Indeed they do! It was extremely refreshing to find that even in remote villages, people brew freshly ground coffee in modern espresso machines. It is possible that the trend is a consequence of high tourist volume – but this is a side effect I am more than willing to accept.

I love a good cup of coffee and so does adi. Over time, I have come to appreciate the subtle variarions in the aroma and body and the curse of this knowledge is that it is impossible to sip a bad cup and carry on with life. I prefer to choose tea when I suspect the quality of coffee. In SE Asia, the local coffee is highly acidic, dark rosted, over percolated and served with condensed milk. It is an acquired taste but is has its own charm – It is nice to gulp down a cup in the morning to get the kick in the seat of one’s pants. However, my finer instincts crave for recently roasted, freshly ground coffee made with fresh water boiled to a nice roll, served with fresh warm milk.

Though coffee was not on mind when I started the trip in Thailand, I soon realized that without exception, every place that serves coffee know what they are doing. Plesantly surprised, thoroughly satisfied and enjoyed every cup in the fine country. The image above is from a cosy cafe in Chiang Mai.

On a recent trip to Thailand, we decided to take a road trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and back. One thing about driving during trips is that it provides great flexibility in planning and scheduling – which means that you can set up ad-hoc visits to places you initially did not intend to visit.

We had planned to visit Kanchanaburi on the way out of Bangkok and it is a pleasant little town – though infested with tourists as is common all over Thailand. A little research led us to discovering a nice monastery called Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua. I had seen a documentary on discovery channel about this place and how one of the monk’s came about to possess a tiger cub. Anyhow, after finding that the place was within reasonable distance from Kanchanaburi, we decided to head out there and possible see these magnificent cats in a non-zoo environment.

It was a worthy visit since between 1000-1300 Hrs, the tigers are brought out to an open area and visitors are allowed to get really close to them (with supervision of course). The acts looked well fed and happy having their siesta. Some of these fellers even got up and started moving around when people were near them – some of them even started playing with the keepers there. Pretty nice to see that even these wild beasts have a softer side.

If you get to visit Thailand, this is a good place to go to and donate some $$ to fund this project undertaken by the Wat.

What: Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua aka. Tiger Temple
Where: Off Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Cost: About 200 THB per person.
How: Best by car, one can arrange day trips from Kanchanaburi town.
Place to stay: VN Guest house – good place, cheap stay and great food.