Blogs from Kanchanaburi, Western Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 57

Back again today with another entry from Kanchanaburi. re: today's title. Yesterday I mentioned the noise that the long tail boats make when they cruise by our floating accomodation on the river. Well, I forgot to mention these karaoke rafts that also happen by from time to time. They're these big party barges that can't travel under their own power, but are pulled by other boats. Okay, so that was a bit of a redundant sentence. Anyway, the ironic thing is that the Japanese are back on the River Kwai. They were the WWII occupiers and they built the nearby bridge and railroad. Now they're back with karaoke (which I'm assuming originated in Japan) and the Thai students here especially love it. We're not exactly loving it when they float by with some off-key crooner at ... read more

Bridge over the River Kwai Death Railway Museum Chungkai Cemetery I can't write down everything I'd want to talk about with you on these areas. War is an important part of history that we need to know as much as we can about, and as people in all countries believe, with knowledge maybe we won't make the same mistakes twice. For information on WW2, there is a wealth of information in many places. The internet isn't bad. Just one example of a pretty good site, that isn't only about guided tours, is http://www.hellfirepass.com/index.htm It has a lot about Hellfire Pass, the death railway, the bridge, numbers of the dead, and lots more. If you are one of the Australians reading this, you'll (hopefully) know Weary Dunlop (the guy with the donkey if that prompts anyone). ... read more

Although Conrad’s version of our hike sounds like complete hell, it truly was amazing. We started out the day being piled into the back of a pickup truck, 12 of us in all. It was only about 42 degrees, so being squished together was really quite awful. We had a great bunch of people to trek with though, varied from everywhere. England, Ireland, Korea and us from Canada. We drove in this condition for about 2 hours give or take, and arrived at a very stinky market, in which people were cutting up fish and guts were flying everywhere. Phewy. Anyhow, continued on to the base of the mountain where we piled out and were served lunch. Yum. Then it began. From the first hill, I knew we were in trouble. The brochure for this hike ... read more

Kan-chan-aburi. It’s a mouthful, and I still can't seem to pronouce it correctly. Kanchanaburi is one of the 76 provinces in Thailand. It is also the province where the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai, the ruins of Ayutthaya, the Allied War Cemetery, and the JEATH Museum are. The Christian University of Thailand is also there. However, we didn’t spend much time there. We mostly drove through and saw the above places, so I don’t have much to say about it except that the scenery was nice, and the Night Market in Nakorn Pathom (the town Christian University is in) was fun in a small foreign village way. We saw a guy who has a show throwing and making ice cream for customers…another thing we need Stateside! Anyhoo, this is what we did. What we did/Where ... read more

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