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Published: August 4th 2006
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ROAR
one of the tigers exercising its vocal chords Well where were we up to?
Perhaps we left Koh Samet and hitched a wild ride back to Bangkok with some nutty Thais who had a wide collection of western music (including Radiohead "Anyones can play gee-tar") which they demonstrated song by song all the way back to Bangkok, picture one hand on the steering wheel the other changing CDs intermittently and occasional mobile phone usage there was a fair bit of swerving across lanes and a few Aussie hearts in mouths - this seems to be all the rage though and other traffic was fortunately aware of the thai driving style using the horn to full effect.
A fleeting stay in Bangkok (yay) and we were on the road the next morning up to Katchanaburi with promises of waterfalls, war museums and tigers!! Ushered by our amusing host 'Michael Jackson' ("10 baht for a moonwalk") About 2-3hrs later we hit the war cemetary and then the River Kwai and the infamous bridge which Nunny decided to walk across - as a train was coming!! So hence got stuck in the middle of the bridge on a small platform to the side of the tracks and many photos were
Tiger Temple
up close and personal taken of her ropehead - they'd never seen anything like it!
Meanwhile Andrew took great interest in the War Museum which detailed the plight of the Allies and Thais against the Japanese with a suitable level of diplomacy. There were many stories and relics from the World war II such as Japanes motorbikes and recreations of the POW scenes.
Back on the minibus and we arrived on a train station to take the same train that nearly got Nunny, a little further down the line. We sailed past many beautiful mountain scenes including a Wat (temple) in a cave and another one perched on the top of a mountain for women only - "if man go up there, he lose his banana" - we were told. Levi you'll be pleased to know I have now purchased a 'singlet' (yes its hot) with Chang written on it (a local beer) and proudly did the 'Chang Chang' the whole way to the other end - much to the amusement of fellow travellers and Thais alike.
After a full day we returned to the river Kwai where we had dinner on a floating restaurant and then were taken by longboat
Tiger Temple
nunnys other cat - a bit bigger than tinkerbell to our floating guesthouse. Once we'd all settled in we went to play Jenga and had two standard drinks in the bar (thanks Mum 😊 with the Thai owners of the guesthouse, their employees, a lovely dutch couple (Roy and Joyce) three hilarious Irish girls (Celine, Wilma plus a 'pernickity brat' named Shannon😉 plus some Poms. The Irish girls drank way more than we did and ended up doing a River Dance for us later in the night which nearly ended up with them going into the Kwai River (which flows pretty damn fast). Meanwhile we were entertained by the veritable Sam (Thai) on Guitar and Ricko on the bongos. Half way through the night Mark emerged from the room and the hair was promptly snapped up by a Thai girl Lek who took great pleasure in wearing it for the rest of the night. She received many compliments of 'Sue-wai' (beautiful) from the fellow Thais and I can only assume that the same was said of Mark in his heyday.
The next day we were up early and went to the Erawang waterfalls with roy and joyce and a swiss couple Tony and Irwan. There were 7 big
Tiger Temple
does she look nervous? ones in total featuring these fish, some up to a foot and a half long, that would nibble you if you stood in the one place for too long "Thai fish massage" they called it but it was a little more freaky than enjoyable. One water fall had a moss covered rock that you could slide down which was fun for a while. The water was a beautiful blue and we saw about 20 monkeys on the way to the top and a watersnake on the way back.
It was back on the Songthaew (Ute with seats in the back) and off to the Tiger Temple. The temple was run by monks and was an animal shelter for anything that was brought their way including boar, sarawak, goats, deer, bears and tigers to name a few. The highlight of course being the tigers that you could 'pat'. We made our way down into the valley and lined up with the other farang to do the standard sit next to the tiger and pat them, but nunny decided that she wanted to pay the 500 B and have the tigers head in her lap (Yes we have some awesome photos).
Tiger Temple
Well it was always gonna be a big dog but a big cat might do too With only a 1000B note we couldn't get change so Ricko waqs in for it too.
Whilst nunny's tiger was relatively placid by the time it got to Rickos turn it had a few flies buzzing around its face which were starting to annoy it. The monk managed to get its head on my lap for the photo op before it let out an almighty roar which made me move faster than I'd ever moved before away from the scene of the crime. Apparently it was only being playful but I was grateful for the 1m chain, which I'd previously thought a bit cruel.
We then went around the complex a bit further where a little monk (maybe ten) invited us into a cage with a baby Asiatic Black bear in it. Like a little puppy dog we played a bit of rough and tumble with the bear feeding it chocolate and giving it high fives - at one point latched onto my shorts and nearly tore them off. A few more people came into the cage and the baby bear decided to make a dash for the door climbing over the step and away. YThe monk and
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chillin' out in the sun Ricko chased it down and hauled it back into the cage (for a little thing he was bloody heavy). Wandered around a bit more and then headed back to a smaller waterfall to cool down and then back to the floating restaurant for dinner and an early bed. What an awesome day!
The next day we were up a little later and went elephant trekking which was pretty cool. Nunny and I both got to sit on the head of the elephant and it managed some pretty cool tricks but was incredibly hungry stopping every 5 metres or so for another snack. After elephant trekking it was off to Hellfire pass an Australian Govt funded museum which was a little less diplomatic and a little more moving than the Thai version at the River Kwai. It spoke at length of the horrendous conditions and treatment of the POWs and SE Asain people at the hands of the Japanese and was a real testament to those who did thei time on the Thai Burma Railway. We were able to see the Hellfire pass cutting and various memorials along the way.
From there we took a bamboo raft on a
Tiger Temple
The recently inaugurated tigers fan nice placid journey down the River Kwai, nunny even braving a dip in the muddy waters, before the bamboo raft went sailing past where we were meant to stop. The people on the barge sprung to life as we headed dangerously close to the pylon on the bridge and sent out a rescue boat and tried throwing a rope to us but to no avail. Tiger man - a very hardened ex army type jumped off the rescue boat and clambered onto the raft - he was thrown a paddle and steered us away from the pylon at the last minute phew!
From there it was back on the minibus and back to Bangkok after a cool little adventure in the mtns. Now in Chiang Mai in then north after a 14 hr train trip (sleeper) of which we slept about 12hrs of!
Got 3 days trekking in the mtns, some white water rafting and a trip to Pai and Mai Hong Son on the cards.
Take care all,
Til next time.
Nunny and Ricko.
PS. Tiger photos now available - a big thanks to Roy and Joyce!
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bizzi
non-member comment
where's michelle?
surely this is a case of "the body snatchers"!!