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Bangkok to River Kwae
Day 1 - Landed in Bangkok at 3:30pm - the airport is amazing. Brand new and felt like you were in an art gallery rather than an airport - statue's everywhere and very clean and organised.. not what i was expecting at all! In the airport I met a guy called Taffy (28, From Ponty Pridd??? South Wales), who like me was travelling alone, and hadn't got a clue where he was going. We got a bus into town - much cheaper than taxi, and very easy. Took about 45mins to get to the Koh Saan road, where went straight for a cold beer or two after being hit by the heat!!! Wow its hot! I then went out for diner with my new Welsh friend near the Koh Saan road. Food here is soo cheap - had a whole meal, beer, thai curry, for about 2 pounds. We then went into Koh Saan to find new people and a few bars - which we did. Met an Australian guy who had been in Bangkok for a few days and knew the best places to go. What started out as a small first evening then turned into an all-nighter!!! We ended up in some packed night-club in the centre of town, and left at 6am!!! You could say that I hit Bangkok full throttle!
Day 2 - Bangkok
Woke up after lunch - woops?!?! And waved goodbye to Taffy - think he's heading in to Lao or somewhere... but met up with new people in my group by chance in the hotel reception. The were three students from Iceland of all places!!! This must be one hell of a culture shock for them seeing as they say their country has a total population of 300,000 - Bangkok has 6 million plus on it's own!!! Anyway I was sharing with the Icelandic guy. We then all went out to the Grand Palace in Bangkok (me quite hungover still! :$ ) The Grand Palace was unbelievable - covered in jewel's from floor to ceiling - just beautiful. The amount of time it must have taken the Thai's to build it must be ridiculous. There is gold everywhere, and intricate paintings all around the outside of it. It really does take your breath away. Got some good pics of it all. After being there all afternoon we retired back to the hotel to meet our group and leader. Our leader is called Tong. In his words "My name Tong. Not TING-TONG, just TONG!!! T.O.N.G!" Think someone may have told him he looked like ting-tong the ladyboy off Little Britain once, and he didn't take too kindly to it!!! After the meeting we all went out to diner, had nice food and cocktails. Then the group split up, and the young ones (me, a guy called Jack, 19 Essex, and the 3 Icelandic's) went back to the Koh Saan road again to play some pool and l;isten to some music. Ended up getting in at 2... have a feeling i'm not going to sleep much while im out here!!!
Day 3 - Bangkok to River Kwae
Had to get up at 7:30 to get our bus to River Kwae. We took an air con bus from Bangkok bus station North 2 hours, and then changed onto a smaller bus for about 20 mins. We are staying in a really nice guest house actually on the River about 1km downstream of the bridge - very nice. When we got here we took a boat trip for the whole afternoon. We jump on board these boat called 'Long tail boats', so called for their extremely long prop-shaft which extends about 5 metre's behing the boat... and boy do they go fast. Think a speed boat with a jet engine!!! Great fun. During the afternoon we visited a Buddist temple where we met a load of Monks, went to the Death Railroad P.O.W cemetery, and the museum. Quite shocking but v. interesting. Then went down to see the Bridge which is amazing too. Great as the sunset over the river. Had diner and am now heading out into the night market and maybe a few beers?!? Who knows? Tomorrow were going to the Erwan waterfalls and a tiger sanctuary, so should be good :) and thats everything up until now...
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