[Travelhappy.info] Thailand's Royal Cat Park

[Chris]

If meeting the tigers of Thailand's tiger temple is too scary for you, there's another feline treat to be outside Bangkok - the Thailand Royal Cat Park!

If you're too scared to go and touch the tigers at the Thailand Tiger Temple, fear not: Thailand has its very own Royal Cat Park, a private cat's home with over 170 cats including the Khao Manee ("White Jewel") breed. This is where the park gets its Royal tag from - the Khao Manee was also the choice of King Rama V who had nine of them.

As the article explains:

That was 150 years ago. The king wanted to keep this breed pure so when he handed over the pets to his son Prince Chumphon Khet Udomsak he insisted to him that they were not be sold to anyone and if the prince failed to raise or breed them he shall return the cats to the palace.

The king must have been impressed by Khao Manee cats because they are the only species in the world whose eyes radiate two different colours. The prince succeeded in raising their number to 18. After him, the baton passed on to his daughter Princess Roengchit Charaeng Aphakorn who took their tally to 40.

Read the full article, including directions of how to get to the Royal Cat Park, in the Bangkok Post Horizons section. (Hat tip to Friskodude for finding this)

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Posted by Chris to Travelhappy.info at 7/07/2006 01:12:47 AM