Kanchanaburi to Chaing Mai

Hi all

We have been off line for the last couple of days as we ventured out for a day to Kanchanburi. Not too early a start with a pick up at 7.00am then we were whisked off to Khao San road & everyone was issued with different mixes of coloured stickers and we then all swapped mini buses and off we went....

First stop the WWII Cemetery that was built by the commonwealth fund to hold the graves of  nearly 7000 commonwealth & Dutch servicemen  killed whilst POW's working on the 416km Thai/Burma railway link to support Japans expansion into SE Asia. This feat of engineering despite rampant malaria, other deadly diseases and dangerous terrain was completed in 9 months. Our next stop was at the Bridge over the river Kwai & was considered the most brutal and deadly part of the whole scheme. It was only the bombing of this bridge which stopped the Japanese making further inroads and although the bridge has been rebuilt you can still see the bomb damage on the end of the bridge.

We then took a train journey along the line for about and hour and a half up and were then whisked off again for a leisurely lunch on a bamboo raft restaurant. Next stop a monastery which purported to be a tiger temple but we thought it was more of a large zoo with photo opportunities with tigers of various ages.  Despite our conflicting ethics we still couldn't resist a snap or two!

Once we were back in Bangkok we jumped on a train to Ayuthaya. We didn't check our tickets on purchase and ended up in the 3rd class cheap seats - Fun but hard!
So yesterday we walked all around the fabled fallen city of Ayuthaya, which was the capital of Thailand until 1767. It was built in the middle of three rivers and was therefore considered pretty invasion proof, but those persistent Burmese managed it in the end. There are loads of fabulous Wats in various states of ruin & I have taken loads of photo's but we have yet to find an Internet Cafe that will allow us to safely upload. - Angela it will happen soon promise....
Last night saw us on the sleepertrain to Chaing Mai in the North of Thailand. We caught the train at 21.00 and were supposed to arrive be  9.45 but didn't get here until 12.00. So today has been about getting Vietnamese visas, flights to other places and organising treking trips from here that I will update you with as we go.

So off to see the Sunday waking market now and find some tasty morsel for dinner...

Thanks for looking
Hugs
Sara