Today I went on a day tour to Kanchanaburi, home of the River Kwai bridge of film fame and Japanese infamy. It was a very good day. Thai's don't tell on each other. I asked the driver of the van I was in what the actual cost of what we were doing was and guess what? Suddenly his English abilities totally failed. Bridge over the River Kwai is really mis-named. It should have been some other name that eludes me right now and I don't have Internet access, but the name was changed in 1960 to Kwai. Kwal in Thailand. Don't ask, I don't know. I walked on the Bridge over the River Kwai while singing the song. Not the wrecked one that the movie is about, the original concrete one that was destroyed by the Americans, the one that the wooden one was temporarily replacing. Guess what show I am going to watch again when I get home. Oh, and in real life, the prisoners wore triangular patches similar to what the North American Indians wore, except not as concealing. I rode a train on the Death Railway as the train track that crosses the River Kwai is called. A lot of people died making and maintaining that railway line. A lot. The tour guide I had today was awesome. I don't know what his real name is, but he told us it was Michael Jackson! He was from Cambodia and he was just hilarious. I am sad that I didn't take a picture of him, he was funny! We had fun together. As we were getting on this train, he held my arm and told me to wait with him, he rides this train a lot and knows a good spot for me. So everyone is piling in, he had told us to try and get a seat on the left side of the train, better view. But all the seats are filling up very quickly. And yet he holds me back. Of course at this point I don't have a whole lot of trust for any Thai, but I figure he isn't getting any money from me, so maybe this will work, but I can't figure out what he is thinking. And so finally everyone is onboard, the train blows the horn and gets ready to roll and he says, sit on the step. Well, what an excellent view. I could sit, stand, lean way-yyy out if I wanted, get a good breeze in my face, an excellent spot and surely the best on the train. Except for maybe being on the roof which isn't allowed. I had lunch on a floating restaurant on the River Kwai also. I rode a boat on the River Kwai. It is a very fast moving river. Very fast. 1. Elephants don't smell as much as I thought they would, and they travel slower than people walk. But the view from on top is great. And their hide! I was on an elephant, that, apropos, was the same age as me, 45-50, and his hide was so hard and thick. I understand why it is hard to shoot them. That's a tough wall to get through. 2. You control an elephant when sitting on their neck by flicking the bottom of their ear with the foot on the side you wish to turn, so a right foot nudge gets you going right. Houn, spelled some way I don't know, is the stop command. To go forward, nudge both ears. 3. Elephants have big eyes and big eyelashes. 4. Elephants look a little sad. 5. I rode an elephant before Kim did, and I have a picture to prove it. So there! It was around 36 today and I was sweating like a stuck pig. But I didn't burn. I don't think. And I took 142 pictures for the day. A fair amount, actually. Culled it came down to just over 100, and on the website it will probably get pared down to 30 or 35 or so, one in three of the culled pictures.
Well, start humming the tune and let's go look at pictures of the River Kwai. Misnamed really, should be the Mae Klong
Area shot of the cemetary
A worker at the Kwai Memorial
What I can't figure out is why they dress up so totally. Bees?
Original train from WWII
Lucky Dragons everywhere!
But this one is happy & surprised, don't you think?
