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KANCHANABURI!!!!
I love Kanchanaburi. Its a little town about 3 hours West of Bangkok and is the home of the Bridge over the River Kwai. We stayed here for nearly 4 days and it was lovely (very cheap too which added to the enjoyment).
On our first full day 2 bicycles were hired (one had no brakes and the other was tremendously hard to steer but had a lovely basket - I plumped for the brakes, the lesser of 2 evils! If only I had some ribbons for the basket - # girl put your records on, tell me your favourite song). We trick-cycled to the Thailand-Burma Railway Museum (only about 20 metres away!) which was very educational, then visited the Allied Forces War Cemetry which was sad but very beautifully kept, and then peddled over to the Bridge over the River Kwai which is amazing really (we whistled Colonel Bogie all the way home when my dad informed us of its significance).
Friday the 23rd was named 'Wildlife Day'. In the morning we took a ride on an elephant (Camar who was 20 years of age and had the most enormous tusks! He was magnificant and the size of a house). I got to sit on its head this time which is mad, their skin is so rought and hairy! We put Simon's hat on its head and chuckled.
Then we got to go into the river and wash him! This was brilliant!!!!! It went Simon, then me, and then a tiny Thai man at the back who was in control - hmmmm. Their natural instinct is to dive under the water to cool down (this is scary!) and then when it comes up it squirts you with water from its trunk!! The Thai man was crouching behind me to keep his cigarette dry and I couldn't stop laughing and just kept getting hit in the face full force! We gave him a good wash though (well Ms. Simon did as I was laughing too much). Every day should begin this way I think.
(If there is one down side to Kanchanaburi its that they sell a surprising amount of ivory here - either that or some kind of bone that they try to pass off as ivory - bad form).
That afternoon we visited the Tiger Temple - a temple in the hills created by a monk to look after an orphan tiger cub he found some years ago. Now about 15 tigers live there. You're not allowed to wear red or strong smelling perfume (!) We arrived and went down to the canyon where they were all laid out - the guides took you round by the arm and you could actually stroke them - whoa! We then waited for them to be walked back up to their houses on the hill top (you can't walk in front of them or they think you're dinner!) All the tourists were instructed to stand by the cliff side in a group (or herd as someone pointed out) and then they were walked past us one by one - the monk came down to oversee the production and kept shouting orders at us: 'Don't bob down to take a picture' (or they think you're dinner) 'Don't stand up on the rocks' (or they think you're dinner) 'Madam, don't let your baby cry!' (Mild hysteria set in about now - Ahhhhhhhhh!) On the walk up we got to hold the lead of the original tiger who is apparently tame. Cool. And it weed on one woman who was then sick. Nice. You should hear them roar though its fantastic!
On Saturday the 24th March we took a trip on the local bus to Erawan Falls, a 7-tiered waterfall in the nearby National Park. It was tremendously beautiful. There were lizards, and butterlies and monkeys - Oh My! At tier 4 one of the rocks had formed a natural water slide. There were far too many fish for me to contemplate this at first, but t'old Simo had burnt his back and was peeling, so the fish were crowding round him to eat the dead skin off his back - thats right!! This did mean however that I could swim safely in fish free water and so I had enough courage for the slide - it was mega. Every cloud ey Simon.
So that was Kanchanaburi. I would recommend it to you all and will come with you if you go!
Sarah is the pool champion of Kanchanaburi.
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