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Published: March 10th 2007
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Linds and I arrived in Bangkok early in the morning after a long day of travelling. We took a night train from Surat Thani, which was super comfortable. I would completely recommend it! We boarded the train at 10pm, our beds were ready and I was soon sound asleep to the rhythm of the train. Woke up quite refreshed actually.
Linds and I walked along the sticky Bangkok streets, eating cheap Thai food and freshly squeezed orange juice - yum! We spent much of the day around Khao San Road - the famous backpackers haven - spending way too many Baht in the market stalls. Everything is so cheap - its hard to resist... But my bag is getting quite full and quite heavy.
That evening, we hopped a tuk-tuk to Lumpinee Stadium to see Muay Thai Boxing. On the way, our tuk-tuk driver got pulled over by the police for wearing thongs instead of shoes! He got some sort of ticket. At the stadium, we passed up the touristy Ring Side seats for 3rd class seats to sit amongst the Thai. It certainly paid off! We were right in on the action of gambling, shouting and cheering!
Most of it we didn't understand, but the energy sure was exciting. We met Derrick, from Australia, and after the boxing, went out for a few beers. It was quite a late night.
Note to self - going out for beers until very late isn't such a smart idea when you have to wake up at 5:30am to go on a tour... Linds and I left Bangkok early the next morning to go to Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai.
A little history lesson: Kanchanaburi, a small town about 2 hours from Bangkok, is the site of the Bridge over the River Kwai and several memorials to the town's role in World War II. In 1942, the Japanese military were constructing a railway route between Thailand and Burma to their new territories in Singapore and Burma. Both Allied POWs and Asian labourers worked on the construction of the railway. By the time it was completed, only 15 months later, it had earned its nickname, the Death Railway, because thousands of people died while working on it. Also, the famous Bridge over the River Kwai was severely bombed by the Allies at the end of the war - mistakenly killing
hundreds of Allied POWs that were forced to walk across the bridge as the bombers flew in. Today, the bridge has been reconstructed as a memorial to the war.
Our first stop on the tour was to the War Cementry. It was incredibly moving to walk along the rows and see names of young men and women who fought for the freedom we have today. Most of them were my age... Next we visited the Jeath War Museum (no that isn't a spelling error), which had numerous wax figures reenacting momentous events in the war.
Our history lesson stopped here, as Linds and I along with Tomer and Yuval from Israel were herded into the back of a pick-up truck and driven out to Erawan National Park. Here, we ate lunch and climbed a 7-tier waterfall. I didn't eat all my lunch as an evil monkey attempted to steal it. When I swatted him away with my flip-flop, he pounced unto the bamboo bench where I was sitting, gave me an evil glare and raised his claws at me. I jumped up, screamed and he stole my bag of garbage. Ha, joke was on him! But somehow, he
Riding an Elephant
(I recommend NOT wearing a dress for this event!) also stole my appetite. Anyway, the four of us spent the next few hours hiking up the waterfall and taking a dip in the many rock pools along the way. It was gorgeous!
Back into the pickup truck and roaring down the bumpy road to the Elephant camp, where we went on a short elephant ride. We had a great guide, who jumped into a tree with my camera to take some pics. Then he let us guide the elephant! The sun started to set, so back into the pickup truck towards Kanchanaburi to our riverside bungalow. We were dropped off along the River Kwai and floated along a bamboo raft right to the doorstep of our guesthouse. The sight was unbelievable - rafting gently down the river, with the sun setting behind the Bridge over the River Kwai. That night, our guesthouse was on a floating raft. We fell asleep to the sway of the river.
The next morning, we boarded the train to the Death Railway. Then off to see another waterfall (impressive, but not as impressive as Erawan Waterfall). The highlight of the tour came in the afternoon when we visited the Tiger Temple. The
Rafting down the River Kwai
Our Riverside bungalows in the background monks have set up a "temple" to take in and retrain orphaned tigers in order to bring tigers back to Thailand. Tourists are allowed to visit the tigers, as long as they have a guide. I was led around by a 14-year old Thai boy who wanted to be my boyfriend. I got some great pics sitting next to and lying across the massive adult tigers. It was very cool!
Back to Bangkok on an air-conditioned minivan! No more pickup truck for me! That evening we went for a few beverages on Khao San with Julie, a kiwi that joined our tour that day.
Our last day in Bangkok, Linds, Julie and I went to see the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Polite dress is required to enter. I was wearing a skirt and a tank, but luckily I'd just bought a thin, loose fitting, long sleeve shirt. I threw it on. Linds on the otherhand had to borrow a traditional Thai sarong and she wore a Red Bull t-shirt that she'd bought someone as a souvineer. Julie's skirt was allowed but she covered her tank top with a "fashionable" button up office shirt.
We laughed at how all the tourists were dressed alike in mis-matched clothes!
That night, after a COLD shower, we went for beers and said our good-byes. Julie was flying off to the UK. I caught a night train north to Chiang Mai. And Linds was off on her own solo adventure in Australia. Its hard to believe that 6 weeks of our trip has past so quickly, but its been a blast!
Linds' Blog
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