Aujourd'hui, je vais vous raconter mon petit week-end à Kanchanaburi, ville du célèbre pont de la rivière Khway!

Il faut savoir que ce pont a été construit par des esclaves européens,chinois, sous les ordres des Japonnais durant la 2ème guerre mondiale. En effet, l'objectif était de construire une voie ferrée entre le Sud-Est asiatique et l'Inde, afin que les Japonnais puisse atteindre (envahir) plus facilement atteindre cette partie d'Asie.

Je vais rapidement parler de ma soirée dans cette petite ville. Cherchant la nightlife de Kanchanaburi, je suis tombé surtout sur des "bars à putes" pour dire ça poliement avec des filles enceintes et des enfants jouant autour des comptoirs et des tables de billard. On trouve en ville que des "gros allemands" aux bras de jeune jolie thaï ne pensant qu'à faire "BoumBoum" ... That's Thailand

Puis, je suis allé plus loin dans la campagne afin de découvrir les magniques chutes de NamTok et profiter de la Nightlife la-bas qui a été de regarder un match de Liverpool au milieu d'une ville déserte sur l'arrière d'un pick-up!

Petit Week -End sympa avant de me lancer dans mes exams de mi-semestre

Je vous dit à très bientôt

Over 260 golf courses, white sand beaches, tropical weather and friendly people make for an ideal golf vacation. Thailand golf holidays also promise a great value, top playing conditions, fascinating culture and awesome service. This golf in Asia paradise is growing in popularity, particularly with golfers and couples looking for an exotic golf location. The green fees are inexpensive from a western perspective. There is a wide range of courses, accommodations, destinations, sight seeing tours, and historical sights. The local currency is the Thai baht and there are golf courses in every major tourist destination. Golfers will find premier golf courses in Bangkok, Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi (River Kwai), and Samui island.

The golf courses range from PGA championship layouts to municipal courses run by the Thai government and military. Every golf club has a clubhouse which serves a wide variety of Thai and western food. Caddies are included at all golf courses in Thailand and this makes for a fun way to enjoy golfing in Thailand. For the more adventurous, golf side trips to Vietnam and Cambodia are easily arranged from Thailand and these make excellent get-away golf vacation destinations. The capital city of Bangkok Thailand has over 60 golf courses to choose from. This makes Bangkok the usual first stop on most Thailand golf tours. In addition to golfing, there are numerous sights, markets, entertainment, and spas. It is an exciting blend of modern golf in a major capital city. Nightclubs, entertainment and restaurants give the city its after golf vibrancy.

The most popular golf courses are Thai Country Club, Alpine Golf Club, Navatanee Golf Club, and Royal Gems Golf Resort. Suwan Golf Club is a new course that rivals the others mentioned. Beach golf resorts entice many visitors, particularly Phuket, Hua Hin, and Pattaya. They caters to the golf holidaymakers tourists with numerous championship golf courses, hotels of all standards, shopping outlets and nightlife. Pattaya is also famous for its numerous go go bars and therefore appeals mostly to single golfers. Phuket and Hua Hin are more scenic and tranquil, thus attracts golf visitors who prefer more luxurious golf holidays. Thailand golf holidays can also appeal to non-golfers. Golf resorts which have on site spa and massage centers make for good choices for mixed groups of golfers and non-golfers.

Also resorts with water sports are well liked by golfers. Other activities such as elephant trekking, scuba diving, rafting, and Thai cooking are all very popular. The largest island in Thailand is Phuket and it is a center for golfers from around the world. Phuket Town is the largest town and a great place to shop. There are market stalls, department stores, shopping malls and outlets for golf equipment, antiques, and crafts. As usual on Thailand golf holidays, there are some premier golf courses like Blue Canyon, Mission Hills, and Red Mountain on the island.

Heute morgen ging mein Zug von Thonburi nach Kanchanaburi. Die Abfahrtszeit waren unchristliche 7.45Uhr. Thonburi Bahnhof ist eigentlich nur einmal über den Fluss von der Khao San Road gesehen, aber so ziemlich jeder Taxifahrer versucht einem einen Festpreis abzunehmen der jenseits von gut und böse für die Strecke ist. Das Problem löst man einfach damit, dass man zur Hauptstrasse läuft und ein vorbeifahrendes leeres Taxi herwinkt und schon war es kein Problem mit dem Taxameter dahinzukommen. Der Endpreis belief sich auf 60Baht ist irgendwie schon ein Unterschied zu 200Baht Festpreis.

Nachdem ich am Bahnhof war konnte es auch schon losgehen mit der Zugfahrt von Thonburi nach Nam Tok. Fast 5Stunden in einem 3te Klasse Zug, da kommt Freude auf. Bis zu Kanchanaburi dauerte die Fahrt 3Stunden und man konnte einiges von der Landschaft sehen. Ab Kanchanaburi Hauptbahnhof wurde es irgendwie voll im Zug. Ab hier stiegen ab jedem Halt immer mehr und mehr Touristen ein die eine fertig Tour gebucht haben und in ihrem Tagesprogramm den Punkt "Fahrt über die Todesstrecke" abhaken wollten. Der Grund für diesen Namen sind die ganzen Kriegsgefangen die beim Bau dieser Strecke gestorben sind.

