Kanchanaburi - Riviere Kway

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Hi everyone,
Just thought that id do a quick update before I head of to Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai tomorrow as during the trek i doubt there will be any internet seen as there arnt any toilets!!

Monday turned out to be a good day, when we reached Kanchanaburi we found our accommodation situated on the River Kway! The hostel was a number of floating rooms which is interesting when your on the loo and a boat goes past as the rooms have a tendancy to rock quite abit! Howevr I have found this is actually quite relaxing at night. After we had settled our things into our room we took a mini man powered tuk tuk, otherwise known as a Salmon around the town for some sight seeing. This was great fun as all of the group had their own individual one and so the men driving us around had great fun in racing each other! I definately had the best Salmon as mine had a built in stereo out of which 'RhineStone Cowboy' was continuously played! During our ride in the Salmon we visited a JEATH museum dedicated to the prisoners of war who built the Brige over the River Kway (known in Thialand as the Death Railway), a WWII cemetery, severaly amazing temples and the Bridge over the River Kway where there was also a small market.

The following day we travelled 2 hours to the Erawan National Park where we saw the Erawan waterfalls. Apparently Thailands most beautiful waterfalls, however as I visited them during monsoon season we were only allowed up to level two of the waterfalls seven levels and we were also not allowed to swim in level two where the water is normally crystal clear. Although not as beautiful as they are normally it was definatly worth it. We alo visited a dam situated near to the falls which had stunning views and very large ants! After this on our way back to the centre of Kanchanaburi we topped at the famous 'Tiger Temple' which was not what I thought it woul be like. This was apparently set up by the monks as a local charity could no longer afford to look after their animals, so the Tigers and verious farm animals were transported to the temple to be looked after by the monks. When we arrived I was very surprised by what we saw as there were around 6 tigers all of which were very dosile and sleepy. The monks would take a person each and would place them next to various tigers for their photograph. Although I did take the oppurtunity to do this it was quite upsetting as it was quite obvious that the tigers were given something to make them lazy which our quide later comfirmed.

Tomorrow I begin the long journey towards Ayutthaya to catch the night train to Chiang Mai were I begin a three day trek.

Hope all is well at home, love to all x

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