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Published: August 1st 2006
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Flower Seller
The ladies prepare the flower decorations for sale by hand so quickly and they are very beautiful decorations Hi Everyone
We feel we were extremely lucky on our arrival in Bangkok, We stayed at the Tong Poon Hotel, for a 1000Thb @ night it was very clean, quiet,(which is needed in Bangkok) and comfortable with extremely helpful staff. First on our itinerary is Wat Po, a temple, to get there we hire a tuk tuk to take us to the river for a river taxi. However it's not quite that simple, the tuk tuk driver wants us to go to visit his "sponsor," but we don't really understand and say no, just the river taxi please. Now, he's a little put out that we won’t visit his “sponsor’ to shop, so he’ll get a fuel token, but we really do not want to shop, so we end up at the river, but about 2k from where we wanted to be and it where the river tours go from, another of his “sponsors”, he’ll get his fuel token if we take a 1000Thb (14.50 pounds) tour. But we don’t want to visit a snake farm or a crocodile farm we just want to go to
Wat Po via the river!! So we walk off feeling really annoyed, and unfortunately it’s
Reclining Buddha
The reclining Buddha in Wat Po certainly is impresive, just so big!! the same walking up river, if we are offered a tour and we don’t take it, we get no further help from the people. Not impressed with Thailand so far!!
Eventually we find our way to the river taxi jetty with the help of a German tourist!! And spend a long time looking around Wat Po. The reclining Buddha is quite something as is the entire temple; our photographs do not do it justice. We have yet another argument with the tuk tuk driver on the return trip to the hotel, we're tired and just want to rest! Enough for the day, just a snack of rice and curry at a local cafe, couple of beers and an early night!!
Next day, more of the same, except we use a taxi and the local bus service, just can’t face arguing with a tuk tuk driver!!! The bus travel is a really interesting experience and a good cheap way of seeing the city. Today is more of the same, more temples, The Black Buddha, (now gold), a temple in the midst of restoration and Golden Mount. By now we sure are templed out!!
It’s an early start next morning on our
Decoration
part of the decoration on Wat Arun, it's just too much to try and explain mystery tour, we are collected in a minibus along with a Norwegian family and 2 Aussie guys. 2 hours later we arrive at the Death Museum on the River Kwai. But first we visit the War Cemetery, this is particularly moving, so many young lives ended in such atrocious conditions.
The museum itself is very tacky, but it interesting to walk the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai.
Next to Somnuk Elephant Camp, where we have lunch at a floating hotel on the River Kwai, this is where we are staying tonight, funny, it doesn’t look anything like as smart the picture we saw in the brochure!! But lunch is good, wholesome and filling. Next it’s a waterfall, we didn’t know anything about this, we swim and clamber up the rocks like kids, the waters clean and a very pleasing temperature.
Now a train ride along the tracks built by the POW’s, so we can see a very nasty bit of railway track that had to built along the side of cliffs above the river. Many men lost their lives building this stretch. It’s interesting to pass through the country villages and see a view of rural life in
Temple
just some of the decorations inside Wat po Thailand, many school children get on the train, their regular transport home from school.
We’ve had a long day, time to rest, have supper and then sleep.
Early next morning it’s bathing time for the elephants and for 400thb we can take part, I ride a large male elephant down to the river and the scrubbing starts. It was a great experience and lots of fun, Arnie was chief photographer, recording the event for posterity for us as well as a German family.
No time to rest, quick breakfast and another museum. The Hells Gap museum is dedicated to the men that made the cutting through rock, known as Hells Gap. It wasn’t only the harsh conditions that caused the loss of life, but this stretch was built during the “speedo” period, when the POW’s were made to work for 18 hours a day, then walk back one hour to camp then eat, and then rest for 4 hours before being made to walk back!! Because we visited in the middle of a storm, we weren’t able to walk to the cutting, but the museum is so well done that if didn’t really matter.
Now another thing on the itinerary
Artist
An artist restoring the murals on the walls of the Temple that we didn’t know about, an elephant ride, but it’s so wet we don’t go very far!!
Lunch and it’s time for the highlight of the trip, the Tiger Temple. This is a weird experience, tigers lying about, people taking us by the hand and letting us stroke the tigers while we pose for someone to take our photo using our camera! It’s good to see the tigers, they are beautiful creatures, and to say you’ve touched one is amazing. But………
We spend ¾ hour at the temple and then it’s back to Bangkok, it’s been a busy 2 days. On the way back, Arnie has a chat with our Thai guide, he tells Arnie the Tiger Temple is a big con!!! The first tiger was bought from the Thai/ Myanmar border, not given to the monk as the blurb says! Also the tigers are sedated, we watched one being given a sachet of powder in it’s food when it became quite lively and boisterous! The monks are supposed to be building an enclosure for the tigers, but 7 years later, work still hasn’t started. They have 200 visitors a day @ 300Thb, 7 days a week 52 weeks of
Bridge
A reconstructed version of the infamous Bridge onver the River Kwai the year and they still can’t afford to build the enclosure. Something doesn’t quite add up, and I’m sure it’s not healthy for tigers to be sedated like that everyday as well as being kept in cages and on chains!!!
Back in Bangkok, we do the tourist things for the next 2 days such as visit the Royal Place and Temple. Then it’s back to Malaysia and Sabah,. and that’s another blog!
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Marion
non-member comment
Hi there, I have just finished reading your blog and am so envious about your visit with the elephants. I would love to have bathed them, not too sure about the elephant ride and dunking though. I agree, the tigers have to be drugged, there is no way that they would be that docile. Those bloody monks, I know what i would like to say to them, but can't put it down here on e-mail, too blasphemous! Take care, marion