Da ich bis Nam Tok gefahren bin und von dort mit dem Zug wieder zurück nach Kanchanaburi kann ich jedem nur den Tip geben sich in den Zug zu setzen der von Nam Tok zurück geht. Der ist nämlich wunderbar leer. Hab auf dem Rückweg auch gleich mal die Gelegenheit genutzt ein wenig Zugsurfen zu betreiben. Als ich die Brücke über den Kwai erreicht habe bin ich ausgestiegen und es begann das Brückensightseeing, mit abschliessendem Essen in einem Restaurant das auf dem Fluss gebaut ist. An den Preisen merkte man auch, dass man hier hauptsächlich die Aussicht bezahlt hat.

Anschliessend kam der lange Weg von der Brücke zum Busbahnhof, dabei wurden der Friedhof der Allierten besucht. Auf mich hat Kanchanaburi Stadt einen sehr gemütlichen Eindruck gemacht. Hier in der Stadt und der Umgebung kann man sicher einige Tage verbringen ohne, dass einem langweilig wird.

Nach knapp 2,5 Stunden Fahrt war ich dann in Bangkok am Südbahnhof angekommen und von dort direkt in den 511 Bus eingestiegen der an der Khao San Road vorbeifährt. Als ich über die Strasse gelaufen bin konnte ich meinen Augen nicht glaube. Hab dort David und Angel zum keine Ahnung wievielten Male wiedergesehen. Das ganze endete dann mit mehrer Cocktail Eimern auf der Khao San Road.

I could never have believed how soft and fluffy are the ears of a tiger.

Luckily, I managed to visit the Tiger Temple, Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, in April 2003, long before it was made famous by the television channel Animal Planet. After that, it has been just tourism gone bad. When I was in there, there was just a handful of backpackers and tigers were taken care by the monks, and the relationship seemed to be quite friendly.

Nowadays, there are approximately 600-800 visitors per day, and constant reports of mistreating, abuse and illegal trade of the tigers by the local workers have been filed. I have been shocked to read the reports like this HERE

"We clearly DON'T RECOMMEND A VISIT at the Tiger Temple and ask visitors to Kanchanaburi province to boycott the temple", writes kanchanaburi-info.com.

I visited my grandfather Alistair William Hay's grave today for the first time. It seems somehow auspicious that the visit falls on the 20th anniversary of the day I quit drinking and got sober. Maybe I would have visited otherwise, though that's unlikely given where I was headed, but even if I had I would almost certainly have been drunk -- in order, naturally, to fully apprehend the solemnity of the moment -- and would have taken away only the haziest of memories. No, I think that my grandfather would have much appreciated my sobriety at his grave, as would my grandmother, of whom I have some wonderful memories but whom I also called late one night to chat with when I was 19, and stone drunk. That was the last time I spoke to her.

Her husband -- they were married in Singapore and had, if I recall, about 8 years together, before the war, is buried in the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, in Grave Number 8 A: 02, in the northeast corner of a graveyard that holds the remains of about 7,000 soldiers who died on the Thailand Burma Railway, what's become known as the Death Railway. Some 16,000 Allied soldiers, the majority British, the others Australian, Dutch and American, died on or because of the Death Railway.  A far greater number of Malays, Indians, Sri Lankans, Burmese and Javanese died -- more than 100,000 -- and records exist for virtually none of them: no gravestones, none of their names.

Today, in a light, intermittent rain, we placed orchids on my grandfather's gravestone, which showed his age, 46, when he died. I think my grandmother -- Granny, I called her -- must have chosen the epitaph, because it appears in the spot where on other gravestones are messages of love, or eternal rememberance, or short religious passages. Granny (if indeed it was she) chose to have engraved his educational resume.

He was among the oldest of those at rest here; most of the other graves here belong to men who were in their early twenties, although there are many who were younger, some also in their late forties and at least one who was 50.

My grandfather was in the Malay Civil Service, in what was at the time a British Protectorate, a colony essentially, serving in Penang when on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese invaded what today is Malaysia. He packed my dad and his two sisters and my grandmother off to Singapore and from there to Australia to wait out the war. He signed up with the volunteers in the terribly mismanaged defense effort that quickly led to the fall of both Malaysia and so-called "Fortress Singapore."

I'm probably screwing up Hay family history terribly here, but I believe he had four brothers -- two of whom served also abroad in the colonial government -- and three of them died in World War I and II.

