Bridge over the River Kwai and Big Cats

Last night I was supposed to get an early night. However, I found a game called Manhunt 2 on
the PSP sooo addictive (the one that got banned in the UK for being too gory) that I stayed
up till 3am playing it. Well, I have to maximise my time in Thailand - I'll sleep on the
plane home.

I awoke at 6am after receiving my wake up call and made my way down to reception. The pick
up was 30 minutes late. Little things like that annoy me. Had I known I could have got some
more shut eye. Nevermind.

We drove round and collected more people. There was a group of French Canadians - what a
strange bunch they are. There was also a Japanese couple. I had asked for a group excursion
so that I could interact with people. However, the Japs didn't speak English and the French
Canadians didn't seem to want to speak English. Just like the real French. Nevermind I
thought and fell asleep on the 150Km drive to the river Kwai. We got soo close to Burma I
could almost touch it - and probably would have done had I brought my papers.
First we went to the Kanchanaburi Cemetery where the soldiers who died building the bridge
during the war were buried. Around half the graves were British. There was around 35% Dutch
- which surprised me. The remained er where Australian peppered with the odd other small
commonwealth country. Where were all the Americans? I'm sure they featured in the film?
Maybe I'm wrong.

Next we made our way to the museum. Where I looked at human remains and guns and such from the war. All the original Japanese bikes & cars to barbers chairs were there. They all had
big Japanese flags painted on them and the word JAPANESE written under the flag in the Roman alphabet. That's odd I thought - but no one was around to answer my questions.

Next it was off to the bridge itself. It's not the original bridge as that was destroyed -
but it is a faithful recreation of it. Its a railway bridge about 2 metres wide and a couple
of hundred metres long. It consists of a set of tracks, large wooden sleepers and a metal
walk way just wide enough for one person to walk along in the middle between the tracks.
This posed a real problem when encountering someone walking in the opposite direction. you
had to side step and stand on a sleeper. It was a huge drop either side. Not safe at all - I
wonder how many people fall off of it each year. I walked cautiously across it - well aware
that I am a clumsy person and I have also developed a oversensitivity to fear of death since
Johnny's accident. All the hand rails and escalators here are 6 inches too low. Every time I
look over one I feel my toes curl up as I am aware my centre of gravity is higher than the
rail. It will be nice to get back to the land of normal sized people. Anyway, I digress. As
people approached me I tried to use my superior size to make them side step me. Eventually I
made it to the other side where I was greeted by an elephant and a person selling postcards.
I decided to make my way back. The current of people seemed to be going my way on the way
back and I was back on Terra Firma in around 5 minutes. I took some time out to purchase
some DVDs - I know I can get them off of the net - but I'm just lazy.

Next we took the train along the River Kwai to a floating restaurant. This is the first time
I have travelled by train in Thailand. Initially I felt quite happy just sitting on my
wooden seat with the wind blowing in my face. Happy that it wasn't a rainy day and that the
windows were open. There is no air conditioning on the train. About half way through our
journey we encountered some kind of dust storm and I had to keep my eyes closed whilst
little Thai children around me cried because their eyes hurt.

Fortunately at this point the French Canadians and Japs were swapped for a young English couple from Surrey and some middle aged Australians. Oh joy people to talk to! We chatted as we had lunch and then I was told I was the only person from my group going to the tiger temple.
Argh! I'd only just met some people to talk to - we hadn't even exchanged names. Nevermind I
thought thrilled by the thought of touching a tiger and made my way to my personal minibus.
On arrival at the tiger temple I was merged into a new group. I got talking to two Canadian
girls called Sarah and Megan I decided to knock about with them. They seemed really nice -
in fact all the Canadians I have met have seemed really nice. I really should make the
effort to visit the place one day.

We made our way down into what seemed like a quarry where it was in excess of 40 degrees.
There were fans there to cool you down - they even sprayed water at you. However, a slight
breeze and an excessive amount of dust soon meant I was caked in a light brown powder goo.
There were around 6 or 7 tigers just lying in front of us on the rocks. I paid for a special
photo and took my new found friends down to have their photos done with the tigers.
They lay its head on my lap whilst I stroked it. What placid creatures they are. The people
who worked there assured me that this was because of the hot temperatures. However, I am more inclined to believe that they are off their heads on smack. I absolutely loved spending time with these fantastic beasts. I may even start to like cats again.

Next it was off to have photos done with the cubs. They are sooo cute. There were two of them fighting over a piece of rope. After having our photos taken with them we made our way round to see the other creatures. There were water buffalo, cows, horses, goats and pigs. Perfect food for a tiger, I thought.

Eventually we made our way back to the minibus where I was once again separated from people to talk to and put in another bus full of foreigners. Again I slept on the three hour journey home. I awoke to find I'd dribbled all over myself. Nice. Particularly when you are going to have a suit fitted up. As we were running late I made my way straight to the tailors instead of freshening up. I looked a state but they were very nice to me and let me use their facilities and even their Internet.

Its my final night and I'm off out with a girl I met a couple of weeks ago who doesn't like being mentioned on the Internet for some reason???? so shall remain anonymous. I'm sure its going to be a fun night.