Ganesha Park Kanchanaburi

... had a quick lunch before being hustle off by our driver to the Hellfire Pass Museum. Historical note for anyone who is not aware, during WW2 the Japanese Army forced tens of thousands of British, Australian, Dutch and later American POWs and hundreds of thousands of conscripted Asian laborers to build a railway from Thailand to Burma (called the Death Railway) to resupply to Japanese army in their attempt to invade India. The ...

... and save the tigers from poachers. This year in June 2009, without hesitation, i just flew to Bangkok, having my Thai friend to get me there. He is Charlie Lim, you will see him in the album. It was his first visit too. He said I was crazy to spend my money to hug the tigers. I laughed and carried on my journey with my doubtful friend. We could not find the place that morning, even the local van driver has not been to Tiger Temple. So we asked around, finally we found ...

... bars’ these are also Thai style restaurants and a few coffee shops which I affectionately call night clubs…..yes ladies and gentlemen my next two years are going to consist of a Friday night sitting on a houseboat drinking rice wine or local whiskey. Christmas might be sitting on the longest teak foot bridge in Asia, and New Years will probably be spent sitting around a fire singing songs with Thai, Burmese and humanitarian workers singing songs, and talking ...

I am a little disappointed by the tours that they offer. The one I took to the Death Railway zipped us here and there with a guide whose Englis was not good - but hundred times better than my Thai.


Anyway I decided to hire a motor bike and do my own thing. The local tourist gave me some directions and I launched forth on the biggest motor bike I could rent. A 250cc Honda. All others re mopeds. The bike looked like a minature Harley.

Road signs are not ...

... this consisted of was 12 different obstacle courses through the woods, such as a rope walk, cargo net climb, etc. Now I was really pumped up for this because not only am I crazy competitive, but I have been taking some spinning and body pump classes and was feeling really jacked up. But it turns out the chaperones were really just the coaches! So I passed on my enthusiasm to my team. There were 11 teams total consisting of about 12 students each team and ever team complete the ...

... Preschanta and Ramesh, two of the older boys, took us for a tour of Sangklaburi. We visited Three Pagodas Pass, home of the (currently closed) border checkpoint with Myanmar. We could look over the barrier into this different country but, apart from the fact they drive on the other side of the road, there was no difference in the snippet of land we could see. They also took us to a couple of temples in the area and to a massive wooden bridge which runs ...

... was incredible, we could see the bridge in all of its glory,and could dangle our feet in the river. nice! a funny guy who looked like a caveman with wack black fluffy hair and tiny black swim shorts on played manu chau. what more could we want? oh yeah. a pervy shower, strategically placed next to the urinals. with a below headfhight wall between the two. noice. went to see the bridge that afternoon and became a tourist attraction ourselves, all pastey and tall. about 15 ...

... they are not so well equipped to keep them all in perfect surroundings. Anyways, we arrived at Tiger Temple at the perfect time, when the keepers were letting the bigger Tiger cubs out for the day. It was so amazing to see real live tiger cubs, who were about 6-7 months old and yet they were the height of my hip, playing and messing around. This is where Tong, really came into play, she knows all the keepers there so next thing I know she has ...

... of the war cemetaries. Our visit there was very moving. It contained literally thousands of graves, most of which contained the remains of British and Dutch soldiers who died in their 20's and 30's. Contrary to what I said in an earlier entry I have nothing more to say about the Japanese. It should be a worldwide condition that ALL political leaders visit a war cemetary immediately after their election to power.

... Karaoke bars' pulled by barges...yes you read that right...people actually hire out the boats to go on cruises for several hours to sing out of tune with their friends...funny to see and even funnier to listen to! Well for a while anyway.... We did a trip to the fantastic Erewan Waterfalls - a 7 tier water fall, a superb spot for a swim. We also visited the Death Railway War ...