My dad has been trying, especially as he has crossed into older age himself, to find out more about his own father, whom he neither knew nor was able to learn much about before. He was a committed pacifist apparently, who paradoxically volunteered to fight; a talented linguist who spoke several Chinese dialects, as well as Malay and French; who in the prison camps served as camp interpreter and, I believe, as custodian of the POW's secret radio, a role punishable by execution if discovered.

He died, according to information gathered at the Thailand Burma Railway Centre, a museum about the Death Railway that is here in Kanchanaburi, and from fellow prisoners' accounts, of a heart attack brought on by pneumonia and attendant complications, and apparently his funeral at Nathom Pathom, the camp where he died on Nov. 21, 1944, was the largest to have taken place there.

At the museum today, on a faint hope, I gave the staff a sheet containing what little information about him I knew: his name, the unit he served with, the Singapore Volunteers,and his grave plot number. The centre's manager, an Australian whose father worked on the railway and died soon after the war, said he'd see what he could do but couldn't promise much: "We're researching all the time," he said.

An hour later he popped his head around an exhibit we were looking at and said, "Don't go anywhere."

It turned out that a week before he'd received a new batch of research notes that included some more specific information about my grandfather: more of the government work he'd been doing in Penang, which included serving as a district judge, and as something titled "Protector of Chinese."  The new details also included the "Force," or work unit he'd been assigned to during the war, H Force, one of two that were subjected to some of the worst of the railway labor demands, during the construction's late stage, known as The Speedo," when the Japanese were pushing frantically to finish the railway to replace the seaborne supply routes they'd lost after the Battle of Midway in the Pacific.

With that detail, we were able to determine the route he'd have marched once arriving from Singapore in Thailand, the camps he'd worked at along the railway, and the exact plots of land in Kanchanaburi where he and his fellow prisoners would have been housed at various stages, one property that is now a soccer field, another that was an aerodrome and that is now a bus station.

On the train here from Bangkok -- ... I began to wonder for the first time what I would say to my grandfather if we were to meet today, me at my age, he at the age when he died or thereabouts.

I think I would say this to my grandfather:

Your son, who rarely spoke about you to me when I was young, now speaks of you with what seems to me a great and increasingly urgent admiration, for your facility with languages, for your humor, evidenced in the few surviving letters and postcards, and for the decisions you made in the crucible-like times that you lived, and also that your son grew to be full of a sense of his own shortcomings, a sense honed by your absence and by the impression of achievement and sacrifice left lingering by your death; and that I, his grandson, have grown up with a sense of my own shortcomings, honed by my own admiration for my father's achievements and character.

I think I would say that we both -- your son and your grandson -- wonder what we would have done in your place, with the war bearing down, and with wives and children of our own, and what, in the end, would be the right thing to do.

I think I would say that, for all your decision cost, I am proud and honored to know you, and that somehow, in some strange and illogical way that I don't yet understand, you have in some way shaped me, as much by your death as your life, and that one day, when I fully comprehend how that is so, then, perhaps, I will know you better and have done you proud too.

We went back to the Bangkok Chatuchak Weekend market (third time) which seemed much less hectic this time. We just wandered around, had some good street food and bought simple stuff like a watch, patches for our bags, etc. The rest of the day was just wandering around a bit, sewed on patches, and read. Nothing too special.

16.June.08

We hopped on the minibus for a painless journey to Kanchanaburi and got checked in to Charlie Frogs Guest House in a sweet bungalow floating on the River Kwai in the middle of a field of lotus'. We quickly rented out some Kayaks to spend an awesome three hours along the river. We went under the famous "Bridge over the River Kwai" and through fields of lotus' and water lilies while constantly surrounded by the splended sound and sight of the jungle.

We then headed to a night market and dinner, then back at the hotel the sunset was gorgeous over the pink lotus' and the bridge, and the romantic moment was only diluted by a group of five incredibly childish, gross, hairy, old (probably Russian) men, wearing only speedos and their five young Thai "girlfriends" outside their rooms (men; drinking, laughing, dancing, and making fools of themselves, and girls; sitting looking miserable). This is a really obnoxious part of Thailand and seems to be more prevalent here in Kanchanaburi for some reason. I won't bother mentioning it in the rest of the blog, but many times during a meal or wandering the streets or hotel we were surrounded by immature white guys and their Thai "girlfriends." They were from everywhere; Sweden, Germany, America, England and no matter where they came from they were always super awkward and condescending to their "girls" (like making fun of their accents, but who am I to talk, have you got the title of the blog yet?!). It was painfull to even be around such pitiful men who probably have wife and kids at home, which is surprising they could EVER get a girl as they were all complete dickheads. There's a good reason we realized that these kind of guys had to buy "love;" pathetic. Anyway, enough of that, the rest of the blog is only the fun stuff, which is aplenty!

