Having left Bangkok on Sunday, we started our journey to Nam Tok in Western Thailand. This is the locatio of the river Kwai.

Firstly we took not 1, but 2 skyrails aross Bangkok, followed by the river ferry and then a tuk-tuk. That was just to get to the station!! We boarded the train and waited for the train to arrive, and then be towed away as is wasn't working... A while later they came back with another train and we were on our way. The total journey time was meant to be 4.5 hours..... It ended up being 7. We were just outside Bangkok, when the train stopped. The guard was talking to the other passengers (in Thai) and we knew we were in for a wait. Luckily, locals were plying us with food and beers, so it passed relatively quickly. Before we knew it (2 hours later) 2 diesel engines turned up. we assumed a replacement, and one to tow the dead one away. We were on our way.

The scenery was stunning, and by the time we made it to Kanchanaburi (the site of the Bridge over the River Kwai), it had started to get dark. This was a real shame, since this part of the track to Nam Tok is meant to have the most amazing scenery and formed part the Death Railway. As we made our way towards our destimation, we became increaingly nervous (well Em was), since the stations were unlit, more like school bike sheds, and it was less populated than Royston Vasey!! Our hotel was 3 Km from the station, and we were wondering how, without a map and with a wind up torch we would make it. Luckily, there was a taxi at the station!!

The next day, we got up at 4am, to head back down theline to Kanchanaburi. Upon arrival, we headed towards the JEATH (Japan, England, America, Thailand and Holland) Memorial Museum. The artefacts and painting which had been sent in by POWs were housed in a bamboo building similar to what the POW's would have been housed in. It was a very moving experience.

We then walked across the bridge itself, hoping that no trains would be coming from either direction!

Following this we went to the WW2 museum, similar to the JEATH museum and then bundled on the train to Nam Tok. On the way back, we got a better look at the cuttings which had been manually worked by POWs and are well over 20 metres high.

The following day, we went out on a bamboo raft for about a mile down the river. This was great fun. Once the trip had finished, we had to get back across the river on a bridge which was mostly rotten and some height over the river.

We then headed to Hellfire Pass, the location of the largest cutting, and a museum of the original Thailand - Burma Railway. It was a place which had been re-discovered by an Australian POW and made into a memorial site. We attempted part of a hiking trail down to the actual cutting into the jungle. The heat was simply unbearable. There were various reminders of what happened here, such as nails embedded in rocks. Again, a very moving experience.

The following day, we headed off for the south.

To get here, we took a train for 8 hours, a tuk tuk, a bus for 10 hours and a boat 2 hours, wherea number of passengers turned rather green. We are now in the sunshine about to hire some quads and tomorrow, Em will have a day of rest when Graeme goes diving.

Hope the storms in the UK aren't as bad as the BBC has made out.

Love from Em & Graeme.