One of the great things about travelling without a set itinerary is the amount of pleasant surprises that you encounter along the way.* For instance did you know that the river kwai and it's historic railway bridge and related WWII historical site is located in Thailand? I didn't. But I was pretty excited to find out that it is just a short two hours bus ride away from Bangkok in a sleepy but cool riverside town called Kanchanaburi.The movie The Bridge on the River Kwai is a classic Gerhard favourite and even though none of the filming of the movie was done in Thailand and the wooden and bamboo bridge that the forced labour of WWII prisoners of war built in the movie and then later blew up looks nothing like the current concrete and steel bridge (Kanchanaburi is an actual place after all so the bridge was rebuilt after the war), it was pretty cool to see.
I'm not going to lie to you, I made a video of myself walking across the bridge whistling the renowned "Colonel Bogey March" that is forever associated with the movie and goes something like:
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Whoo whoo. Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whooooo. Whoo whoo. Whoo-whoo-whoooooo-whoo-whoo-whoo. Whoo whoo. Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-who. Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-who-whooooooooooooo. (repeat)
Unfortuately the video is about 10 minutes long so is both too big to upload and too long to be particularly entertaining (10 minutes of me whistling is pretty much unwatchable even if it is in picturesque Thailand on an historic bridge) but it features some interesting moments like:
1) Me side-stepping other tourists who were hanginging out on the bridge (it is pretty much the only tourist attraction in the town**)
2) Me whistling slightly quieter whenever I would pass said tourists in an effort to not get their reaction in the video but also in the hope they wouldn't notice what an immature idiot I was being.
3) Right at the moment I crossed the bridge and was about to dramatically emphasise it by zoomig in on the historic Japanese rising sun emblem on the bamboo watch tower they put on the opposite side some dutch tourist comes up to me and asks me if I know any good hotels or possibly somewhere to have dinner.
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4) Almost as soon as I told the dutch guy to 'F$%! off and stop ruining my kwai river bridge whistling video'***, the guard started blowing his whistle indicating that the train was coming. I mean it was near perfect timing, which was lucky because train and bus schedules and schedules in general are more just suggestions in Thailand so I couldn't have planned it that well. So I ended up getting the train crossing the bridge in the video as well which also took an excruciatingly long time since it had to slow down or stop often to allow all the aforementioned tourists hanging out on the bridge to get to the saftey platforms.
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Once I get back and edit it I think I can probably turn it into a pretty entertaining 2-3 minute clip. Too bad you already know the best bits.
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Right. Kanchanaburi itself is a generally relaxing place (though if you stay too long a slightly boring one). In particular, the guesthouse I stayed in had a massive riverside garden and hammocks and deck chairs which was great for,you know, relaxing by a river in a hammock for instance.
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The city is also a great jumping off point for doing activities like elephant riding, rafting down the river or checking out the Tiger Temple.
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The Tiger Temple has an awesome sounding name conjuring up images of tigers and monks living on a mountain-top, but is actually just a zoo. And not even a very comprehensive zoo with just a few animals other than tigers.
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Although there is a temple thee it isn't particularly historic, is made of poured concrete with pillars tall enough to allow the monk's 4x4 pickup to be parked underneath and had a satelitte dish so the monks can presumably keep up do date with news from the dali lama or just watch the Simpsons in HD, whichever strikes them.
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It also wasn't so much on a secluded mountain top as it was in a field. The field was secluded though. Although by secluded I mean inconveniently located in the middle of nowhere requiring a long and expensive journey from Kanchanaburi. Speaking of expensive, I didn't mention the outrageous entry fee of about 500 bhat. Which may not seem like much (it's about GBP 10) but this is Thailand and, I thought was supposed to be a temple, but I guess satellite upkeep, 4x4 fuel and insurance and tiger food is pretty expensive these days.
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This brings me to the tigers. Real live tigers (although not particularly ferocious as they are prone to sleeping during the heat of mid day and are kept well fed and are used to the attention that hundreds of visitors a day bring).***
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The tigers weren't near the temple though. For saftey purposes they were in the viewing valley a few hundred metres away where, for the price of admission, you could line up, hand one yellow shirted unsmiling worker your camera, where another would hold your hand and lead you around to where the various tigers were sleeping, while yet another would be sure to stand directly behind you so that you have an authentic yellow shirted tiger temple employee in all your photos of authentic, aweomely powerful, amazing, full grown, giant tigers who are sleeping.
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There was also an authentic monk there but you had to pay more for him to appear in your shot.
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Still though, tigers are cool. Especially big ones with big pointy teeth who even with their chains on and sleeping could easily rip your face off so being up close is a thrill and something you couldn't really do in a westernised country.
More adventures of Thailand to come....
Photos 1) Bridge on the River Kwai. The real one. Not the fake movie one. Which was blown up at the end anyway in a great movie ending. 2) DG crossing back over the river. Note the bombs that they placed on either side to emphasize the authenticity of the WWII site. 3) Some guy riding an elephant. 4) DG at the 'Tiger Temple'
*Incidently one of the worst things about doing that is missing out on stuff that would have been easy enough to see 'if only I had known sooner'
**That is if you don't count internet cafes, massage parlours and the awesome tree fort bar that I got ridiculously drunk at with my two Sedish friends Matilde and Emma on 'bring your own vodka night'
***Actual words 'sorry mate I can't help you out I just got here this afternoon myself but most of the restaurants and stuff are on the other side'
****Also, allegedly, they are not drugged according to the volunteer english speaking staff. Did you get that? A tenner a head AND you don't even have to pay your staff. These monks must have gone to Harvard Business School or something.
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