17.June.08

We hopped on an early public bus to Erawan National Park where we hiked a gorgeous trail through the dumping Erawan Falls. The falls were seven tiered and at many of the tiers I had the opportunity to swim in the flawless blue waters (only I, because Jess forgot her bathing suit; and flawless is without including the hundred of fish that constantly nipped at my body). The whole hike was terrific if a bit humid (tends to be a trend the last seven months) we met some cool folks along the way and bumped into some crazy caterpillars which didn't even seem real!

We got back to the hostel, booked a tour for tomorrow (ugh, sometimes a neccessary evil), had a few drinks and dinner with a nice German couple and conversed into the night.

18.June.08

Our tour wasn't all bad as we got to see a bunch of neat stuff in a short while. We had a trip to a quaint waterfall then to the Hellfire Pass memorial including museum where we learned about Asia's part in WWII (long story short about the railroad; Japan was overall nearly as bad as the nazis, enslaved 200,000 asians, and 60,000 allies to build a railroad through Thailand to Burma to supply the battle front near India. The working conditions were aweful with rampant malaria, food shortage, torture, etc. They were all treated worse than slaves and more than half died, BUT the railroad got finished! Way to go Japan!). Next we went to a natural hot spring, where we took a dip in piping hot waters, then to a cave then the railroad where we rode the train through a scenic little area then got off and drove to the famous bridge that was built over the river and walked along it. Overall a good experience, we got to see what we wanted, but it also affirmed that we don't like tours very much (especially with obnoxious crying babies along).

We just hung out around the hostel afterwards, had another terrific sunset, and booked a van back to bangkok for tomorrow.

19.June.08

We took the trip to Bangkok, got our passports back with the gorgeous new Laos visa pasted inside. Then we booked train tickets for the night of the 19th. We decided to get quite drunk off some tequila we bought duty free and inteded to go out, but it started pouring rain so we simply entertained ourselves in our hotel room and surprised ourselves with an awesome time just chatting and laughing about the last many months. We eventually went out to see "Juno" at a nearby cafe. Juno is an incredible film, and even funnier with some tequila.

20.June.08

We did a mini city tour today with a cool rickshaw driver who took us to two shops who paid him so we didn't have too (always fun). After all the time we've spent in Bangkok we still saw some awesome new things. The Golden Mountain Wat with a massive golden spire on top (after taking lots of stairs) had a perfect view of the city. Then we saw a 5 ton solid gold Buddha that had been hidden in stucco by the Thais to protect from maurauding Burmese 700 years ago. It wasn't uncovered again until the 1950's, when instead of melting it down, decided to charge tourists 20Bhat to glipse it, a goldmine industry in itself. Next we had an awesome Dim Sum lunch in Chinatown, and wandered the back alley markets where we dumped plenty of Bhat on really silly quintisentially asian trinkets. (We're talking cutsy hello kitty type stuff, and cartoon poop keychains which we bought plenty of and laughed for hours). Then we got back and got on the night train to start our journey onward and upward!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157605746548864/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157605746424930/

Our first stop was the town of Kanchanaburi, which is the biggest town in the area. In this town is the famous River Kwai bridgehead, a World War II museum, and a World War II cemetery. We entered the Jeath war museum, which is basically a little fake POW hut that holds pictures and other artifacts from the building of the bridge. At first I thought Jeath was just another funny misspelling by Thai people and that they intended the word "death," but in fact it is an acronym for the countries involved in the building of the bridge. The acronym stands for J-Japan, E-England, A-Australia and America, T-Thailand, and H for Holland. The river Kwai Bridge was supposed to have taken five years to build, but due to the oppressive means used by the Japanese it was built in 16 months. 100,000 civilians died and around 16,000 POWs from various countries died from building the bridge due to the mistreatment and various jungle diseases.

Next, we drove to the actual bridge and Oat and I walked across while he told me what he knew about the history. The heat was the most oppressive heat I have ever felt. I was so hot I was woozy, and even though I was at a place where I really wanted to see, I was pretty indifferent to what was going on due to the heat. It was the kind of heat that just exhausted you almost immediately. It was so hot that even focusing attention was difficult. I walked through the hut like a zombie. Normally in World War II museums, I want to read everything, but in a trance I went through this one pretty quickly. Oat told me to take any pictures that I wanted to, but the effort of opening my fanny pack to get my camera was too in this stifling heat. I think I took one to pretend I was interested in order to appease my guests. I think the area we were in used to be a jungle, but the area has been completely deforested and in the place of the trees are fields of sugar cane. The area once was a jungle, so it was naturally very hot, but the loss of the jungle vegetation has made it even more hot.

After this we took off for the farm. In America when going somewhere we usually go like crazy to get there and then try to enjoy the time there as much as possible. Not so with Thai people. They take their time in all aspects of the journey. We stopped along the road to pick up fresh hand-picked vegetables, skin cream at a market, and we took several bathroom breaks. With seven people in a car it is hard to make good time. Each time we stopped I had no idea what we were doing and why we were stopping or for how long. At one point Op pulled over on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and just coasted for a second. Oat then informed me that the slope was downhill, but we were going backwards due to the magnetic field, and Ann's dad wanted to experiment with the slope. Oat asked if I had ever seen this before. I was still a little punch drunk from the heat, but I looked ahead of me to see if I could ascertain the extent of the downhill slope. It looked pretty level to me, so the fact we were coasting backwards did not impress me, but I did not want to argue, so I said no I had not seen this before and agreed that it was quite amazing.

