Stage 11

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Another nightmare of a bus ride, this time from Siem Reap to Bangkok. There wasn't one part of tarmac road from Siem Reap to the Thai border, which takes 6 hours. We were crammed into this little bus with no a/c so we had to have the windows open the entire time and therfore we were all absolutely covered in dust, we were lucky though, we passed a couple of buses with flat tyres. Cambodia is run by 4 dictators and 1 of them owns the airport at Siem Reap and apparently they keep the roads bad just so you'll fly to where ever your going. Git!
We came back to Bangkok on our way to Krabi to spend xmas, we had a spare day there so went out to the River Kwai which is about 2 hours away and where the famous bridge was built by Allied POWs during WWII. We had a look through the museum there and although it's quite horrific I think I've become hardened to this sort of stuff after the last couple of weeks. The Bridge over the River Kwai is only part of the story, it's just a little piece of the railway line built by the Japanese to get suplies and soldiers from Rangoon (Burmah) to Bangkok. It was originally called "The Death Railway" as 100,000 people plus 16,000 Allied POWs died building it. Japanese engineers originally forecast the railway would take 5 years to build but the Japanese army forced the slaves and POWs to build it in 16 months (a bit like working for Honda!). The name has been changed now to the JEATH (Japan, England, Australia, Thailand, Holland) railway to mark the countries involved and they say it's being kept, not to maintain hatred towards Japan but to remember how awful war is, which is fair enough really.
In the afternoon we went to a place called "The Tiger Temples" and basically it's an animal sanctury run by monks with the main attraction being the tigers. These tigers are raised from cubs by the monks and are supposedly totally comfortable with human contact. The monks walk around with them on leads as if they were dogs without any problems what so ever. There's an area you can go and have your picture taken called "Tiger Valley", it opens at 1 o'clock just after they've been fed and there sat in the hot sun and so are really dosile. There are rumours that the tigers are drugged and it could appear that they are but I find it hard to believe that firstly the monks would do that and secondly that any of these wildlife organisations haven't investigated it or done anything about it but I might just be being naive.
Well that's Bangkok for the second time, 1 last big night on the tiles and then to Krabi. Yes!

TRAVEL TIP: When stroking a tiger, be very very quiet.

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Photos

The Bus
Try going down a dirt track for 6 hours in this!

The Bridge over the River Kwai
This is the new one, the original got bombed

Sherkahn
I might be smiling but right now I'm sh#@ing myself!

Comments

[rick]

******Merry Xmas*******
Merry Xmas dude, I`ve made extra pigs in blankets this year and eaten them for you !!

[adam frost]

My new email
Hello mate!, Hope you had a good xmas, can you maybe drop me an email in the next few days letting me know when your on skype next. We can have a long chat. Speak to you soon!

[Its not wot it looks like]

You've crossed the line
That's too far dude!! Oh Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to you Sandra and Olly

[Its not wot it looks like]

Skype
Ok mate, give me a time over the weekend when your about and I'll give you a buzz. It'll have to be no later than 4pm GMT though dude or the internet caf's here will be closed.