Ok well, the picture promises than I'm actually going to be able to tell in this blog. Yes we were in a place where you could go Elephant trekking, but we didn't because, umm monetary issues, and we are planning to do that later on in the trip in and around Chaing Mai in the North. The reason that is the picture, is because STA don't offer a wide enough variety of pictures of Thailand, and because although in the end our attempts to upload photos the other day did work for one photo after a loooooong wait, we had run out of money on the computer by that time!!!!

Anyway!!! We were up at silly o'clock this morning (well yesterday morning considering I'm writing this while back in Bangkok, but anyway) I think it was 5.45!! This was because we were finally heading out of Bangkok on the train to Kanchanaburi in the West of the Country, famous for the Burma-Thai Railway, and made famous by the film the bridge over the river Kwai. The train was at 7.45 but we thought we'd get there early because we didn't have tickets in advance. The taxi cost us 90B in the end after agreeing, 70, but then the taxi man not understanding what train station meant, and us having a right caffual in explaining it to him. It came down the phrasebook, in the lonely planet to do that for us. I think we need to start being a bit less dependent and that!!!! its getting a bit silly now!!

Any way the train was basically empty, I was all set for a tight, hot crowded wooden carriage, but it turned out there were a couple of westerns, one of them was your token pretenious male traveller, who looks down on any other foreigner, basically because their not as intergrated as them!!! Its quite funny how stereotypical people are, esspeically on the road!!!

We got to Kanchan' at around half 10 and had a small walk looking for a guest house, onbce again it was the lonely planet that suggested the one we went with, but it was very nice, although a bit expensive 350B!!! But the rooms are set in a square of bugalows, with planets and grass in the middle and bamboo/other wood types!! covered restaurant and bar at the front!!!

After chilling in the bar for a while we decided to get some of the area 'done'; and set out for the Bridge at about 1. It was a 20 minute walk down a road very much resembling Zante in Greece, not a place that one should be striving to resemble!!! But anyway, the weather was nice!! We found the War museum just before we got to the bridge and went and had a look, It was set up by a family of relatives of one of the many Prisoners of War that were used as slave labour to build the railway. It had some of the guns, clothing and bombs found in the area, but also a collection of random photos and paintings of wars through out the 20th centuryincluding the Boer war, which I couldn't really find a link between, other than the Brits!!!! Up stairs though was where the real randomness starteded, there was a directory of Miss. Thailand!!! That means there was a painting of every Miss. Thailand from 1942 to 1992 on the wall, accompnied by a collections of the clothing they'd worn....very strange!!!

Out side the back of the museum, there were some great views on to the bridge and the river, where we got some shots from, before headnig for a walk over it. Its still a rail bridge, and for that reason there are no hand rails or anything, I had a good go and falling over a screw and over the edge, but I just couldn't quite pull it off!!! I had being planning the old double twist and pike, but we can't have it all!!!!

Once back on normal groundings we went searching for the Railway useum, it turns out it's moved, Lonely PLanets first big error, not modern enough!!! It's going to have to work hard to regain our trust!!! Any way we headed back down the 'strip' toward the war cemetry, and on the way found the new location of the Railway museum, which really showed the extent of construction and suffering endured to build the Railway. Out side in the Cemetry, very similar to those found in Northern France for the 1st and 2nd World Wars it was quite moving, it has to be said.

After looking for the local Wat which turned out to be closed we headed back to the guest house, having pasted the Chinese cemetry on the way, which really showed the contrast of British understatement and Chinese exuberance, and failed to have much of the same impact as that of the British, Dutch and other nations cemetry.

I must apologize for the fairly terrible mixed up sentences, but you must remeber that all of this happened, about a day ago, my memory is only so good!

Having basically maxed out Kanchan' excepting the national parks, which would have cost much more money, and we believe we'll be able to properly experience in Chiang Mai we decided we'd leave the next morning, i.e today. So we had dinner had a long chat then slept in single beds!!!!