Sunday 6th April - Day 63

The van comes to pick me up at 6:30am. A little bit early for me again. There are a few things to visit today.

First we visit a World War II cemetery. We spend a little time walking around reading the headstones. A lot of brave young soldiers died in the war and some of the grave stones have names of soldiers from Suffolk Regiments. Next we are taken to a war museum. I already knew that prisoners of war under the Japanese had a very tough time, but the newspaper articles, photos, pictures and paintings in the museum graphically showed how bad things were.

We now head up to the river Kwai, made famous from the film, 'Bridge Over The River Kwai.' The guide persuades three of us to take motor boat over the river to it, while the rest will travel there by van. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," he says. It's raining a little. If he meant it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get soaking wet, because that's what happened, he was wrong. As the boat sped along a light spray of rain meant I got very wet and cold afterwards. Ironically, it was quite refreshing at the time and, if truth be told, I quite enjoyed it. However, we didn't see anything from the boat of significance. Once at the bridge we are allowed to walk over it. There are no trains or vehicles that pass over it. Having seen the film made it feel more interesting than it might otherwise have been.

Next we are off to a railway station and a ride in a train. At the railway station I bump into Sarah, Carol and Elke the University students from the jungle trek. We enjoy a brief chat like old friends and part company again. The train journey itself didn't seem to have much to write home about. But we do stop at a station and have a nice lunch at a restaurant as part of the excursion.

After lunch we visit 'The Tiger Temple' where tigers that have been bought up by monks since birth are there. We're led individually by volunteers, who hold our hands, to the tigers and are allowed to touch them and have photos taken with them. It wasn't as exciting as I imagined, but it was an experience to remember. Then it's back "home."

Sadly it's my last day in Thailand. The time has gone rather quickly.