Chapter 11 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Hello all. After a week in Ayuthaya I took the public buses to another tourist destination called Kanchanaburi. The buses are an attraction themselves. They are decorated like a 70s disco inside with mirrors and loud colors.

This local guy wasn't too impressed. He fell asleep on my shoulder. "Awww, how cute."

Kanchanaburi sits on the edge of the Kwai river. It looks nice and pleasant but I wouldn't go swimming, since the sewage is pumped directly out into the river. Some of you may have heard of an old movie called The Bridge on the River Kwai. It deals with a real tragedy during WWII when the Japanese worked almost 80,000 POWs and 150,000 Asian civilians to death, forcing them to build a railway into Burma. I went to a museum that was very sobering, and it makes one appreciate how lucky we are today.

This is the famous Kwai River Bridge. Its actually a rebuilt bridge because during the war Allied bombers destroyed it with some of the first ever guided bombs...

Made in America!

The actual strip for tourists in Kanchanaburi isn't exactly beautiful, but there are day trips away from the city that were fun.

Erawan Falls was an incredible series of seven waterfalls. You keep climbing up to the different falls and they are really beautiful. This is my crew. We were all solo travelers who met up and formed an expedition team. That's Chris(UK), Veronique(Canada..err..QUEBEC), Yose(Israel), and Jeff(Alaska). All very cool people.

Don't feed the monkeys. Apparently they'll go crazy and jump all over you.

Jeff discovered that these rocks were perfect slides to play on. It was cool and surprisingly fun. I must've gone 20 times.

The rocks in the waterfall are limestone, which over time creates smooth rounded rocks that look almost fake.

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The next touristy thing I did was pretty crazy. There is a tiger sanctuary run by monks. It started around 1998 when somebody intercepted some baby cubs from some poachers. Since then these monks have been raising Tigers and letting tourists get VERY close to them to raise funds for the sanctuary. In this picture you can see the extent of the protection provided: a rope.

Yep, that's me next to a huge tiger. It's very scary because the tigers look obviously annoyed by the tourists and sometimes get downright agitated. Look at those paws.

The babies were cute, but freaked out whenever tourists grabbed them and held them up for pictures. I was bothered by their lack of respect but it wasn't my place to criticize.

As they walk them back to their cages you can get up close and have another picture. I'd had enough but I was thinking when I'd have another chance to touch a tiger. As I stood there, nervous as hell knowing that this animal could kill me instantly, it actually started to growl!

As you can see, as the monk holds the stick between myself and the beast, I back slooooowly away.

If you look closely, you can see my life flash in front of my eyes.

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Yet, I lived! So it was time to celebrate with some delicious Thai food. Spicy and delicious.

A killer sunset over the Kwai River.

Thanks for reading. Next stop: Chiang Mai.