We finally got to their farm around 4pm and there was not much daylight left. Ann's Dad owns a rubber tree farm and a coffee farm near the Western border of Myanmar. The rubber is harvested by these black cups that are placed around the tree fastened by a metal fastener. The tree is then cut open above the cup and then the liquid seeps into the cup. The liquid in the cup is then congealed somehow and produced into rubber. The farm was basically 100 acres with a couple of wooden shacks in the center of it. All of the workers on the farm are Burmese who had fled their country.

A National Park was adjacent to their property, so Op, Eve, Oat, Ann, Ann's mother, and I then got back in the car and drove the couple of bumpy miles to the National Park entrance. We drove down this dirt road in the middle of nowhere and then came to the entrance to the park. There was a little hut at the entrance of the park with a barrier across the road. Ann went to the hut and registered us and then the girl in the hut pulled the drawstring and let us in. We drove around a couple of bends and then parked. There was a sign to the waterfall that said 800 meters. Ann and Ann's mother stayed at the parking lot while the boys headed to the waterfall to play.

The waterfall was awesome and amazingly refreshing. Right below the waterfall was a really nice deep pool and after being in the hellish heat all day the water felt incredible. We swam for a time in the pool and then went above the waterfall and climbed up these rocks to another mini waterfall. Up above we could actually sit in these pools as the water rushed over us from above. It was great. One of the most amazing outdoor experiences I have ever had. I am sure there are some pretty venomous snakes in the area. Oat had told me that Ann almost died from being bitten by a snake near her farm. The boys did not seem worried, so I followed their lead and ran around the jungle trail with no fear. I have done some camping in poisonous snake territory in the U.S. and it is rare to see them since they are more afraid of you than likewise. I was pretty sure poisonous snakes in Southeast Asia acted the same.

The swim really revived me. I felt like a new person. Unfortunately, Ann was suffering from the heat and actually threw up on the way back to the farm. It was so hot even the Thais were suffering. On the way back to the farm, we stopped at a little store to get some drinks. Up to this point I had not paid for a thing and was a little worried about it. It was nice saving money, but I felt like a bit of a moocher. Ann's parents had paid for everything so far. At lunch on this day I had asked Oat if I should pay for something. I wanted to pay for the whole lunch, but I was afraid of offending Ann's parents by extending such an offer. Oat said not to worry about it, but just thank her parents. At this store I really was thinking on passing on beer as I was quite tired, but Oat said maybe I should buy some beer for Ann's dad. Brilliant I said to Oat and bought 6 24 oz beers. No better way to thank hospitality then by buying the host beer. That is one of the many beautiful things about beer. If there is one thing that I am an expert on it was buying beer. This was right up my alley.

When we got back to the farm Ann joked that I was trying to get her father drunk. I felt like telling her that she might be the expert about traveling in Thailand, but I was the expert in buying beer. We got back to the farm and had dinner and drank beer and looked at the amazing stars. At one point there was a lively discussion about the size of Eve's penis. Apparently his shorts had fallen off in the waterfall at one point and Oat had said it was a good thing I didn't take a picture of it as I was snapping many pictures with my digital camera. I assured him if I did, I would promptly erase it. Eve was 16 and Ann and Op where 24 and 25, so poor Eve as the baby received the brunt of the joke-making in the family.

We had a great political discussion that night. This was on the eve of the Thai election, so we had talks about our relationship with their country. Apparently, Bush and their prime-minister Taksin get along quite well. They did not like Bush that much, but they said that the relationship between the two leaders was good for Thai business. Op then told me that at his university they had a refugee camp set up for the foreign tsunami survivors. He said that it was very sad as many of the survivors had only the clothes on their back as they lost all of their possessions and in some cases could not find any of their friends and families. He related that they were extremely unhappy, as you can imagine, and had this almost dead like look in their eyes as they had been completely devastated by the tragedy. We ate a variety of snacks for dinner. Everything cooked was done over the fire. They also had some rice set out. Ann’s father joked that it was a Thai barbeque. Although Ann’s parents could not speak English, it was easy to communicate with them as all three of their children spoke fluent English as did Oat. They were extremely pleasant people and I was very appreciative of their wonderful hospitality. We then went to sleep in their little hut. It was much cooler here as we were in the hills a bit, so it made for easy sleeping.

Writing crime fiction set in Thailand presents a conundrum. I want to showcase the beauty and culture of the country and its people. But writing about crime means exploring the underbelly of the place, the seedier side that only makes it into travel guides under 'Dangers and Annoyances'.

