We are all very excited as we meet at Perth International Airport, some of us for the first time, so introductions take place and then it's off to check in! All goes relatively smoothly except Thai Airways religiously runs late (ahhh but not TOO late, so can't really complain). Very smooth flight into Bangkok which was great as there were a couple of girls amongst the group who were not good flyers - they coped well.
DAY 2 - 17/6/09
First day in Bangkok and as we left our hotel heading for the Grand Palace we observed a young thai lady squatting bare bottomed in the park just outside the palace - not a care in the world it would seem - we were the only ones who were surprised - she certainly wasn't!! We proceeded to the Grand Palace first which was fantastic and then onto Wat Pho where we had a traditional Thai Massage (brutal....but at the same time invigorating). After that we took a long tail on the river and through the back canals of Bangkok which was really interesting and next it was Tuk Tuk ride back to the hotel (which some of the girls had never experienced before, so it was a REAL TREAT!!!), then into MBK to get the shopping fix out of the way! We split up after that and everyone went their own way as we had a pretty huge day and were feeling tuckered out. Danae and I decided that we needed to go down Koh San Road and check that out - so glad we did, cause we found a great little restaurant down one of the alley's where we had our dinner "Hippee Bar De bar", I had a yellow curry which was just awesome.
DAY 3 - 18/6/09
What a fantastic day - we started out adventure at 7.00am where we were picked up by our mini bus and headed out to a pier where we jumped on board a longtail boat and headed for the floating market. That was an awesome sight where the locals sell produce on longtails in the canals...the girls loved it. From there we traveled on mini bus for two hours to catch the train to Nam Tok. En route to the station we needed refreshments and a toilet stop - haha - its was there we encountered our first squat toilets (a first for some of our crew). Once at the train station we saw the Bridge over River Kwai from our carriage and then onto Hellfire Pass which we also witnessed from the train....Cliffs on one side and river on the other...what an amazing site. Once in at Nam Tok we headed for Hell Fire Pass and the museum, which was to be a very emotional and moving experience for us. To see how the Prisoners of War were treated and the conditions they worked under was really disturbing. We trekked through areas where they were building the railway and saw bits and pieces of railway and memorials of those lives lost. Whilst the scenery was so beautiful, the whole experience was quite haunting. From Nam Tok we drove to another Pier, where we boarded another Longtail, this time bound for Jungle Rafts Resort (which is a floating hotel out in the jungle....magnificent - words cannot describe!!) We saw water buffalo bathing in the river and basking in the sun and heaps of wildlife including kingfisher birds, lizards AND HEAPS OF DOGS... As we arrived at Jungle Rafts Resort we were ushered to our bungalow style rooms, each with balcony, hammock and mosquito nets - every one loved it! This place is really quite amazing as it has no electricity, so food is brought down from the Mon village, showers are cold and refreshing and the only form of light is kerosene lanterns - certainly had an ambiance about it.
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