More to do in Kanchanaburi

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It isn't just doom and gloom in the Kanchanaburi area but let's start with the Hellfire Pass anyway.


We visited the infamous section of the death railway at the Konyu Cutting. There is an official Australian historical memorial site and museum here and they provide an excellent but heartbreaking audio tour which greatly enhances the walking trails. It's full of soundbites from surviving POW's and gives you real insight into their experiences. We walked for about 2 hours along one of the trails, it was hot, humid and the mosquitoes were feasting on us, but it did give us a better understanding on how hard it must have been. This part of the 214km railway line was worked on by predominately Australian and British POW's and every ANZAC day a dawn service is held here.

We spent some time at one of the many waterfalls in this area and also bathed in a fantastic outside hot spa. We were the only farangs at the spa and the only ones wearing swimmers. The few Thais there were fully clothed so we felt a bit underdressed! It was lovely though, the water was very hot and steam was rising all around us whilst we relaxed listening to the sounds of a cold mountain stream flowing past us. We were even brave enough to take a dip in this cold water afterwards, totally refreshing!

During our time travelling, Sharon has become addicted to baby animals, for example, cats, dogs, goats, cows and even geckos! The best so far though, has to be a tiger cub! Local monks run a tiger temple which is an animal refuge looking after rescued tigers. We were lucky enough to spend some time with a cute but energetic tiger which Sharon of course, wanted to take with us :-)


We did manage to ride on one of the local trains which goes along part of the death railway line, with other backpakers we jumped on a section of the track which is nice and scenic and travelled a couple of stops. The locals must think we are crazy but it's just like catching the manly ferry with all the tourist taking snaps whilst you are just trying to get home :-)

It has been a strange few days, fun but filled with a reminder that life is short and we are lucky to be able to experience so much. I have received 2 emails this week regarding deaths. Firstly, Fred, a close family friend who was in his late seventies died unexpectantly. He was stationed in South East Asia when he was in the army and would have undoubtedly known surviving POW's from the death railway. I had been looking forward to sharing my experiences with him. Secondly, Glenn, an old work colleague whose wife died of cancer a few years ago was killed in a road traffic accident leaving behind his children. All this has happened to someone who was a few years younger than me.

Next stop Ko Chang, back to the beach :-)

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