Bangkok - 20th June 2009

An early start today; I got up just after 6am, which surprisingly enough wasn't too painful, although it's my body naturally waking up then anyway, and then usually I let it go back to sleep for another 4 hours, so it may have got a bit of a shock today. I had a shower, which nearly made me swear as it was pretty chilly, although I got used to it and eventually it was quite pleasant. It was nice to be dripping clean water instead of sweat for once!!
My sarong from Costa Rica is doing a fine job of drying me, and then itself rather swiftly which I'm chuffed about. It didn't take me too long to get dressed either, and the toilet is easy to flush which is a relief (some can be real pains, so it's awesome news!!)
I got a bit worried about Lucy and Robbie getting ready but we were all out the front ready for a 7am pick up by the tour minibus. I'd popped down a bit earlier to ask for us to all stay another three nights which didn't take very long to sort.
A minibus turned up, but seemed a bit confused and after agreeing that we were going with him, he seemed to change his mind; maybe there were two Lucy's booked...
After 15 minutes, our minibus finally turned up, but to make us even more anxious the other people on the bus seemed to be on completely different tours to us, which was rather worrying. Also, on comparison of prices, we seem to have paid about 4 times as much as the others; 4200 baht instead of what some of the others had paid; 2000 baht for 3 days of tours and 2 nights away. Drat; our first mistake - not haggling and being scammed!
There was an Australia, a couple of Irish and a few others. Our first stop was to a memorial to all the slaves in the war who had been held captive and forced to build a railway. Thousands of people died in the process. It was really quite beautiful, especially some of the flowers, and there was a curious looking moth/butterfly that almost looked like a hummingbird it was that large and flappy. I've not quite identified what it was. I was stalking it for quite a while though!
Next stop was to a JEATH war museum which had a huge train a we entered. The story behind is of the prisoners of war, during the second world war were enslaved on the railways for many years and many just perished due to exhaustion, dehydration, starvation etc. To be honest I found the place as I do most museums, just a bunch of old stuff, but there were some pretty sights, and beautiful building which made it worthwhile. The best bit of all was a man selling some really beautiful paintings. I was extremely tempted, and couldn't decide so after much deliberation decided on three (! - they are amasing though!!!); a tiger, 3 elephants, and a random thai scene, so beautiful, and only for 1200 baht, about 24 pounds!!! bargain!! That's my art sorted from Thailand; I really hope I can find the same sort of thing in Cambodia and Vietnam. I was so chuffed with my purchases that being ripped off didn't really matter for the tour! We bought some drinks, which were lovely and cooling, and then wondered where the rest of our group had gone. I was always feeling a bit scared that they might just drive off and leave us there. Thankfully we remembered that they'd told us to walk around to the Bridge over the River Quai (where trains run to this day).
On the way was a gorgeous tiger cub, who looked really hot and exhausted. I became fixated on the poor fella and managed to lose Lucy and Robbie temporarily! Thankfully they realised they lost me and I was able to catch up with them! This seems to be a growing pattern with me when it comes to seeing animals!! Although the tiger looked too hot and bothered to move, apparently they tend to lounge around during the day anyway.
Walking over the bridge was a terrifying experience. It was a bit like walking on a gymnastics beam; there were so many people on the bridge and to the left of the middle section there was just gaps where we could easily have fallen into the river!; which I nearly did do, as the Australian guy decided to pull my leg by saying "oh my god, there's the minibus leaving!" which he wouldn't have been able to see from where we were but it made me turn around slightly too quickly to look at his face (the best way I know if people are pulling my leg; I'm so guliable!) and I felt myself falter and lose my balance slightly. My heart was racing a bit after that. Thankfully I survived, only to be persued by a lady trying to flog me an information booklet about the River Quai/the bridge etc. I was tempted, and had told her "maybe" on the way onto the bridge, which directly translates as "yes" to the trader! Thankfully I was saved by the Australian who managed to escort me away safely from her!!
The river itself was really pretty; there were floating platforms which were restaurants, and there was so much greenary and hills in the distance. A really beautiful scene. Had I been here before buying the paintings, I may have been tempted to buy yet another as there were some lovely ones of the bridge.
On the way back to the minibus, yet again, I was fixated on this gorgeous tiger cub; and yet again I was a bit behind the group, but the tour guide recognised me and guided me back to the bus! The cub looked a lot more active and cheery now and was getting quite playful. He/she was sooo adorable!!!
Next stop was lunch; it was a bit of a drive away and was further down the river on a lovely floating platform. There was a meat stew, a vegetable stew, rice and for pudding was a delicious, fresh pineapple; absolutely heaven! It was a really good group of people and funnily enough there was a couple from Newcastle Australia there, so we each called each other's group the Newcastle folk!
A couple of rafts flowed down the river whilst we were eating which looked a bit scary. Even scarier however, was going to the toilet. I felt slightly embarassed that I wanted to ask how to use the toilet, but decided to save my embarassment by ad-libbing it! The seat was really low down, and I wasn't sure whether we should put loo roll in a bin, or down the toilet, and also flushing was really confusing! There was a hose pipe, like what one would spray a garden with, and also a bucket of water with a smaller bucket inside it. It was extremely confusing!!