Take my current draft novel, working title Down by Pattaya Bay. Most of the action takes place in Pattaya on Thailand's central coast -- not the sort of place I'd recommend to anyone as a holiday destination (although more than a million tourists a year would beg to differ).

So I decided a couple of characters should come from Kanchanaburi in the west, a town Roo and I first visited in 1992. Kanchanaburi is probably most famous outside Thailand as the site of the Bridge on the River Kwai and the Death Railway built by the Japanese during WW II using Allied Prisoners of War and indentured Asian labourers.

But there's more to Kanchanaburi than its wartime history. The riverside town is charming -- floating discos and karaoke bars notwithstanding -- the people are laid-back and the food delicious, especially the freshwater fish. The province, also called Kanchanaburi, is rugged and picturesque, home to wildlife sanctuaries where wild elephants and even tigers roam. Erawan Falls. Tumeric Stream. Tiger Cave Monastery. Hellfire Pass. Golden Dragon Temple. Three Pagodas Pass. The names on the map alone make it sound alluring.

For all these reasons I chose Kanchanaburi as a secondary setting for my current book and, just after Buddhist New Year last month, my family and I paid a visit to the place specifically to scope out settings for my book.

In addition to local colour, I was interested in visiting a place I'd read about called Wat Tham Seua -- the Tiger Cave Monastery -- as the setting for a scene involving my heroine Jayne Keeney and a Thai Buddhist monk. The trip to the monastery brought home the importance of checking out a setting first-hand, rather than relying on other people's accounts.

Here's what the Lonely Planet guide to Thailand (2005 ed) has to say about Wat Tham Seua and the neighbouring temple of Wat Tham Khao Noi:

"These large, hilltop monasteries about 15km southeast of Kanchanaburi are important local pilgrimage spots, especially for Chinese Buddhists. Wat Tham Khao Noi (Little Hill Cave Monastery) is a Chinese temple... Adjacent is the half-Thai, half-Chinese-style Wat Tham Seua... Both are built on a ridge over a series of small caves. Wat Tham Khao Noi is not much of a climb, since it's on the side of the slope. Seeing Wat Tham Seua means climbing either a steep set of naga stairs or a meandering set of steps past the cave entrance.

"A climb to the top is rewarded with views of Mae Nam Khwae on one side and rice fields on the other. Wat Tham Seua features a huge sitting Buddha facing the river, with a conveyor belt that carries money offerings into a huge alms bowl in the image's lap. The easier set of steps to the right of the temple's naga stairs leads to a cave and passes and aviary with peacocks and other exotic birds..."

In fact, Wat Tham Khao Noi is a hell of a climb, especially if you continue past the summit of the hill up five spiral staircases to the top of the pagoda -- where the dizzying views are truly spectacular. Wat Tham Seua, by contrast, has a funicular railway making the ascent a breeze.

The LP's description also fails to capture the fairground atmosphere of the quirky Tiger Cave Monastery with its glitzy, gargantuan gold Buddha and garish concrete tiger. Devotees can buy all sorts of offerings, including little dishes of baht coins to feed on to the conveyor belt that drops the coin into the huge bowl at the Buddha's feet. Low-tech, high-kitsch, gloriously Thai!

I had planned to set a rather solemn scene at Wat Tham Seua, but having been there, I'll be setting the scene next door in the more tranquil grounds of Wat Tham Khao Noi.

Still, I'll find a way of bring the Tiger Cave Temple into the story, too...

This post also appears on my other blog.

Writing crime fiction set in Thailand presents a conundrum. I want to showcase the beauty and culture of the country and its people. But writing about crime means exploring the underbelly of the place, the seedier side that only makes it into travel guides under 'Dangers and Annoyances'.

Take my current draft novel, working title Down by Pattaya Bay. Most of the action takes place in Pattaya on Thailand's central coast -- not the sort of place I'd recommend to anyone as a holiday destination (although more than a million tourists a year would beg to differ).

So I decided a couple of characters should come from Kanchanaburi in the west, a town Roo and I first visited in 1992. Kanchanaburi is probably most famous outside Thailand as the site of the Bridge on the River Kwai and the Death Railway, built by the Japanese during WW II using Allied Prisoners of War and indentured Asian labourers.

But there's more to Kanchanaburi than its wartime history. The riverside town is charming -- floating discos and karaoke bars notwithstanding -- the people are laid-back and the food delicious, especially the freshwater fish. The province, also called Kanchanaburi, is rugged and picturesque, home to wildlife sanctuaries where wild elephants and even tigers roam. Erawan Falls. Tumeric Stream. Tiger Cave Monastery. Hellfire Pass. Golden Dragon Temple. Three Pagodas Pass. The names on the map alone make it sound alluring.

For all these reasons I chose Kanchanaburi as a secondary setting for my current book and, just after Buddhist New Year last month, my family and I paid a visit to the place specifically to scope out settings for my book.

