Tours - out of the city, Bangkok

This is just a mock up to simulate the working environment during the construction of Death Rail connecting Thailand & Myanmar. Workers who are mostly war prisoners & youths from Malaya were oppressed to work overtime in order to complete the rail way project in shortest possible time. Very high mortality rate due to factors such as poor medical aids, malnutrition, beat to death, accidents & malaria fevers.

The Museum also featured pictures from WWII & stories of some world major war lords.

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One of the most interesting tours out of Bangkok has to be the 100 mile drive north to Kanchanaburi and the famous site built by over 30,000 Brits together with Australians, Indians, Belgiums and many more nationalities, during World War 2. After leaving the smoggy city the roads soon opened up and we started to drive thru lush green jungle, passing many small villages that all seemed to deal in spare motor parts! Little stalls selling, mango, coconut and pomelos were dotted along the road. After about 2 hours we stopped by a small museum at the side of the river. This was a huge bamboo hut kept just as the POWs had used it in the war, and the walls were lined with actual photos of how they survived. From here we took a small longboat and bounced along the river towards the famous bridge where we docked and walked along the bridge . We moved on to a beautiful cementary with hundreds of neat rows of graves each with its own plaque and flowering bush. Sprinklers played water onto the surrounding lawns and were the only sound in this peaceful garden of rest. Over 6000 Brits and many thousands more died working on the bridge and this was Thailands tribute to these brave men. Thai girls worked tirelessly in the hot sun tending the gardens. An hour train journey wound its way thru rice paddys and fields of tapioca. Mangoes and coconuts hung from their trees and strange birds flew level with the train as we sped alongside the river.

Safari World in the outskirts of Bangkok has many shows to captivate the visitors, especially if they are young. The sea lion and the dolphin shows draw the most applause. I particularly liked the funny and enthusiastic commentary by the young presenter. A little bit of English would have come in handy, but I had no regrets as his vocal modulations and various pitches filled up the language barrier. The well trained sea animals deftly displayed their sense of humor.

The feeding of lions and Royal Bengal tigers was quite breathtaking. The spy show was a great hit, but the stunt show seemed like dragging a bit.

As a whole a very engrossing tour.

The 1950s film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, had intrigued me on what happened during WWII. I did my homework and borrowed the DVD before embarking on this trip!
It was an atrocity by the Japanese that the Bridge, being a project with a deadline of 5 years could be compressed into a matter of 18 months.
It was said that each of the "sleepers", or train tracks, represented the death of one life. 150,000 PoWs were killed because the Japanese wanted to build a supply route to Burma. According to the guide books, the Bridge that you see in the pictures is not the actual Bridge, for it had been bombed by the Allied forces. This was a rebuilt one but nevertheless, it still has the historical significance.
Our trip included a one and a half hour train journey up north into the countryside for lunch, and picture taking near the scenic Sai Yoke National Park area.
For more pictures, refer to my travelogue.

- At the scorpion cave, you will find more than hundreds of luminous scorpions living together with a beautiful lady, the scorpion queen.

- Upon leaving the scorpion cave, visitors will meet with the pig racing ground. You can enjoy watching the pigs dashing towards the finishing line. In addition, visitors are marveled by the calculating skill of pig, which can solve Mathematics problem in 5 languages.

The best of my hole trip to Thailand.
I stayed in a floating hotel that was SO GOOD!
You could leave the river take you from one end of the hotel to the oposite end. It was GREAT FUN. There is no electricity in the hotel so nights are very quiet. The first night a typical show is included with the cuttest girl dancing!
You shouldnt stay less than 2 nights.
If you want to relax you can stay for another 2 or 3 days (maybe for a couple jejeje!)

This is not within the Bangkok Region, but I'm not going to write the whole page/site about Kanchanauri. Therefore I park it here.

Nothing too glorious about this place, but it is quite significant & full with sadness during Japanese occupation period (WW II).

There are several places where you can view crocodiles and even wrestling crocodiles. Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm is the world's oldest and largest crocodile farm. Crocodiles here are bred in their thousands.

This tops the 120meter high temple which is the oldest and tallest Buddhist monument in Thailand.
The original chedi was 84meters high but was in ruins when King Mongkut (Rama IV) first visited when he was still a monk. When he came to the throne, he restored it and covered the old chedi with the new one.

Bas reliefs can be seen around the windows and up on the eaves with very intricate patterns.
These blended in with the rest of the building in color and texture...nothing gaudy about them...very subdued coloring...no golds in the facade of Phra Pathom Chedi. Quite a relief after all the glitter in the other wats we visited.