Catching Up (Part 1)

Way, way back at the start of August we spent just under two weeks in a tiny town called Sangkhlaburi. It's pretty much on the Burmese border and home to an interesting mix of ethnicities - Mon and Karen hill tribes, Burmese and Thai. As a fairly long part of our trip was based here we were hoping to see and do a fair bit but this was somewhat hindered by the mystery illness! 5 days of bed rest later and the fun began : ) We spent a lot of time in slightly icky river water rafting, kayaking and generally splashing around. It was much cleaner and safer than the Mekong the fact that it was home to hand sized water spiders made it a very scary place to be! The rafting was especially exciting as the river was flowing fast after a few days of heavy rain. It wasn't only the weather conditions that caused an adrenaline rush, the Thai disregard for health and safety definitely played a part! Our raft captain (who we only knew as blood mouth) assured us that it was fine to have 10 people in a raft/elaborate rubber dinghy even though it had a whole in the bottom and was slowly sinking! We also had the chance to cross the second longest wooden bridge in the world, it was a constant flip flop worry and I've been barefoot ever since!

We split the rest of our time between two orphanages set up for Burmese refugees. One was run by a nun and three monks who had to rely entirely on donations to look after the children whilst the other was a one woman operation, Vic, a completely amazing woman, set up Dream-house by herself and looks after around 40 children from 18 month to 16 years old! It was heartbreaking to hear some of the things the children had been through and shocking to find out that the children were still in danger from sex trafficking and kidnapping but overall it was a completely uplifting experience. The children were so grateful for everything and almost always smiling and happy. Towards the end of our time we were asked to take part in a Mother's Day ceremony, the children picked their mum for the day, took us to school and covered us in flowers and wreaths.

It was a fairly exhausting and emotional couple of weeks that really gave a glimpse of the Thailand that not too many people get to see but it would be a lie to say I wasn't eager to get to the beaches and islands in the south.

I'm definitely on Thai time : )

Apologies for the delayed update but life has started to turn a bit Thai in regards to time keeping! It feels like months ago now but it's been just two weeks since we stayed in Kanchanaburi. It's been one of my favourite places so far, just a few hours from Bangkok with a fraction of the tourists but still loads to see and do. One of the best things (for backpackers at least) is the accommodation is guest house prices with spa style hotel style! We landed a beautiful room with views over the river Kwai!

We spent just under a week there and didn't spend a single day just relaxing round the pool, which for me is definitely a positive. Our first evening involved dinner on a boat floating along the Kwai, it was incredibly beautiful, especially being able to see the colours of the sunset glinting on the river. The evening was topped off with a 'You've Been Framed' moment when one of the guys stepped off the boat, missed the pier, and went straight into the water!

The next day was pretty intense, we climbed to the top of the Erawan waterfalls, in all it was about a 4 mile round trek through streams and up and over slippy rocks. We went straight to the 7th level and couldn't wait to jump into the water until we found out about the nibbling fish! Unless you kept your legs moving the little fish would attach themselves to your feet, the shock of it caused a mexican wave effect in the water with lots of jumping and shrieking! The national park wasn't just home to hungry fish, they had hungry monkeys too. The very clever little primates were able to tell a 7/11 bag from any other and were quick to make a swipe for them!

Early the next morning I (Laura was still fast asleep) headed off to the market with our chef teacher for the day to get ingredients for three yummy thai dishes. Thai markets are one of my favourite things, real fun if you aren't too squeamish! There were stalls of colourful and strange looking fruit and veg, tables scattered with spices, and then the meat and fish...practically whole pigs were being sectioned up whilst live fish, frogs and snakes wriggled about on trays or in buckets. The markets always make me thankful for my love of spice, I'm told the heat of the spices helps kill bacteria and refrigeration isn't a massive craze in Asia, unless it's for beer! When we got back to the hotel Laura was up and ready to cook. We battled with a temperamental hob to make delicious pad thai, chicken and cashew (with a surprise dollop of ketchup in there) and a hot and sour prawn soup. All three were yummy and surprisingly easy to make!

The next couple of days were spent exploring more temples and playing around in another waterfall (thankfully this one didn't require such a treacherous trek to reach it!) The temples were, as always, beautifully built. At the first temple we were given a lesson in meditation and clearing the mind, something that sounds simple but was hard given my wandering mind. The second temple offered three different blessings depending on your choice of staircase to and from the buildings. The choices were love, health or wealth. I picked green for health and found my first Buddhist failure - most of you reading this will already know I recently spent the best part of a week overcoming a dizzying fever and nursing my stitched up head! Finally we visited a cave temple, having seen plenty of these I decided to have a coke and play with the dogs whilst Laura explored.

The most controversial attraction in Kanchanaburi is the Tiger Temple. There are conflicting reports that either praise the temples rehabilitation of mistreated tiger, or accuse the temple of mistreating the tigers themselves with suggestions of drugs and cruelty. After a fair bit of deliberating I decided to go and see for myself. For twenty quid you got transport there and back, entrance to the zoo (it's not just tigers), the chance to stroke as many tigers as you could, and a photo op walking alongside a tiger and a monk. I had the most amazing day and didn't see any signs of neglect or abuse. In fact I saw quite the opposite, tigers getting massages! They were fed regularly throughout the day -all cooked meat, this seemed to be the reason why they were so placid, live animals just weren't recognisable as food to the tigers.

Whilst in Kanchanaburi the other must see sights were all related to the second world war. We rode the death railway which takes you on a breathtaking ride through stunning landscapes and finally over the infamous bridge. The views belie the incredible cruelty which took place during the construction of the railway. We were told that each sleeper represents a life lost in the POW camps. There are 120,000 sleepers. Thailand isn't somewhere usually associated with WW2 and it was both interesting and shocking to learn about the consequences the war had here.

Our 5 day stay in Kanchanaburi went quickly and before we knew it we were on the coach to Sangkhlaburi, a much more remote area of Thailand, close to the Burmese border. Two weeks in Sangkhlaburi has definitely opened my eyes to a different side to Thailand and soon (definitely within the next week!) I'll put my experiences in to words. Apologies for the lack of pictures, I'll try and sort that soon!

Hope you are all staying safe back in England, especially those of you in London/Nottingham/Manchester, love you all : ) x