Kanchanaburi

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After the overnight trip I was a little bleary eyed , but by the afternoon felt awake enough to explore some nearby sites.

I rented a bike for 50p and pedalled off to the Thailand - Burma Railway Centre for a little history lesson on the construction of the railway and the human cost involved.

To put briefly , after entering WWII , Japan was after an alternative route for it's newly acquired territories.The river Kwai basin was chosen as a route to join existing railway lines in Thailand and Burma separated by 415km. 60,000 POWs as well as thousands of conscripted Asian labourers were used for the massive task , using little else than picks and shovels. dynamite and pulleys. Workers nicknamed it the Death Railway which seems well deserved as  16,000POWs and 100,000 Asian labourers died during its construction.The working conditions and cruelty dealt out by the guards was horrendous. The personal diaries and later interviews at the centre are very moving indeed.

In a headlock
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Across the road is the well kept  Don Rak Kanchanaburi War Cemetery where some of the POWs are buried. It's so sad to see grave after grave of lads who died in their 20's.

A cycle to the other end of town brings you to the Bridge over the River Kwai.There were in fact two built. A temporary wooden one a few hundred yards downstream as well as the more solid steel bridge. Both were severely damaged by Allied bombers ( and not by saboteurs as in the film ). The steel one was repaired and remains in use .

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The next day I joined an organized trips to see some other sights. These included Erawan Falls that weren't too impressive after the dry season.Lunch was fun as after we'd eaten we could feed the fish in the pool by the restaurant. I've never before seen fish jump out the water to be fed . (Not easy to get a photo of , I can tell you). They must really like popcorn!.

A visit to some hot springs was good too. The nearest I've had to a hot bath in 6 months! It was mainly Thais there , who are quite shy and most wore t-shirts as well as shorts to protect their modesty.

Ride on the ' Death Railway'
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The trip also included a sombre walk along Hellfire Pass, a deep railway  cutting through rock that claimed many lives. We also took a short train journey along a stretch of original track.

The next day was one of those truly ' once in a lifetime ' experiences. I took a trip out town , with a few others , to Tiger Temple. So the story goes , a monk was given a tiger cub to nurse that had been rescued from poachers . Ever since a succession of tiger cubs and other animals have found refuge there. It's appeal as a tourist spot is the opputunity to get up close and personal with the tigers , some of which are very large indeed. Couldn't miss a chance like that could I?

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I can tell you a tigers head is surprisingly heavy and it was surreal to have one  in my lap. Fortunately he  was very docile as they all were In fact they hardly opened their eyes .I really hope that was due to the heat and the rumours i've heard of them being drugged are unfounded. I was lead around a few other tigers for photos before being lead away slightly dazed but happy.(I know there a lot of tiger pics - I can't bring myself to delete any!)

Some time later the tigers  were lead back to their night quarters and I had the chance to walk with one. Several peacocks were chased away by the handlersin case they were a temptation for the tigers. I guess it would be a tad hard to restrain one if he really wanted to chase something. Their enclosures are quite small but larger ones are under construction.As a bonus I even got the chance to play with a 3 month old cub that was a lot more lively than the parents!

Carriage POWs were kept in
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Apart from my  nagging doubts that the tigers may have been doped ,( and clearly , i'm no expert )  it was a fantastic experience and not one I'll forget.Don't think I'm going to have a better experience than that here so am going to move on down the coast seeing the places I missed on the way up. Next stop Hua Hin