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Published: July 27th 2009
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Kanchanaburi - 5-6 July 2009
Sunday - This turned out to be an awesome and memorable get away for all of us. Initially we were going to pack it all in in one day, but the overnight was a perfect solution. None-the-less, we were off to an early start on Sunday morning as we needed to drive 40 minutes south of Bangkok to see the Floating Market in Klong Ton Khem. It was only happening in the morning. It was very colourful, smelly, and hot. It was awesome to see, but all the variety of Thai breakfast foods (hot spicy soup, mangos and sticky rice, creamy Thai coffees, fried egg rolls) was probably a bit much for the morning... It was packed with vendors both on the water in boats and in stalls - and lots of people shopping too!
Our next stop was a drive back west toward the famous "Bridge over the River Kwai". Along the route we stopped at a graveyard memorial of approx 16,000, mainly Dutch, that died between 1941-45 building the "Death Railway". Having seen this bridge and several areas of the train track and journey, I can imagine that the conditions and heat were
unbearable! We took lots of photos at the bridge and then when we reached our hotel, River Kwai Cabin (and houseboat) Resort, we saw, and walked along, more of this "Death Railway". Before arriving at our resort for river rafting at 3pm, we stopped at the Tiger Temple. This was a bizarre place, another monastery with a "catch" to get tourists to visit. It is the home of 40 plus tigers all looked after by monks and various western student volunteers. We were able to walk alongside the tiger, and pet him, and then carry on down to the Tiger Canyon where dozens of tigers were chained and ready to be photographed with the tourist groups. We were short on time so we didn't get a chance to see the whole area or play with the tiger cubs. Sydney and Avery raced back up to Tiger Falls on the way out (way too hot for the rest of us) and had some photos taken with the cub. We arrived at our resort at 2:30 - enough time to catch lunch (included in the price) and for us to have a quick look around and to switch from a primative cabin
to the house boats. This was definitely "roughing it" a bit. The toilet block, no toilets in the rooms, was at least 100 yds away and was pretty much a tiny toilet with a bucket of water and a scoop to flush next to it. There was also a shower head in the same tiny space for showering. It made us appreciate the luxury of Tan's Bangkok house. At 3pm we boarded teak rafts (basically you were floating on the water), to be pulled up river, and let go, to float down the fast flowing river, either on the raft or swimming along side the rafts. Most everyone jumped off and swam. I had my doubts as the water was very dirty, but hey, "When in Thailand, do as the Thais". I couldn't be the only swimmer left on the raft. It was a bit challenging to stop at the end as the current was so fast. They had "lifeguards" with us, but this is not a swimming expedition that would ever have been considered "safe" in the US!! But we all survived to tell the tale and had a blast! It was raining a little on the way back
which was nice - helped with the heat and not getting too sunburned. The kids all bunked up in the same room with their PSPs, Dia's Laptop, and IPODs. We had our cocktail hour on the deck outside the houseboat with all the adults trying the rum and gin that we brought with no mixers... Dinner was early and the food was pretty similar to lunch. After dinner the kids all watched a movie and the rest of us enjoyed some Karaoke! Very funny - I have not done that in years. They had LOTS of music and it was a bit of a trip down memory lane... Later that night I was happy that Avery opted to crawl into our bed - bigger than a king size - with us so that I didn't have to worry about him getting up in the middle of the night and falling overboard. The river was right outside our door!
Monday - This was meant to be a travel day back to Bangkok and on to Phuket with a few stops along the way...
It was a busy day. After breakfast and packing up, we took at walk along the "Death Railway"
Tiger Temple
Head Monk and his Tiger over to another resort, the snake cave, and a market. It was really freaky. Sydney tells me I should do something out of my comfort zone every day, and this was certainly it! It was narrow, rickety, high, and steep with the potential of oncoming trains. In spite of this, it was amazing! Not sure if the pictures really do it justice! The snake cave along the way apparently was were dozens of workers on the railway overnighted and we killed by a giant snake. They say that Anacondas once lived in the area. Our driver, Web, said that wild tigers are still common in this region. The cave is now snake free and houses a temple. Again, we took lots of memorable photos here. Back in the van, it was only one stop before heading to Bangkok and Tan's house to collect our bags and head to the airport. The last stop was at Wat Tham Mangkon Thong (Cave Temple of the Golden Dragon) to see the "floating Nun" - what a gimmick! You pay to see this very large, and apparently holy, nun float both vertically and horizonally in a small pool. It was the strangest thing to
Avery and the Tiger
Gregg, Lisa, Tan and Graham in the background see!! At this point the weather started to turn and we headed back into Bangkok and lots of rain. It did not stop raining, torrential downpours, until we arrived in Phuket at 7pm! Thankfully, Web got us everywhere safely, our flights were on time (a real surprise), and on to the beach portion of our holiday! We were beat after a long day of travel and anxious to get to our hotel, to have a quick swim and go to bed early - more exciting activities planned first thing on Tues!
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Stevie
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Sweet Tigers!
Hey, what songs did you sing for Karoake?