We were off again and next stop was to the elephant park where we were going to be riding the elephant for about 20 minutes. I was quite nervous about doing so as we were sitting on a platform that was just held on by a rope, and when we first set off it seemed to wobble about a bit. We got used to it after a while. Lucy and Robbie were on an elephant, whilst I was on with the Australian guy named Darren. It was good that we were able to photograph each other from our respective elephants! There was the Irish couple aswell; we'd dropped the Newcastle folk off at a waterfall on the way. The boy 'driving' the elephant was only 10 years old. He was really sweet. His English was limited but he managed to ask us a few questions and show his understanding of the UK and Australia. After we'd got out of sight of the base camp and into the jungle area, by which time we were feeling a lot more relaxed, the little boy allowed us to sit in his place, on the elephants neck, in front of the platform/seat. Darren went first, and I finally got up the courage to go. After a few steps I wanted to get back to my seat, although me being me I didn't back out and just stuck too. It was hard work, as I was feeling quite tense as I was scared of falling, so my leg muscles got tired quite quickly and I had to keep my butt cheeks clenched as for some reason it made me feel more secure, as each step of the elephant made the elephants shoulders lift up and down and so I had to alternate my butt cheeks to do the same! It was quite a good work out for them!! At the end of my riding, the elephant lifted her trunk up and sprayed me with what I presume must be elephant snotters... nice!
We had to shout "Huh" to make the elephant walk, and "whoa" to get the elephant to stop. I'd never realised how long an elephant's penis was until the one in front started peeing; it was huge!!!!
Lucy and Robbie got sold a ring made out of hair from the tail of the elephant, and tusk that was in the shape of a tusk, from their driver.
They sold us a photo of us on the elephant which was quite good, at the end of the trek.
Next stop was to pick up the Aussies from the waterfall. Our guide let us out so we could see the waterfall which was quite cool. We didn't get to walk up to the top, but it was quite cool seeing the semi-man-made base of the waterfall, it was rather spectacular! It seemed a very popular spot for locals, very peaceful, and there were lots of kids, and grow-ups too, splashing about in the pool at the bottom. There was also a river running down with quaint bridges over them. There was a particularly beautiful tree aswell, with interesting roots.
The tiger temple was next. I was a bit apprehensive about going as after booking the trip I had done a bit of investigating online and there were mixed opinions about the place; some accusing the place of drugging the tigers etc. On enterring, we had to sign a form saying that we realised that tigers were wild creatures and therefore they could not be held responsible if the tiger accidentally killed us. I was a bit unsure about signing my life away so to speak, although I'd rather be eaten by a tiger than a human. I thought I should maybe write "I do not understand what I'm signing" in the signing box, but as it was in English I thought they might think I was a bit weird, or if the person taking the tickets read it, they might not let me in, so instead I squiggled something that didn't really resemble my signature or my name!
There were several other animals in the reserve, I guessed that they were probably bred for feeding to the tigers, although that's completely my guess. First stop was to have our photo taken with the older tigers. We had to leave bags and loose things at the entrance and then someone took our hand and then another worker/volunteer would take our camera and take all the photos. The tigers were dosing, well, most of them were, but it was at the heat of the day, and if given the chance, we'd probably have been doing the same. The younger tigers which we went to see next were a lot more bouncy and active, as expected. They were really adorable, and although they were kept on leashes they didn't seem to be mistreated, although I think they were looking forward to a bit more freedom, which apparently was coming later in the afternoon, although we unfortunatly had to leave before the "show" started. By show I mean, the tigers were left free to roam in their own sanctuary so we could see them acting more normally.
The drive back was tiring, it took quite a while, about 3 hours. I slept for a bit of it although it wasn't particularly comfortable as I kept on banging my head on the window. The minibus driving pulled up outside the wrong hostel at first; there are many youth hostel association hostels in Bangkok, he'd taken us to the slightly more upmarket one. He seemed to be unsure of where we were going so we showed him on the map, and he called them up, and when we finally arrived the driver smiled so much! It was really cute!
Inside, I washed some clothes before we headed out to the vegetarian restaurant we had seen the previous day. On the way I saw a wild rat which was a bit random, and near the hostel were quite a few gecko's; it was all quite thrilling! I was really nervous as to what the food would be like at the restaurant, but thankfully we all enjoyed our meals. Lucy and I had a deep fried pancake-like thing, stuffed with mushrooms and various other things. The texture and flavours were absolutely amazing! I had a iced soya latte which was heaven as well. I'd wanted one earlier in the day, but most places don't have the soya milk unfortunatly, although it does seem to be quite commonly sold on it's own in cartoons in most places. Robbie had a tofu/vegetable/green pepper curry which looked tasty, but and was tasty, but also extremely hot!! We then stepped next door to the internet cafe, which was cheaper than the previous place we had been to, but it was also extremely slow, and the space key didn't work very well which made typing extremely slow!
Lucy and Robbie embarked on a game of Ludo, which Robbie commited kamikaze in as he was losing. I decided to go downstairs to the lobby of the youth hostel where I continued blogging for a bit longer, and also made even better friends with the gorgeous pussy cat! I really need to find out her name! It was quite a late night again; around midnight.