Survival in a Strange Land

Phew... The last few days have been rather full on!

As we left Hua Hin 5 days ago I felt a discontented rumbling in my stomach... the dreaded thai-belly had come for me! I managed to hold out for the almost 3 hour taxi ride into Kanchanaburi, but as soon as we arrived and got ourselves a guest house (more on these later) I had to spend the next few hours developing a rather personal relationship with the porcelain god. Thankfully I must have looked after Michelle well because she repaid me in kind - making sure I had enough water and wasn't in too much distress - then finally after 12 or so hours of it, by "encouraging" me to take a stomach anti-biotic. Well it worked because the next day I was much better thankfully.

Just in time to do a tour of Erwan National Park including the beautiful Erwan 7 teir waterfalls (Photos to follow - I left my camera cable back in the guest-house). A hike up the hill lead to successive cascades, some good for swimming, and some just plain beautiful. It was a stunning park, topped off with a dip in the fresh water, and some beautiful thai food, although at that stage I was only just back on to solids, and a nice noodle soup was on the cards for me.

After that we headed off to Hellfire Pass - A very well presented museum put together by the Aussies, and the Thai Governments to commemorate one of the most horrible parts of the death railway. For those who don't know - Death Railway is the rail line that the Japanese Army forced British, Dutch and Australian and other POW's, as well as a huge asian labour force, to build during WWII. We walked down through the pass, which was dug out by hand - think Hammer and Chisel - from solid rock. The museum gave us these audio books to listen to while we walked through, recounting soilder's tales and memories usually voiced by the soilder's themselves. Deeply moving. The place had a very solemn feel.

From there it was off to the Death Railway itself (a lot of it was dismantled or bombed after the war - so only parts remained), this place was crammed with tourists many of whom were more interested in shopping off the local vendors, so sadly it didn't have the same feel, but still an impressive place. We caught the train along a section of the track, then headed off to the famous Bridge over the River Kwai.

A huge day, but well worth it. In the morning, Michelle and I got up and went to the War Cemetery and Museum. Again a deeply moving experience, and recalling it now still brings a lump to my throat. During the construction of the railway 90000 POW's and Romshu (Asian Labourers) lost their lives in terrible conditions. The Japanese worked them extremely hard, gave little thought to health or wellbeing of their prisoners and fed them next to nothing. Combined with the heat, tropical diseases and lack of any proper medical equipment, these men suffered the worst range of torture and back breaking work imaginable.

Kanchanaburi was a beautiful riverside town that we could have easily spent several more days in, but we'd already booked our train tickets to Chiang Mai so it was time to press on.

Little did we know at that stage that a simple mini-bus ride into Bangkok would become such an adventure... The ride from Kan'buri to Bangkok is supposed to take 2 and a half hours. We managed it in 1 and a half. Our driver must have been practicing for Bathurst the way he drove (or he must have though he was currently competing!!!). I never thought slip-streaming actually worked in real life, but it turns out that it does. And I also thought that the shoulder IN THE CENTRE wasn't for passing, but again - I was mistaken.

After a drink to steady the nerves we headed to Bangkok's Hualamphong station to catch the overnight train to Chiang Mai, where we are now. A great way to get up here for sure, we really enjoyed the experience, though I think Jared and Arina were shattered after a fairly sleepless night (for them). So now we're checked in to a truely horrible Guest House called Travellers Inn. Consider this a warning to anyone thinking of coming to Chiang Mai - AVOID. Its filthy, (though not as bad as the first place we looked at) smells dank and musty, and pretty much fits the criteria of being "Most Terrible Place in Thailand" though obviously I can't say that with any real certainty. If you're ever standing in front of this hell-hole thinking it looks alright, please turn around, walk up one of the soi's opposite, or walk 20m towards the river to the Green Garden Guesthouse, or SLEEP ON THE STREET.

That aside, we're loving Chiang Mai, moving into a beautiful Guest House (ThaPhae Inn) tomorrow and looking forward to a couple of days here. Tomorrow we're going to try and go up Doi Suthep, then after that we don't really have a plan. We have to leave Thailand on the 24th - Jared and Arina head over to the cold part of the world in a few days, so we're going to kind of wing it from here. We're planning on going to a wee town called Pai, but thats about it...

Oh yeah, Scott - you always said that you never realised how cheap Thailand was until you got out of Bangkok - too true mate, pretty much everything up here is a bargain. The Bangkok vendors must have wised up because bargaining isn't really the go down there anymore, but up here it's all on. Jared and I shared a 300baht tower (3 Litres) of Chang Beer at lunch today. Had to have a nap after that... hehe.

Alright, much love to all - Michelle is going to upload pics asap!