Both of us had read up on Kanchanaburi and the role it played in World War II but it was only when we got there that the reality of what had happened here fully sunk in. The Japanese wanted to build a railway connecting Burma and Thailand in order to get supplies to troops with greater ease. To do this they used POWs from WWII and Asian workers. It soom became known as the 'Death Railway' as for every sleeper laid a life was lost. 13,000 POWs and 90,000 Asians died from malnutrition, malaria and generally appaling conditions.

We got to ride the train and went to see the memorial site, the museum, the Bridge over the River Kwai, and Helfire Pass (a huge rock that they had to channel through). It really was quite humbling and emotional but at the same time interesting. It was also strange to be surronded with the most beautiful scenery knowing that thousands had died here.

The trip was not all doom and gloom, we were staying on a raft hotel with 10 great people. It was very cool but a little odd showering and seeing a river beneath the floorboards! As it was so hot we wanted to go swimming but the current was really strong so you had to hold onto a rope so as not to be pulled downstram. Denise being the mentalist she is jumps in and grabs the rope no problem except the current was a little stronger than she thought and pushed her pants down to her knees. Trying to maintain her dignity and life, one hand had to stay on the rope and one on the pants, which proved a little difficult. Despite many attempts the pants just kept coming down so a white bum kept popping up continually, which left Dan and Jenna laughing hysterically and the rest of the group not knowing where to look. Despite Denises continual shouts of "Oh my pants" and "just leave me", Jenna and Dan stopped their laughing and realised the river wasn't going to stop so decided to help. Dan suggested Jen jump in, to which she replied, "No I'm not going through that embarrassment, leave her she'll be fine". Eventually she was pulled her to the platform where she then had to be dragged out by Klaus and Dan, dignity lost but life saved.

We also went to see a great waterfall and went on our first elephant ride which was so much fun. Our mahoot jumped off after five minutes and left us to it, so we both got to ride on the neck, just amazing. We fell in love with Honey but decided it would cost too much in postage to send her home so said our goodbyes and headed up to Chiang Mai.