Advertisement
Ream National Park
Baby monkey whose mother had died, a disabled man was caring for it Hi guys,
well its our last day today, we are home tomorrow and it hasn't really been the best 24hrs of our trip. Scotty has food poisoning from fried rice with crab and was throwing up all night... poor thing. So last night we hung out in our hostel watching star wars - heheheh classic. Anyway, so we wont be doing too much today either. But apart from that we have had an absolutely fabulous last week. I will start of with where i last wrote.
So we hung out in sihanoukville-cambodia for 5 days and had a pretty crazy time hanging out with our new american friends and you won't believe that the guy running the guesthouse we stayed at is an australian expat who told us that he is in thailand because he can't really return to australia due to his ex drug dealing days. Needless to say he is the first person i have met that has a joint with his breakfast - funny guy. his bungolows were great value though - and althought they were at a rocky section of the beach there was no body hassling you everytime you walked into the eating area
- it was perfect for us. Plus the beach was only a 30sec walk away. Ended up hanging out with matt and kelly the american couple that we met all week - we had a great time, but really didn't do much... slept in, went swimming, got drunk on cocktails, had happy pizza, it was the most relaxing time of our trip so far, and we kinda needed it. The only thing of note that we did was visit the Ream National Park. Which was dissapointing but interesting. Cambodians define national park a little different to the rest of the world. To them its just a forest that isn't logged. We were very suprised to see people fishing in the water ways within the national park, as well as whole communities living within the park - schools and everthing. There is still rubbish and junk everywhere such as is with the rest of the country. It is such a shame, because it is obviously a beautiful area, but no where near pristine. anyway it was interesting, but not amazing. The best part was teaching the park ranger english swear words. 'Joy' means fuck in khmer so cambodians think that the
Bridge over the River Kwai - Kanchanaburi
The famous WWII Bridge, still in use today. A train went across while we were on it. christmas carol joy to the world is the funniest thing they have heard all year, it is scotty and i's favourite khmer joke. hehehe.
Anyway on sunday we headed back to PP and went out to dinner with kelly and matt, nice place-good food. Monday we flew back to bangkok in the morning and then straight on the bus to Kanchanaburi. In the late afternoon we hired a motorcycle for 2 days and went to the death railway museum and the allied soldiers cemetary. Very moving and disturbing, a bit sad for my 25th birthday but it was the only time that we could fit it in. I pretty much cried from the moment that i walked into the cemetary till i left. They were all so young. THen down to the Bridge over the river Kwai, which is very scenic except for the kareoke screaming out of the boats going past. Stayed there to watch the sunset and then out to a yummy thai restaurant called Apples. Great food- we were really hanging out for some good thai curries and pad thai.
In Kanchanburi we stayed a t a great place on the river- we had 2
floors of balconies for our river viewing pleasure. Next day slept in a little- scotty a little sick., and then headed off for the 75km ride to the Hell fire pass.We arrived with super sore bums - but we were in one piece. The Hell fire pass is amazing. The australian government have fundedd a museum and tourist centre at the site and it is the best organised tourist site that we have been to. You get given an audio guided tour that has ex australian POW explaining the area and what they were subjected to, as well as fantastic maps and the museum is choka block with info and pictures. The Hell fire pass itself is truly aweinspiring. It is amazing that you feel proad at such a place, but we did. You are proud of the men who could create something so spectaclar in such horrid conditions. I highly reccomend going here on any trip to thailand. We then spent about 1 1/2 hours walking the 4 km track and back again, seeing sights such as the area were weary Dunlop's camp was, the site of the old pack of cards bridge and many more crazy cuttings through
Hell Fire Pass
Anzac Day was not so long ago poppies and flags all over the walls of the cutting. solid rock. The countryside is so beautiful here and we were exhausted from walking this small section in one afternoon, with the rocks hurting out feet through our shoes. From that it is hard to imagine doing the same sort of walk carrying stones and equipment for 12hrs and not wearing any shoes... mind boggling.
On the way back we stopped at a local waterfall which was amazing - went for a swim with the local kids- it was great to cool off after such a stinking hot afternoon.
