Kasem Island Resort Kanchanaburi

... into the ground. <br><br> Next I rode a bamboo raft down the River Kwai. One of the few rivers in Thailand that isn't brown! It was such a smooth, quiet, and serene ride. We were surrounded by nothing but trees, which was a pleasant interruption after the bustle of Bangkok. We had the afternoon off to spend in the hotel's enormous pool, which is good, because there was 91 of us. I couldn't even begin to count how many Changs, Singhas, and Leos were ...

... for 2 days! And it was really cheap.<br><br>Day 1: <br><br>* See tempel with buddha stues<br>* Ses "Death railway" bridge from WWII<br>* Play with 5 months leopardbaby<br>* Ride &amp; swim with Elephants!<br><br>Day 2:<br><br>* Trip to Erawan waterfalls<br>* Safari open Zoo<br>* Krocodile show<br>* Elephants how<br>* Play with parrots<br>* Feed wild annimals <br>* Play with tiger and lion<br>

... ran for about 300 kms to Burma, and addition to the POW'S labour from from China Burma Thailand Vietnam and India were used. and many died in it construction. <br><br>Travelling in the train along the banks of the River it was easy to take in the views and forget the lives lost for each metre that we travelled. After lunch it was time to head back. They kept changing the group members depending on ...

... with Glenn arriving nice and loud back at half 5 trying to get into mine and Pa's room...claiming to the security guard that Pa needed to be checked as he was "mentally retarded!!!" Not far off my good man, not far off!!!<br><br>Monday 14/09/09<br>We had a total chill out day in K'buri today as people were hungover and sick...Thailand was taking its toll on us. Having a chill day was quite common for the week so get used to it. We did venture out ...

... and it was off to the Tiger Temple..........a definite change of pace and thoughts............<br><br>Entering the gardens one is not immediately aware of the presence of Tigers........strolling past some Deer....Water Buffaloe...Horses and other assorted wildlife ..........all of a sudden a sea of purple shirts and monks appear (the handlers of the tigers).......you then receive some instruction and break up into ...

... kilometers long to link Kanchanaburi to the Japanese base camp in Thanbyuzayat in Burma, thus ensuring a direct line from Singapore through Malaya and Thailand to link up with the railway network in Burma.  Apart from supplying their bases in Burma, the Japanese had also planned to use the railway to launch an attack on India.<br><br>At 12:00 we boarded a van for our return trip to Randy's home in Bangkok.<br>

... that you naturally shy away from them, and that just makes me feel more guilty. The Erawan National Park was just gorgeous, and the hike to the Falls was fantastic. Now, let me say that the humidity was ungodly, and carrying far too many pounds up a bit of a hike wasn't the best thing I could be doing. I kept wondering why somebody hasn't invented portable air ...

... much better, the room is clean, and it's raining tonight, which means it will be cool for sleeping. I'm developing a bit of a fascination with the Bridge over the River Kwai, which is here. Today I went to the Thailand-Burma railway museum, which has displays about the construction of the rail line through the mountains of Thailand and Burma, which the Japanese planned to use to supply an attack on India during WWII. Hundreds of thousands ...

... the famous Bridge of the River Kwai (some of you may have seen the film, which I've been told isn't very accurate historically). Before we reached the Bridge we ventured into the JEATH World War 2 Museum, to learn a bit about the history surrrounding Kanchanaburi in the war. The museum had some amusing looking statues of some of the war heroes, and war criminals of WW2, most notably Stalin and Churchill who looked nothing Stalin ...

... bananas, put them in a basket on a stick and pass the stick across the boat to the waiting hands on the sidewalk. The customer dropped the money in the basket and back it came to the waiting hands of the vendor! We wandered and watched and took photo after photo, entranced by the life, the colors and the textures of the market. For a while, we just sat at the intersection of two canals and watched. For the locals, it was a social function. Women sat in clusters in ...