Kanchanaburi, Thailand: Tiger tickling.

We've done an enormous amount since Jacqui last wrote here. I'll attempt to condense it all into a few paragraphs. On our last day in Bangkok before the Kanchanaburi trip, we went to visit Jim Thompson's House. Thompson was an ex-military man who fell in love with Thailand and was responsible for the huge developments in its silk industry. His house was built in the traditional style using parts of old houses, and featured an impressive collection of Thai art and furniture. Afterwards, as we were on route to a shopping centre to find some lunch, we were stopped in our tracks - along with every other pedestrian and car in a 200-square-metre radius - by police as a procession of stunning cream Rolls Royces sped past in convoy. That'll be King Bhumibol passing through then. The Thais revere their ageing king in an almost messiah-like way. I then bought an earl grey tea flavoured ice cream. I tell you this because not everyone likes reading about Thailand's architecture and royalty. Some people prefer fluffier subjects like ice cream. And it really did taste of earl grey. Jacqui opted for the less exotic chocolate banana. Wimp.

The 3-day Kanchanaburi trip started by calling in at the Damnoen Saduak floating market (from where the photo at the top of this blog was taken). This was probably the most photogenic place of business you could ever hope to see. The river was teaming with narrow boats loaded up with colourful piles of fruit and vegetables, snacks, souvenirs and such like. I got some excellent shots and we munched on crispy coconut pancakes topped with sugary orange and lemon rind.

Later we arrived at the River Kwai, where the museum our tour took us to was disappointing. We believe there was a better museum somewhere, but we didn't have time to track it down. The river itself, and the famous bridge, was obviously very iconic. Many visitors were there to pay their respects to all the allied POWs (largely Dutch, British and Australian) and Asian workers who lost their lives during construction of the Burma-Thailand railway during the Second World War. This was followed by a train ride along the section of the track known as Death Railway.

Day 2 started with a relaxing drift down the Kwai on a bamboo raft, followed by another elephant trek (equally as enjoyable as the one on Koh Chang). This time we rode a pregnant female, whose main craving seemed to be for rather unappetising tree branches. We then visited Hellfire Pass, a huge carving through rockface that the POWs had bashed through using only primitive hand tools and dynamite, 18 hours a day. The work was completed in just 12 weeks, and many workers died due to being driven into the ground by Japanese forces, or succumbing to illness. Again, a very poignant place. But an enormous tree that has now grown some 30 metres out of the old train tracks served as a reminder of just how much time has passed since WWII.

Day 2 ended with a visit to a Buddhist tiger temple. The story goes that during the early 1990s the head monk at the temple was asked to care for a tiger cub who had been orphaned by hunters. Soon more cubs were rescued and brought to be cared for by the monks. The tigers are well fed every morning and evening, which means that they spend the afternoon lazily basking while the public are carefully guided around by staff to pose for photos and stroke the tigers. I'll try and post a photo or two of ours from this soon. Never thought I'd get to tickle a fully grown tiger's belly. Our guide insisted the tigers are not drugged, and given that this is a place of worship, you'd like to hope that's true.

Day 3 involved (very) scary caving at the Wang Badan cave, where our guide, who spoke almost no English and lit the way with just an oil lamp, had to nurse us around the various rocky slopes and rickety ladders in the dark, while we sweated profusely about losing our footing. Possibly the scariest thing I have ever done, and an experience not helped by smacking my head against a stalactite that I hadn't spotted. Oh, and there were bats, spiders and mutant crickets lurking in the darkness too. We were glad to get out otherwise unscathed, dripping with sweat. I am never setting foot in a cave in this continent again.

Three more days in Bangkok, including temples and a spectacular show that Jacqui loved last time she was in town, and then we fly to Indonesia, kicking off with Bali.