  The trainers had these long metal sticks that they would hit the tigers with when they wouldn't perform properly.  One male trainer even smacked one of the tigers right on the head.  The tiger of course tried to take a swipe at him.  I was secretly hoping that the tigers would bite their trainers but of course I wouldn't want Judd and Lillie to see such a thing, but I felt so much pity for these poor animals being treated like freak shows.  I kept having to remind myself that I was in an Asian country and they don't treat or care for animals the same way that a compassionate country like Australia does.
They breed the Tigers at this Zoo too, this Tiger attraction was for people to walk past glass windows and stare at the Tigers in their concrete cells pacing back and forth snarling.  There would have been about 8 of these cells with 2 tigers in each plus all the other Tigers from the show and out in their tiny play yard with some sad looking old car tires for them to climb on.  What happens to these Tigers?
And they have a display (or freak show) where they have taken new born Tiger cubs from their mother and make them suckle a Sow whos own piglets have been taken away to suckle on the mother Tiger!  Preposterous!  I understand that sometimes things like that happen to animals in captivity when the mother rejects her offspring, but this was purely for show.  It just proved to me that nothing is too far if it can make someone some money, everything can be sold.

Next we saw the Crocodile show.  Now these guys had to have been drugged.  There is no way a Croc would let a person drag it around by its tail and let them stick their heads and hands and even put money in their mouths.  One lady trainer actually laid on the back of one of the big guys.  They even offer tourists the opportunity to have a photo taken while sitting on a croc. There was no way we were going to be doing that.

After this we headed down next to the Elephant show.  Now this was nicer, I could tell the Elephants were treated better if not kindly by their trainers, although one elephant did seem a bit skinny.  They did simple but entertaining tricks and Judd absolutely loved it.  He loves Elephants so for him to be this close he was having a great time.  At the end I gave him some money to give to the Elephant and I also bought a bunch of bananas for he and Lillie to feed to them.  I helped Lillie as I was a bit nervous that the Elephant would eat her instead.  We got covered in Elephant snot and saliva but it was a great experience. 

On our way out all the stalls and shows were closed but we came across the place where they let you have your photo taken with a tiger cub.  Well he was more than a cub, he stretched across our laps (the 4 of us all got a photo together) he was that long.  Marcus held the bottle of milk and somehow the lady managed to get a photo of all of us smiling, it turned out to be a great souvenir and only cost 150baht too.  I have always wanted to touch a Tiger, ever since I was really little, and I finally got to do it, but it came at a price for me, it made me sad to wonder what would happen to that tiger when it was too big to be used for photos, would it end up being beaten into submission for the show or would it end up somewhere more horrible?

Sadness aside it was a great but busy weekend.  We didn't argue or stress out, we just took each day and made decisions on the spot, no stress.  We had some real good family time. Marcus keeps telling me he feels like he is on holiday and honestly we could get used to living like this and it may make it very hard to return home.  Or maybe we can learn how to relax and enjoy life more from our time here and make sure we take that lesson home with us.