Naturally we saw many other things during our week in Thailand, and most of
the rest wasn't just big cities, but ruins, water falls, and the infamous Death
Railway from the second World War…
I am just having troubles catching up on the blog!!
Death Railway:
During the Japanese occupation of Thailand during WWII, hundreds of thousands of local Asian workers and thousands of POWs were sent into the Thai and Burmese jungle to build a railway from Bangkok into Burma to secure a overland supply train for the Japanese. There was thousands of deaths due to disease, malnutrition, and, improper medical care. It was a solemn visit.
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| No photos were allowed inside the museum.. |
One of the critical bridges on the Thailand side, was the bridge over the river Kwai. This crossing was targeted multiple times by the Allied forces as trying to weaken the project and supply trains working their way across the jungle. The story of the bridge was made famous by the movie “A bridge over the river Kwai” – although apparently the Japanese did not require the assistance of the Allied/American POWs to work through the engineering as incorrectly depicted in the movie.
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| The Kanchanaburi Cemetery for Allied POW was right next to the museum A fraction of the men buried are here who lost their life to the railway project. |
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| A section of the Railway |
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| The bridge over the river Kwai |
TRAIN RIDE:
The train ride was an hour from our starting point until the bridge.. so along the way I enjoyed the breeze (since it was almost 40 degrees with a "feels like" almost 50 degrees).. and Matt, in an adorable way, totally fell asleep as soon as the breeze kicked in.. |
| Ahhhh. |
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| Zzzzzzz........... |
We didn't get a lot of information about this place (or really most places in Thailand) since our guide was more of a silent type – but then there wasn't a lot of people in our group who seemed interested in “learning” anything.. Still, it was from when the death railroad was being built, originally used by the Japanese soldiers and engineers etc.
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| Monks just finishing prayers |
NOW: To lighten the mood, we drank fresh coconut water.. alas, it tasted like salty water - but its super good for dehydration!
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| It was supposed to be good..... |
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| But Matt's face said it all... |
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| Saw this little fella at the Erawan falls near the second stage.. |
We also visited the ERAWAN Falls:
There is a series of 7 water falls which you need to hike though the jungle and occasionally climb up rocks and trees.. it was a VERY hot day and we all enjoyed hiding out in the dark, cool pools.
We even got a free pedicure since there are fish (bottom feeders/sucker fish) which will more than happily eat the soften skin off of the bottom of your feet, legs, and even your hands… I had to work my way up to it though.. I started off with little ones first since the larger ones really do tickle something fierce!
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| It was barely cool near the water and in the shade... |
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| Most of the falls are limestone.. and very beautiful! |
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| Matt's hand was the appetizer... |
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| ... And on to the main course! :) |
We also saw Baby Monks! :)
They were nice enough to let us take their picture..
RUINS OF THE SIAMESE CAPITAL:
In the modern Thai city of Ayutthaya there is the ruins of the Siam Capital, and while it sounds impressive.. the only things to be made from stone were stairs, moat walls, temples, and the temples/tombs in which they place the ashes of the royal family. The palaces etc. were all made out of wood so there is nothing left as they were all burnt by the invading Burmese army during the downfall of the Siamese Kingdom. The city was later, refounded a few miles away from the ruins - but today, the city has grown around the ruins.
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| Buddha images at an active temple on the site of the ruins |
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| Newer Statuary - Main Temple in the background.. |
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| When the Burmese army invaded and destroyed the capital - they chopped off all of the buddha heads and defaced most of the carvings... this buddha head was left on the ground and eventually it became entangled in the roots of a tree |
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| Here you can see a row of buddha images with missing heads.. left this way for hundreds of years now.. |
AND ever wonder what a TAPIOCA plant looked like BUT forgot how to use google?? Well, luckily for you, here is a picture! :)
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| TA-DA! |
CREEPY CRAWLER:
We also saw a creepy crawler, centipede (luckily, it was already road kill).. but it was big.. and I certainly never want to meet one in a dark alley..
And lastly, but Matt's most favourite part of Thailand – The little geckos which come out at night and run everywhere (including in your room). They are super cute.. but seriously, Matt took like 50 photos so prepare yourselves if you ever ask him to see his top 50 photos from Thailand because they'll ALL be of these cute reptiles!
Well, that sums it up for Thailand - Naturally there was more.. but it's time to move on to Cambodia!
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| "M&M <3 From... Thailand" |
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