10th April: We caught the bus to sarattani today and next day a sleeper train to Bangkok. The trains are much better here then in India cleaner and larger beds especially the bottom bunks. We had to stay a night in Sarattani as no seats were available on the train. At the night market we had dinner at one of the stalls, there was a huge selection of fried bugs, which is a specialty here! Treated ourselves to an ice cream in an ice cream parlor. Next day 11th we got the train to Bangkok that arrived at 5.30am on the 12th. We got 7.00am bus to Kanchanaburi. We checked into Apple guesthouse, this was a lovely place with nice rooms and a well-kept garden. There is a lot of history in this area it is here that the Bridge over the river Kwai is that was part of the Death Train railroad. This rail road was built so the Japanese could better route there supplies and runs through Burma and Thailand to the Gulf of Thailand Something like a Hundred Thousand POW's and local labours died during the construction due to work conditions and execution! We explored around town and visited a Memorial cemetery for the POW's who died during the construction of the Death Railway.
13th April: Had an early breakfast and joined a group that our guest house organized for an excursion. We visited an Elephant camp were we got to take a ride on the elephants for 40 minutes and feed them afterwards, then we headed up river and got on a Bamboo raft that took us down the river for an hour, You were able to jump in the river and float down the river behind the raft which was really cool. The river was flowing at around 8 miles an hour, the scenery here was great and gave us a taste for more water activities.

After the raft we jumped on the bus and headed to Erawan falls this is a 7-tire waterfall that takes about 1hr to get to the top it was really nice and the water was freezing which was lovely after the long trek to the top, we had lunch in a restaurant here. Back on the bus again for a spin to the train were we got a train that would take us to the Bridge over the River Kwai, the original bridge was blown up not long after it was first completed and the present bridge was built a few months later again.

It was a nice day over all the water falls were great and the river rafting gave us a taste for more. The elephant ride was ok but it’s never nice to see animals prodded and poked to make them obey.
That night we went down to the bridge and had dinner on a floating restuarant with an american girl we got friendly with on the trip, the food was'nt great but the scenery and setting was great.
14th April: We jumped on a bus to Sangklaburi this place is 4hrs away and is near the border of Burma. Its a small town that is popular because of its closeness to Burma. When we arrived it was raining heavy and the power was gone. We got a room in The Burmese guest house it was'nt the best room but there was nothing else available the room cost 1.20 euros!. The restuarant was quaint and it was all lit with candles. The next day power was still out and there was no water as the pumps needed electricity to work. We were able to change rooms as people were leaving, there was loads happening here over the last 3 days as it was the Thai new year celebrations. We caught a local bus to the 3 pogodas pass this is right on the Buma border and the point were the Death Railway crossed between the 2 countrys. You can cross over to Burma by obtaining a day pass but this is a hassle as the Thai border police try to get money from you when you try to get them to process the pass which should be free, you only pay the Burma Border police. We did'nt bother and shopped around the markets and had some lunch later we got the bus back to town. That evening we crossed the river via wooden bridge that is the longest wooded bridge in Thailand to a Mon village from what i gather the Mon People are neither Thias or Burmese and have been pushed around for years between the the two counties the area they occupy has been forcible getting smaller over the years so that there are small villages scattered around Burma,Thailand and Laos . The bridge has seen better days although it is a great peice of construction. Tomorrow we head back to Bangkok to change some flights and then head north.

18th April: After spending a day in Bangkok sorting out flights we headed up to Chang Mai by sleeper train this is a 13hr jouney. We booked into Smile guesthouse in the old town. This place had a pool so it was great for cooling down. We have 20 days before we have to get our flight to Singapore from Bangkok so we have decided to spend 10 days in Laos and 10 days in Cambodia. We hired a scooter and got tickets for a flight to Luang Prabang in Laos, then we spent the rest of the day touring the old town and visiting the Wats (temples). We took a spin out to Huay Teung tao a local reservoir to see if we could take a swim but the water was not great and it was a bit shallow. We had lunch here and then headed back to town for a dip in the hotel pool! Later that night we walked into the night market and spotted a nice looking restaurant across the river, we made our way over and found a lovely dining area surrounded by loads of lanterns with a local band playing in the background. The food was great and we really enjoyed ourselves. The restaurant was called the "Brasserie".