In addition to local colour, I was interested in visiting a place I'd read about called Wat Tham Seua -- the Tiger Cave Monastery -- as the setting for a scene involving my heroine Jayne Keeney and a Thai Buddhist monk. The trip to the monastery brought home the importance of checking out a setting first-hand, rather than relying on other people's accounts.

Here's what the Lonely Planet guide to Thailand (2005 ed) has to say about Wat Tham Seua and the neighbouring temple of Wat Tham Khao Noi:

"These large, hilltop monasteries about 15km southeast of Kanchanaburi are important local pilgrimage spots, especially for Chinese Buddhists. Wat Tham Khao Noi (Little Hill Cave Monastery) is a Chinese temple... Adjacent is the half-Thai, half-Chinese-style Wat Tham Seua... Both are built on a ridge over a series of small caves. Wat Tham Khao Noi is not much of a climb, since it's on the side of the slope. Seeing Wat Tham Seua means climbing either a steep set of naga stairs or a meandering set of steps past the cave entrance.

"A climb to the top is rewarded with views of Mae Nam Khwae on one side and rice fields on the other. Wat Tham Seua features a huge sitting Buddha facing the river, with a conveyor belt that carries money offerings into a huge alms bowl in the image's lap. The easier set of steps to the right of the temple's naga stairs leads to a cave and passes and aviary with peacocks and other exotic birds..."

In fact, Wat Tham Khao Noi is a hell of a climb, especially if you continue past the summit of the hill up five spiral staircases to the top of the pagoda -- where the dizzying views are truly spectacular. Wat Tham Seua, by contrast, has a funicular railway, making the ascent a breeze.

The LP's description also fails to capture the fairground atmosphere of the quirky Tiger Cave Monastery with its glitzy, gargantuan gold Buddha and garish concrete tiger. Devotees can buy all sorts of offerings, including little dishes of baht coins to feed on to the conveyor belt that drops the coin into the huge bowl at the Buddha's feet. Low-tech, high-kitsch, gloriously Thai!

I had planned to set a rather solemn scene at Wat Tham Seua, but having been there, I'll be setting the scene next door in the more tranquil grounds of Wat Tham Khao Noi.

Still, I'll find a way of bring the Tiger Cave Temple into the story, too...

This post also appears on my other blog.

As the ANZAC Dedication finished the only sound was the chirping of the birds with daylight breaking through. A moving experience and a must-do factor for all Aussies & Kiwis living in Thailand or visiting this lovely country.

Einer der 7 Wasserfaelle im Erawan Nationalpark.

In einem der Becken gingen wir baden und liessen uns von den Fischen vernaschen.

Beim Rueckweg machten wir Bekanntschaft mit den Einheimischen.

Dieser Kollege hier hat mit 72 mittlerweile das Pensionsalter erreicht und stand uns nach unserem Elefantenausritt als Fotomodell zur Verfuegung.

Riding an elephant wasn’t our only close encounter with wildlife on this trip. The three of us also experienced the thrill of patting tigers at Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno aka ‘Tiger Temple’ in Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok.

Not surprisingly, it was a surreal experience. We left Kanchanaburi town in the back of a songtheaw pick-up driven by a ‘Tiger Temple Thailand’ staff member at breakneck speed, arriving only 15 minutes before the tigers were due to leave the Tiger Canyon where they’re taken for their afternoon exercise.

We couldn’t imagine how we’d accomplish the taking-photos- whilst-patting-tigers routine the temple is famous for, but we did. We joined a queue and were taken one-by-one by a minder who steered each of us by the arm among the tigers, sat us down with them, indicated where to place our hands, waited while another staff member took photos with our own camera, and steered us away again, ensuring at all times that we were behind the tigers.

I got to go twice as Tash bucked the rules and insisted on us going together. The process took about 1-2 minutes per person.

My favourite solo moment was being led towards a rock where two tigers were lying side by side and my minder flicking one of their tails aside so I could sit down.

My favourite moment with Tash was seeing the huge, fearless grin on her face when she got to pat a ‘tigey’.

There turned out to be a few benefits in getting there late in the day. We got to escort one of the largest of the tigers, a male called ‘Wan’, from the Canyon with Phra Acharn Phusit, the Abbot who founded this forest monastery in 1994.

Just so you know, when you walk a tiger, stand on his left and place your right hand firmly on the center of his back. Walk at the same pace, stop when he stops. When you’ve finished step aside to your left and fall out. Never turn your back on a tiger. Tigers hunt by stealth and seeing your back will give them ideas.

At the end of the walk, Roo and Tash got to pat Wan’s head with Phra Phusit watching over them.

Late afternoon also meant feeding time for the rest of the temple’s menagerie. The staff threw pellets and vegetables on to the pathway and the animals swarmed in out of nowhere: families of wild boar, goats, Brahmin cattle, little horses, sambar deer, serows (an indigenous goat-like deer), buffalo, peacocks, roosters and chickens. The atmosphere was strangely calm, considering we were in the middle of a feeding frenzy.