Tuesday was our favourite day in kanchanaburi, we rode about 80km to the Erawan NP which contains the majestic Erawan water falls. The fee here is a massive rip off, but the water falls are beautiful. Just try not to think about the money. It cost about $15 Aus dollars, the thai people pay $2.. annyway it was great all the same. We ahppened across a group of monkeys on the start of the trail. We had some food in our bag and i went to get it out and before i could pull the food out of the plastic i had 3 monkeys charging at me. AHHH i managed
Hat yai Waterfall ( I think)
Cooling down in the Waterfall after a massive day of walking in the searing heat to throw the food at them and then they stopped... They smashed our buns and then monkeys from all over the place started arriving in the trees around us. The most exciting was a group of about 10 baby monkeys that played chasy in trees beside us, we watched them for ages, they are sooo cute- not as scarey as the big ones. Anyway then off up the 1km trail that rums beside the 7 tiers of waterfalls. It is basically like seeign 7 waterfalls each of the levels are so different. We headed straight for the top and has a much deserved swim. Which was amazingly relaxing except for the hungry fish that nibble on your legs- i never new deet could be so tasty. THen we headed back out of the park as we had to get to the Tiger Temple by 2.30pm. We had heard great things about the tiger temple and they are all true. This place is amazing and crazy at the same time. You are led around a canyon patting tigers and havng your photo taken with each of the tigers. It is full on and blows your mind that you can just touch
Baby Monkeys
Baby monkeys playing chasy in the trees at Erawan Nat. Park all these tigers. I ended up paying for a special photo were they put the tigers head in your lap - pretty scary but so amazing at the same time. It is really heavy !! Scotty and i went round patting all the tigers a few times and then they walk the tigers back to the cages - with a few more click clicks of the camera on the way. Then came the best part. They had a tiger cub at the centre which was nearly 3 months old and they showed us the cub and you could pat it which was crazy- they are sooooo cuttteeeee and beautiful.. Anyway scotty and i were blown away by the tiger cub and we just kept asking questions, and playing with the cub, the next thing all the tour groups and other people left and we were the last people there. Then they got the cub out of the cage and let it wander around - so scotty and i got to play with the cub for about 40min by ourselves and the carers. Scotty got to feed him milk from a bottle and i got to hold him like a baby.
Relaxing in the Erawan Falls
Sunbakeing in the Falls, our new favourite passtime it was so fantastic. I cant express it enough. Photos will help when i can put them on the compuiter this week. Sadly though we had to leave because the carers wanted to go home... So back to Kanchanaburi and straight on the bus the bangkok.
We had decided not to stay on khao san rd this time, because it is too ocrazy, so we are staying at theis fantastic hostel that is right near MBK and the skytrain. Its perfect.
Thursday was Buddhas birthday, which is the biggest religous day in the buddist calendar, so we visited Temples and in the main park area near the grand palace there was a big portable shrine set up and we went there at 6am and watched the proceedings as the feed the monks and it was pretty funny and interesting. The monks carry small bowls which fill up really quickly as people bring soooo much foood with them. SO they have a man walking behind them with a huge rice sack and when the bowl fills up they empty the food into the sack. Which by the end is absolutelyt over flowing with food, and there were hundreds of
monks, so you can easily imagine how much food was given away. Then we wnadered around a few temples watching and listening to the chanting and sermonising. We went to the monks bowl village where the last 3 familes that still make the food bowls the original way remain. We purchased, and then the rd we were on happened to be the rd that is were the monks get there robes and all the buddha statues are made. Scotty bought some monk robes and the lady in the shop thought it was all very funny... ehehhehe. We headed home for a bit and then back to the grand palace for the evening ceremony's. We were denied entry to the grand palace as it is only for thai people- that was a bit shit so we went off to the park shrine and listened to 1 1/2 hours of sermons and chanting. A nice lady gave us some fake lotus flowers to pray with so that we didn't look out of place - we were the only foreiners for miles... Then the excitement happened just as it became dark all the people who were congregated there lit candles and inscence and
Tiger cub
We played with this little guy for about an hour i am completely in love... walked around the shrine 3 times. We took part, which got us some strange looks, even more weird looks if someone asked us if we were buddist. The insence smoke was so think thta it burns your eyes...
Then we headed home.
Friday we went to Jim thompsons house, which is a stunning house with many beaautiful artifacts. Then off to the old royal palace at Dusit park. THe largest teak mansion in the word. It was very grand and beautiful, but scotty and i realised that we aren't really into palaces and gradeur so it didn't really get us going. Then we headed back home and went to MBK for a bit of dinner and some normalitly with a movie. Shrek 3 - sooooo funny loved it.
Saturday was time for some serious retail therapy. The Chutachuk market- holy crap- it is massive. we walked it from 8.30 -5.30 pm and i think we saw about 30% of the market. It is mind boggling. We bought a lot of stuff, we now have 2 fully laiden carry on bags. and overflowing backpacks. When we got back to our rooms, scotty was very dodgy. so it was
star wars in bed and i wnadered off to get some dinner.
And thats all folks today we will just try and pack and maybe a little more shopping around siam square and then we head to the airport at 5pm. Can't wait to catch up with everyone...
Just as an aside, i may not be able to catch everyone so quickly when i get back. My poor mum had a fall in Fiji and broke both her legs, so i will be heading down to Rye on the weekends for a little while to help out. But midweek catchups are great.
and a few personal notes.
Banana - thanks for looking after the house, sorry i haven't texted you much. Hopefully i will catch you on Monday i will be heading down to Rye let me know if you will be there Monday night or not- i have a little present for you.
Boofa - thanks for the message catch you soon.
Karen - see you at the airport - flight should arrive at 9.05 we will be the ones with all the bags.
Mum - hope your ok, see you soon
Lung Function Crew - Hope the new staff members are going well, congrats Souva on the baby, i guess its not called Sarah seeings its a boy - how about a middle name 😊
Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday messages, it was nice to be on the other side of the world and feel all warm and fuzzy from being remembered.
See you all very soon.
ness (& Scott from bed)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.276s; Tpl: 0.023s; cc: 15; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0598s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
