Ayutthaya Grand Hotel Kanchanaburi

... and its Memorial Museum. Time for a history lesson. It's quite interesting, I promise. <br>Firstly, forget the film Bridge On the River Kwai - that film does shash all to explain what was really going on (for a start, the bridge wasn't even blown up for about 2 years after it was finished), and is the equivalent of explaining the Devil's life by portraying God's.<br>In 1942 and 1943, the Japanese ordered that 30,000 British, 18,000 Dutch, 13,000 Australian and 700 ...

... Hellfire Pass. The Pass is another section of the Burma-Thailand railway in which undernourished allied prisoners of war were forced to work 18 hours a day under torturous conditions and with basic tools to cut a way through a large expanse of rock. Over 80000 POWs and forced Asian workers died during the construction of the railway and the Pass and nearby museum provided another informative if sobering stop.<br><br>We drove again to nearby Krae Saw Cave which contains a Buddha ...

... br>Then it's off to book a ticket......just in time for the 11 o'clock to Kanchanaburi.........fully air conditioned coach...with water supplied.........price?!.....$7 for two!!......need i say it BARGAIN.....STILL!!!<br><br>The 2 hour trip was incredibly comfortable and arrived on time at 1:00PM............negotiated a 'cheap' fair with a tuk tuk operator and 15 minutes ...

Fell asleep super early last night and woke up up this morning wide eyed at 5 am. Decided to catch a bus to Kanchanaburi which they gave me a very precise trip time of 2-5 hours. Turns out that if you are driving for half the time and stopping to pick up every person on the side of the road, it actually could take twice as long. I was the only white person at this huge bus station and i definitly knew it. It wasnt uncomfortable though cause they stare in a ...

... should try it at home. :) Because I was the only student, I was able to talk to Noi a lot about her business and Thailand. She and another single woman opened a tour agency 20 years ago and have grown it into a tour service, guesthouse, and cooking school. They opened another guesthouse last year, and its rooms are spectacular for only about $20 a night. I mean, they are well decorated and look like something you would see at a nice resort in the U.S.-- really ...

... people were swimming and then back to Bangkok. Overall an interesting day trip - it was good to see the places where NZ has some military history. Back in Bangkok Nicole and I taxied to Chinatown where we had tea (mine was pineapple stir fried rice, yum) and a look around. Tomorrow - catching the train to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya and on the overnight train to Chiang Mai. We will be glad to get out of Bangkok and its perpetual barrage of smells - dominated by rubbish!

... and when I was washing my towel (which was muddy because i had just slipped and fell onto it) the fish kept sucking my legs and flies were landing on me so I gave up! But on the way down we went to the fifth waterfall and I jumped off of the top which was really scary and slippy but I did it again and we got some good pics! The fourth waterfall was like a slide so I slid ...

... cows and buffalo and deer and horses and chickens and peacocks appeared and started eating. There were a lot of mouths to feed! And that ended our day at the tiger temple as they announced it was closing and we took the walk back to our van. We learned on the way back that you can go there for a week for meditation and to learn to care for the tigers, for a price of course! We jumped in the van for the 2.5 hour trip back to Bangkok. It was a good day in Kanchanaburi!

... pleased to have seen them but feel that they do, unfortunately, need these donations from tourists to keep them going but I do not know if it is right. They are building a huge new area for them with shade and waterfalls etc, but some of the cubs didnt seem happy at all.<br><br>Got chatting to a few people from our sangatheuw before we left and Roxy and Emma (from IPSWICH!!!! How wierd) were teachers on Ko Samui before going to Kancha. Also met a couple of German girls ...

... med å sove, og kjente sinnet presse seg på - hvorfor klar** alle å sove unntatt meg?? Kvart på 12 om natta stoppa bussen på et shabby og dyrt sted. Doene d** var noen porselenshull i bakken - æsj! Kl.5 stoppet bussen på nytt, og vi ble satt på en uventet pause på 2 tim**, og kom oss da ikke vid**e før kl.7. Vi var endelig framme på busstoppet kl.9 om morgenen. D** ble vi hentet med bil** av de folka som hadde det neste stedet hvor vi skulle ov**natte.             <br><br>