The literature about the Tiger Temple notes a spiritual basis for the practice of wildlife rescue – the monks ‘respect all sentient beings as reincarnates’ – and describes the objectives of the monastery as ‘to propagate Buddhism and to conserve forests and wildlife’.

The resident tigers have all been rescued from poachers, brought to the sanctuary of the wat by villagers and even police, or born at the temple. FAQs on the temple website explain the tigers have been hand-reared on cooked meat and do not associate hunting and blood with food, but all the same visitors are required to sign a waiver on arrival that they will not sue the temple if they’re savaged by a tiger.

We were also warned not to wear red, pink or orange (thank goodness I packed one blue top), strong perfume, sunglasses (tigers see another tiger reflected on your face and want to play, advised our queue guard), and ‘no sexy’ – the latter out of respect for the monks, though, not the tigers.

[Note: I'm still sorting through our 300+ holiday photos and will upload a big batch soon. But I just had to have a few to go with this post].

This section of the line is commonly referred to as the "Death Railway" because around 9,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POWs died in the construction of this railway which was built by the Japanese during World War II, to support its forces in the Burma campaign.

The portion of the railway still in use runs from Nam Tok terminus station down to Kanchanaburi and covers about 130 km.

The trains are 3rd class and travel this section slowly. It takes 2 hours and the trains are frequently late.

For much of the journey the tracks follow the river and it's very scenic, with the undoubted highlight being the negotiation of the Wang Pho Viaduct.

Crossing the actual Bridge over the River Kwai is a slow process, because they have to get rid of all the tourists who are walking on the bridge.

If you're a foreigner it will cost you 100 baht to travel on any portion of this line between Nam Tok and Kanchanaburi and it will be the best 100 baht you'll ever spend in Thailand.

Da fiel uns das fruehe Aufstehen gar nicht schwer, wir waren ja sowieso schon wach. Nach einem kleinen Fruehstueck wartete auch schon ein Mini-Bus auf uns, der uns zusammen mit 2 netten Schweizerinnen zum Erawan Nationalpark gefahren hat. Dieser Park ist wirklich schoen, es gibt dort 7 Wasserfaelle (eigentlich sind es 12, aber fuer die letzten paar braucht man eine gute Kletterausruestung) und vor jedem ein Becken mit klarem erfrischenden Wasser. Nachdem wir brav bis zum 7. Wasserfall gewandert sind, haben wir uns ein Bad in einem dieser Becken gegoennt. In den Becken leben viele Fische, die, wenn man ganz ruhig sitzt, einem die Schuppen von der Haut fressen. Das ist wirklich ein sehr interessantes Gefuehl.

Nach dem erfrischenden Bad fuhren wir weiter zu einem Elefantencamp, wo wir einen kleinen Austritt auf einem Elefanten machten. Anschliessend gabs noch eine Flossfahrt auf dem River Kwai. Der Fluss ist sehr sauber und angenehm zum Baden. Bei der Hitze konnten wir nicht anders und mussten mal kurz reinspringen.

Zum Abschluss gabs noch eine kleine Zugfahrt und einen kurzen Abstecher zur Buecke am Kwai.

Wir wuerden euch gerne noch ein paar Fotos von unserem Tripp zeigen, aber leider ist es nicht moeglich, von diesem PC aus auf unsere Kamera zuzugreifen :-( Das muss also bis zum naechsten Mal warten.

Wahrscheinlich sind wir dann schon auf dem Weg Richtung Sueden. Nachdem es hier in dieser Gegend und auch weiter oben im Norden so heiss ist, und uns die beiden Schweizerinnen so vom Sueden vorgeschwaermt haben, haben wir beschlossen in den ewtas kuehleren Sueden zu reisen.

Also dann, bis zum naechsten Mal!

Schoene Gruesse,

Sebi + Marion

forms part of the "Death Railway", which was built by POWs during the Second World War.

It's about a three-hour drive from Bangkok and is situated in the heartland of Kanchanaburi province, which is reputed to be the hottest place in Thailand, so if you're going, it pays to leave early as there's lots of walking to be done.

The excellent facilities at the Hellfire Pass Museum are maintained with the support of the Australian government and it's a good idea to take in the 7-minute movie about the area before you wander on down into Konyu Cutting.

The track down is quite challenging, although I did see quite a few locals heading down in their high-heeled shoes and some in flip-flops. Decent footwear is recommended for this outing.

It's quite a sobering experience when you get to the bottom and realise that Australian, New Zealand, British, Dutch and other allied Prisoners of War were required to work 18 hours a day to complete this cutting. Many were beaten to death by the Japanese guards in the six weeks it took to complete, and many more died from cholera, dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion.

There's a Dawn Parade held here every year on ANZAC Day, but it's open every day for visitors to come and remember.

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