Blogs from Kanchanaburi, Western Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 54

Our next stop out of Bangkok was a town about 2 hours west called Kanchanaburi. Before coming here we were all pretty excited, and whilst there it definitly didn't disapoint. We got to the hostel, which was easily the nicest hostel we've stayed at, as it was right on the side of the River Kwai, it was also the cheapest. About two hours later we were on our way to the Tiger Temple, and this place was incredible! About ten years ago a small orphaned tiger was taken here to be looked after the monks here, and from then on lots more tigers have also been brought here to be looked after by the monks. There are currently 12 fully grown tigers living here with monks, staying in a disused quarry, and there also about four ... read more

Sunday 5th March to Thursday 9th March 2006 Time to move outta Bangkok and further afield in Thailand. This time on my own - no Jeanette to help ease the burden of the strange land and travel... Starting of course by not catching the tourist bus but doing it the 'proper hardcore' (!!) traveller thang and catching the local bus! Sooo I decided to do just that. The thing is, I was about to get on the second class bus and 'go-local' when all the occupants and the driver shooed me away to the more sparkly bus which was first class. So much for going local!! To my surprise, however, I was the only non-local on the bus and had to squeeze between two ladies on the back seat... not 'hardcore' but getting there...! I arrived ... read more

We woke up early yet again to catch a 7am bus to Kanchanaburi which we had booked ourselves onto the night before. Our choice of booking with a less-than-reputable-looking travel company had us panicking when our bus had failed to turn up by 7:10. It turned out that the bus was waiting outside our hostel, rather than outside the travel company "office" (a table inside a bar) where we were actually told to wait. Luckily we didn't miss it and were headed off on the 2 hour drive west of Bangkok to Kanchanaburi. Our main reason for visiting this area was to view the famous "Bridge over the River Kwai". It was a bridge that the Japanese Army forced thousands of allied PoWs to construct during WWII under horrific conditions, with the aim to directly connect ... read more

There's a bit of a jump here because we actually spent a couple of days lounging around in Surat Thani, then a day on a train to Bangkok and a couple of nights there. Nothing particularly interesting though so no blog entry. Mostly just us enjoying real beds and air con, doing laundry, planning etc. Anyway, we decided to spend a few days in Kanchanaburi a couple of hours bus ride from Bangkok. Famous for its bridge over the river Kwai and 'Death Railway' this is actually quite a nice little place with pretty national parks nearby. We went on one organised day trip which was a bit like a competition to see how many forms of transport we could take in one day : Minibus, Songthaew, Treking, Elephant, Bamboo Raft, Train and so on. Sara's ... read more

Well after experiencing some of the worst of the Thais - the liars & cheats who will look you straight in the face & tell you that the musem / Embassy / Palace / whatever you want to see is closed today because of a holiday (or anything else that they can think of), but you should go on a Tuk-Tuk / go to a shop / go to a TAT (all of which give them commision for sending you) - it's been neat to meet the 'real' people. These people treat tourists like gods & make us ashamed that we don't do the same at home. Over the last few days & many, many hours on trains we've found the meaning to the phrase 'killed with kindness". The Thai's love foreigners & all who can ... read more