Playing withTigers

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The last time I was in Thailand which was over 2 years ago there was 1 trip I had really wanted to do but never got around to doing it and have been kicking myself ever since I left. Knowing that sometime I would be back I have been promising myself I would get around to doing it. So having had such an amazing week in Ko Samui with Laura we had a sad farewell as I left her at the airport, we had had such an amazing time together and it had been amazing to see one another after such a long time apart, It was very hard to say goodbye and be back by myself again.

I left the airport and headed back into Bangkok and checked myself into a cheap hostel, I then decided to take my mind of things by booking myself on this trip I have been wanting to do. It was a fully day tour to Kanchaniburi which was made famous from the ‘bridge over the river Kwai’ and the ‘death railway’. I know by the sounds of it doesn’t seem a very appealing place at all but I had heard from many people who have gone and all have said what an amazing experience it was.

I had a really early start which was bad as I had had very little sleep as it was so hot that night as I was in this tiny box room with a crappy little fan than just seemed to move the hot air around without actually cooling it down, so as I woke up in the morning I had to peal myself of the bed sheet and left a perfect sweaty outline of my body on the bed. Also I swear it had bed bugs and all night I felt like I was getting bitten, so by the time I had to get up at 5.30 I was well ready for to leave the room and have a go at sleeping on the bus instead.

It was a good 2 hours drive north west of Bangkok towards Burma which I found went super quick as I fell asleep for most of it and the journey seemed to be over in 20 mins - I love when this happens!!
Having arrived at Kanchaniburi our first stop was at the cemetery in the centre of the city, this cemetery held thousands of graves of British, Dutch, Russian and Australian service men. All these service men died while building the famous bridge that passes over the river Kwai. Now I don’t know if you know your history very well but this all happened during World War 2 when the Japanese were trying to get a supply route from Thailand to Burma to help the War efforts, so they used many thousands of POW’s to build the railway track to Burma which started here in Kanchaniburi, the railway track passed though some incredibly treacherous terrain which cut its way through sheer rock faces and mountains to the Burmese border.
Between the way the POW’s were looked after and the seriously dangerous tasks the prisoners were made to do, many thousands of these people died during the time of the railroad. Since then it has been known as ‘the death railway’. Many of the POW’s were giving little or no food, hardly enough water to survive on and only one set of clothes, they were made to live in empty railway carriages and forced to work incredibly long and hard hours. This reminded me of my time in Cambodia learning about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, it shocked and sadden how people can be so cruel and an inhuman to other humans. But although it was so horrible to hear of the atrocities that went on I really found it a great experience to learn what happened, I was really glad to have come and seen this place as it makes you really appreciate what a great life we have and what others have gone through to let us have this way of life. It certainly makes you appreciate more what you have.

So we were given a little time to wonder around the cemetery and see some of the graves, I was really shocked at how many of the people were younger than me, it was so sad to read some of the things on the placards, I really felt so bad to think how lucky I have been to see and do everything I have done while these young lads had to go to war then got caught and taken prisoner and worked as slaves till they either died of an accident, shot or died of lack of food etc!! It was truly shocking and so sad to think how they never got a chance to live a proper life like I have.

From here we were taken to a museum which unfortunately won’t rank in my top museums I have ever seen but I did git to read a few interesting articles and seen the railway carriages that the POW’s had to sleep in and seen some of the kinds of living and working conditions that they had to put up with. I then had a walk around the corner from here to the famous bridge over the river Kwai which seemed to have hundreds of people walking along it. So being the tourist I had to go and join them walking from one side of the river bank to the other, which was great till I actually realized the bridge and railway is still used and we all had to jump to the sides of the bridge to let a train go past!!! (not very fast mind you, it sort of strolled past not like ones passing through a railway station at home or anything, so we actually had to real fear of being run over!).

