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Published: November 10th 2006
Oh my God, why oh why would you ever book a tour that means getting up on Holiday before 7am!
Bleary eyed, we meet up with our guide for the day in the hotel lobby. She introduces herself as Gai and together with a driver we are setting off for a private tour of Kanchanaburi approximately 130km west of Bangkok.
Our first stop of the day is the JEATH war Museum, (Japenese English American Thai Dutch) which represents the forces that were involved in the war camps.
No pictures allowed inside the museum which has been recreated to resemble one of the camp buildings that would have been endured by POWS in the second world war. Pictures wouldn’t really do justice in any case, some of the images are just horrific.
We are heading toward the River Kwae (actually Kwae Yai) which means Big River. Offering us a choice of heading upriver by long boat or car, we decide that river sounds like a laugh. Ha, how we laughed as we bolted through the water as some 30 - 40 knots in a canoe fitted with an enormous truck engine! They have notices advising you to wear lifebelts, these
On the Bridge
A train "rushes" toward usare slightly smaller than a neck cushion and I would put more trust in my natural bouancy. Pictures taken from the boat trip may appear a bit shaky, that is for good reason.
We dock at the bridge. The bridge is steel and is in actual use to the present day. Walking over the bridge, you get the feeling that Health & Safety seem to be words that Thai people are aware of in only their most basic form. There are holes dropping down to the river, there are broken planks for the tourists to go play on, heck there is a train coming!
We dodge the train, not being exactly hard having a driving speed of some 0.5MPH.
We wave to all the tourists on the train heading through the route to the Death Railway which is where we are heading next. Not going to give a history lesson here on the Death Railway (Look it up!) but following the passage is just incredible as it cuts through jungle and alongside mountainside.
We lunch by the side of one of the most precarious portions of the route and see the train we left at the bridge
pull in.
A brief after lunch stop to an Elephant Sanctuary and we are off to the Tiger Temple. Essentially a Wildlife Sanctuary and Preservation, founded by Abbot-Pra Acharn Phoosit
www.tigertemple.org for full details.
We walk through the temple grounds admiring the menagerie of animals that you can just walk up to. This is a distraction however, we are heading to Tiger Canyon to get up close and personal with the Tiggers!
This is much more organised than we thought and any concerns we had are eased knowing that the big cats are fed in the mornings before visitors arrive.
You are taken around one by one to sit and pose with the tigers and the staff on site ensure you have enough pictures to keep you amused for years to come.
We have some more time to spend in the temple grounds and go walkabout. We come across an 8 month old black bear being looked after by 2 monk novices. The bear is called Boom-Boom and is quite happy playing with a tree until we trundle up.
The novices hand us some milk tablets and allow us to feed Boom-Boom, something she seems very
enthusiastic about.
She is bigger and certainly stronger than the pictures may suggest. The monks try to get Kev to shake hands with Boom-Boom. Kev offers his hand in friendship, she offers a paw with big sharp claws. Kev decides to withdraw his hand but Boom-Boom is fast and nearly has his hand in her mouth, that’s the part of bear with the big pointy teeth! The monks are laughing, Scarlet is laughing, Kev isn’t laughing!
We watch the monks “play” with Boom-Boom for a few minutes and look for some animals Kev can safely wrestle.
Time to head back to Bangkok, close to a 3 hour journey back but as days out go, one to be remembered.
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