Liliana’s South East Asia Adventure

I’m sorry I don’t think thats how its spelled but since I don’t have my book on me it will have to do. Before I forget I uploaded todays pictures in the Thailand album since we are in Thailand. Ok so I ran into Ethel the girl from England again. She had a flight from the capital so on the day I left via bus she took a bus the other way. Anyway we ended up going today on a one day tour of the River Kwai etc. It was quit interesting and of course we’ve all seen the movie On the River Kwai. Anyway we first went and saw the graves of the solders who had lost their lives building the death train as its called from Thailand to Burma/ Myamar. Japan had POW’s working in both dirrections building the tracks sometimes 18 hours a day. So from Burma POW’s worked and also from Katchanburi Thailand to meet in the middle. Katchanburi is where the River Kwai is.

The memorial housed Allied forces from England, Australia, Holland? I believe and other Commwealth countries. Also Indian POW’s. After that we went to see the war museum which housed artifacts from ww2. They would have these white dummies basically nude with a loin cloth over their parts skinny and bleeding from building the bridge and train tracks. It was quite discusting to look at. They did a good job of replicating the men. It was an ok museum. They had some photos of the Japanese and also some of the POW’s. They also had lots of rifles from WW2. Ok so then we went a few minutes down teh block to actually walk on teh bridge itself. Train tracks go over it. It was bombed by allies and has since been repaired. If my memory serves me it took a little over 1 1/2 years to build the bridge. While near the city of Katchanburi working conditions were not that bad considering. Locals snuck food into the Pow camp and also the local mayor at the time sent radios and other supplies like money so they could buy nicotine.

So while on the bridge a train came. It stopped before it went onto the bridge and all teh tourist were able to get onto platforms made especially for this. It was no big deal except the having to wait for the train to get goin and then cross the bridge. Side bar. I don’t know why this is but whenever I spell the word “THE” I spell it teh. I guess the finger that presses the letter e is faster then the one that presses the letter h. Anyways back to my story. So after that they took us to get on a train and experience an hour of riding on the tracks made by the pow’s. We then drove to a elephant park to go riding on a an elephant which was sad. We went on the elephant sitting on a basket like seat. The boy drivers had metal hook like things that they used when necessary to control the elephants. I felt sad about it because sometimes the boy used it to hi the elephant. I’m hoping it wasn’t the pointy side. Ok so after that we went to eat some ok food and then take a mini river raft ride down the Kwai. The water felt quit nice when I put my feet in. the weather is really hot as it’s warming up over hear in SEA. Ok after the nice river ride we spent 30 minutes at a mini waterfall. We then went back to Bangkok.

So This is my last night in Bangkok. I’m off to Delhi India. So Ethel was in India about a month or so ago. She gave me some tips. On of which is to book a hotel before I arrive. So last night I did through worldhostel.com. Anyway the reason for booking the hotel is so that you get airport pickup. My hotel said it had airport pickup but I guess I didn’t see the majic word free pickup. Oh well so I have to spend $8 USD. My room is around $18 but at least I won’t have to brave the delhi madness. I’m also going to book a driver as that’s what i’ve heard you can do and she did it also. I will book a driver for Rajasthan area which I plan to spend about 2-3 weeks in. I can get a train easily enough to Risikesh which is a holy city in the mountains. Sorry thats not how its spelled. The beatles visited this place. I’m hoping to spend maybe 5 days or so and take some yoga meditation classes. They have many. I also want to try and go to Varanasi another hoy city. We shall see. HOw long I book a driver depends. I will be in India for a month. I want to expierence the trains at least once. They actually have compartments specifically for females. Well I’m off. P.S. So I could of gotten a mini bus to the airport for $2 USD but I waited until teh last minute so i’m goin gto have to pay for a taxi which will cost me $7. See what happens if you wait? Ok well I’m tired and I need to pack. Ciao

This entry was posted on Friday, March 24th, 2006 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.