Just like the past couple of weeks it was ridiculously hot and so by the time we all got back in our transport and turned the aircon on, it felt incredible to finally be able to cool down again and excape the heat for a short while. I can’t explain how hot it gets in Thailand at this time of the year it makes you a sweating sticky mess in mins of stepping outside. (Yeah I know what I a lovely thought ha ha) you can definitely feel it’s building up for the rainy season now.

So from Kanchaniburi we drove another hour or so till we got to this railway station in the middle of no-where, where we were able to get a ride on the Death train along a section of the death railway. It was beautiful journey along a raised bank with the river Kwai on one side and a sheer rock face the other, travelling along I can now see how so many of the prisoners died as it must have been incredibly dangerous craving a railroad through this landscape. Having said that it was a stunning view looking out of the windows, with the added bonus of getting tea and biscuits for the journey.

We had a good hours journey along the railroad before getting taken to a restaurant for lunch then off to a waterfall which was packed with hundreds of Thai people, they must have been feeling the heat like us too as it seemed like half of Thailand had descended on the waterfall and it was so packed.

From here our group was split up and I was off to do the 2nd part of the tour I have been waiting to do for over two years and that was to visit the Tiger temple where many years ago a few monks started looking after tigers cubs that had been found in the wild after their parents had been killed for their fur. So the monks had looked after and raised these cubs and over the years more and more tigers kept coming and now there are many tigers there and tourists and able to visit and spend time with them, I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally get up close and stroke a something so beautifully dangerous!

I was so excited by the time we finally arrived and paid out entrance fee I didn’t really take note of where to go I just started to follow another group of people thinking they would know the way but unfortunately the whole group had thought the same thing of the people they had been following, so we all ended up walk for near 25 mins along this seriously rock road then through some scrub land before finding out way back to the entrance and finally entering the tiger temple. I was so pissed off I had wasted a whole 25 mins of our precious time here walking aimlessly around following people that had no idea where to go!!!!

My mood soon changed when I was able to see my first few tigers and get to touch them. I had heard from a few people that the tigers can be drugged and appear really drowsy and sleepy but that defiantly wasn’t the case here.
I found my way to the ‘Tiger gorge’ shortly after where there must have been 15 or so tigers of various sizes, I was then taken around with a Thai guide that led me from tiger to tiger so that I was able to stoke and get my picture with them. It was incredible they are so much bigger than I expected and having been raised around humans all there life they were so at easy with being around us. The best bit was defiantly being able to stroke the belly of one of the tigers that was lying on it back. It was incredible to be up close and personally with such dangerous creatures knowing that at any moment they could kill me without a second’s thought! I had the most stupid big grin in all my pics as I could believe I was finally doing this and was so happy. Health and safety would have had a fit it this was happening in the UK ha ha.

We drove back to Bangkok after finishing at the tiger temple, were later that evening I was able to meet up with my American mate of mine called Matt that I traveled with last time I was in Thailand, it was really great to catch with him again after 2 years and find out what he has been up to since we last seen each other. We went out for a few beers and headed to a couple of different bars that I hadn’t been to before and had a great laugh.

The following day I caught the bus back to Pattaya to spend my last few days at my step dad’s Bar and catching up with David a bit more before I finally left to fly back to New Zealand. Over these couple do days I really didn’t do anything special and just lounged around the bar and having pool competitions at every opportunity with anyone that wanted to play.

Having now finally come back to New Zealand I have now got a job and as everybody knows I am so late a writing by blogs I have been I work quite a while now!! So anyway I will be hopefully working here in Auckland for the next 7-8 months saving up money and heading to Australia early next year and from there to South America for a couple of months. So this will be my last blog for a while but it will be back early next year when I finally have some money again and get back travelling, so stay tuned!!! Just gotta stay in, be good and save my money but then that’s easier said than done when you have a good group of friends here that are always thinking of things to do that I don’t want to miss out on ha ha.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blogs I know the past couple have been very long so I hope this hasn’t taken quite as long to read. Keep in touch and if all goes to plan ill be back travelling in 7-8 months!!

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Photos

I liked this
Some bloke towing his house down the river ha ha