I have always wanted to run in the park but laziness always superceded my good intentions but fret no further, it won’t easily happen again. I mean why should I? I get to see great views like these…

A frozen Rose Garden..

Frozen Lake..

столове

The Birds..

The birds nests..

The snow…

and the sunrise with the BT Tower in sight..

The fun fair was amazing. There were everything that you could possibly want from a winter wonderland. From mulled wine, to chocolate covered apples, to rollercoasters, ghost house, slot machines, fun crazy rides, a circus and the whole shebang..

Here are some of the selected pictures that was taken by Brian.

The Pirate…

The Toy Soldier..

The Little Circus..

The Big Wheel..

I thought, “What a pleasant surprise!” and FYI, this River Kwai Bridge however, was much older and is still in use today!

We were also told that we would be driven to a train station and wait for the train to arrive. This train would take us all the way over the Bridge over River Kwai.Wow!! Great experience I’d say

The journey to the train station took about 30-40 mins but the weather was becoming unbearable. It was too hot and dry for my liking and the air conditioning in the bus wasn’t sufficient to cool any of us. It was bad!

Anyhow, we got to the Thakilen train station and waited for the train. Thailand trains are never on schedule so we had no choice but to wait in the heat of the dry sun! Bad experience but I was pretty sure that it was all soon going to be worth it!

I took some pictures whilst we were waiting for the train to arrive. These photos were taken within the vicinity of the train station…

The train station:

The Old Train Wooden Planks..

A Village House In Thakilen

I was instantly relieved when heared the sound of the train. I was beginning to think that it would never come :-)

I have always wanted to come see the bridge over River Kwai so I had no choice but to subconsciously ‘delete’ the thought of being burned under the tropical sun for a little while.

There’s a small River Kwai train station which is not too far to the infamous bridge. The rail tracks are still in use but the tourists and locals use it and walk over it. I mean, what if there was an oncoming train!! That’d be dangerous!

(I believe the exclusive Eastern & Oriental Express train passes through here also..)

and here is the River Kwai Bridge train station sign…

I immediately got weak in the knees when I found out that you could actually walk on the bridge over the River Kwai. There wasn’t a foot path per se, but you walk through the centre of the rail tracks leading to the other end of the bridge

I thought that was crazy. It was definitely a health and safety hazard. The train still passes through this route. I mean what if the train comes, what would I do? Walk to the precipice of the bridge and witness the sheer drop to River Kwai? Oh No No….

Look at this…

It may look harmless in this picture but I tell ya, I was a bit petrified!

Ok despite the fear I actually did walk over the bridge. It would be a great shame otherwise Yes, I know I moan a lot

and here’s the view of River Kwai from the bridge…

and here is the floating ‘homes’ or ‘restaurant’ (Not sure)

I walked to the middle of the bridge when it finally dawned on me that this was a bit too much. I started feeling quesy so I walked back to safety….and no I didn’t walk to the other end of the bridge. Hell no

FYI, the bridge was originally built in wood but as time passed, the Thai government replaced it with steel structure. Nonetheless, it is still a beautiful bridge.

I left the hotel early in the morning to join the group tour and we left immediately for River Kwai. Our first stop was the Kanchanaburi War Cemetary which is 129 kilometres away in the North West of Bangkok.

Upon arrival, I entered the war museum which is next to the cemetary. It was a small museum but it provided all the information you need in relations to the war and graphic stories on what the prisoners had to endure. Some of the details that I read and the pictures that I saw were just a bit too overwhelming and I felt really saddened by the whole experience. Sad because the pain and the dread that these prisoners of war had to endure when building the rail network for the Japanese. I had to exit early. It was too sombre and too much to take in.

I then walked across the road to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetary. More than 5,000 Commonwealth and 1,800 Dutch casualties are buried or commemorated in the cemetery.

The prisoners that died here were very young. On average, they were all less than 25 years old. Many were 18-19. It was too sad. My tears were falling. Reading the many tombstone inscriptions here made me sad. I felt so sorry for these young men who lost their lives too early. They didnt deserve it.

I did the wander about of the whole place and went inside one of the old buildings. I didnt spend too much time in it though because it stank like mad. I was probably in there for less than 5 seconds. It was too acrid. A bit overpowering to be honest (Its in that little small entry that you see on the first pic below)

Here are some of the pictures that I took during my walk…

and here is moi with the old city ruins in the background

You can hear a bit of the Ayutthaya history from our tour guide in the video below. I didn’t record it all but hopely it will give you a brief idea…

Anyhow, the visit was really nice. I had the chance to see how the kings of Thailand lived centuries ago. So yeah, it was a bit of an eye-opener.

Here is the video that I took by the lake in the Summer Palace. Enjoy..

During the journey, I had befriended this really lovely American lady from New York who travelled to Thailand with her son. We got on so well that we had completely lost track of time by chatting away – making the 40 odd miles journey to the Summer Palace a total breeze

Anyway, the tour company paid our entry tickets and we immediately hired a golf buggy to travel around the Palace. It was a hot day and we couldnt be asked walking around the palace areas. It was also easier to travel in a buggy and super cheap as well

Here we were enjoying the views when we had to put the buggy to a complete stop. I saw this really big lizard relaxing away under the sun and thought it was a perfect moment to record a video. The lizard was so big. I couldnt believe that an animal like this one was allowed to remain and roam freely within the grounds of the palace! I mean, what if there were little toddlers around…

Well, I just had to keep my comments to myself. Who knows, it could be the King’s pet lizard.

Now lets watch the lizard shall we?…

I have to admit that I was totally enchanted by the talent that I saw here. They were just so amazing…carving away a plank of wood and turning it into an almost 3D art. You gotta see it to believe it..Watch this video…

Each wooden carvings would take around 6-12 months to complete and it all depends on the size and the ‘art’. So, if you’d like one of these wooden craft I suggest you do it now… It’ll look fab anywhere at home or office…but of course, it doesn’t come cheap..so prepare to throw some substantial dosh to get it

I still think that the people working here are a bunch of fabulous individuals who are extremely dedicated to their work..so hats off to all the talented workers working at this wooden carving factory here in Thailand…