Wednesday 25th January We arrive in BK at 5.00am and as usual have slept very little, if at all, on the bus journey from Sukhothai. At least we got a free cake out of this bus ride from the 'in flight' attendant. Bangkok is busy even at this time of the day and in truth we are looking forward to being well away from here as soon as possible. The bus station is a behemouth and the taxis are all queuing out of the gate for the non stop arrivals and departures. One such helpful driver assures us he knows where we are going and tries to get us into his cab. Unbeknownst to him (and us at this stage) our next bus leaves from the other side of the terminal, we just need a little time to work it out. The next bus to Kanachanburi (KTB) leaves at 6.00am and whilst Amy is in the loo Stu gets accosted by some drunk German bloke. Using the skills learnt in Amsterdam he knows how to deal with annoying foreign types - just ignore them and they'll eventually go away. We try to get some much-needed sleep on the way to KTB and it's 'nodding donkeys' all the way as we arrive at 8.00am. Once more a helpful taxi driver appears and wants to give us a ride, we know the score though and decide to wait for the free ride to the 'Little Creek hideaway' about 4km out of town. Our bungalows at (an extortionate 7 dorrar a night) are fitted out in true African style with no windows (only mozzie guards) with an open air shower out the back. The place is very quiet and the weather has kept up its early morning promise and is a pleasant 28 degrees or so. We grab some breakfast and then head straight to bed. Luckily for us when we wake it's eating time again at the fabulous restaurant where Stu has Pad Thai noodles wrapped in an omelette which is simply divine. Aims has prok fried rice or something similar. In the afternoon we go to the rapidly-becoming-famous Tiger Temple. Basically a couple of tiger cubs were taken to a local Buddhist monastery after their mother was killed by hunters. Pretty soon after some more youngsters were delivered and they were all raised in captivity by the well chilled out orange ones. Hey presto and years later after a few matings there are now 14 of the not so little fellas trudged out every afternoon for the tourists to have a little pet. Great. So we get there and before we know it we are being asked to go up and pose with the tigers whilst the handlers take photos of us. This had to have been one of the best organised (safety wise) tours that we undertook to date with at least one handler per tiger and a few more just looking out for signs of unrest amongst the Tigers. While most people waited behind the incredibly safe rope draped at about 1ft high Stu was led by the hand by a big grufting handler to go pose with the Tigers. At least if the tigers were hungry they would probably go for the big guy as, lets face it, he'll make a much tastier meal. Stu was ok and it was probably a case of not really having the time to be afraid. You may notice if you look at the photos closely that the smiles are pretty forced and if that beast had so much as flinched we would have been straight out of there. Amy's go next and as she gets to the last Tiger it decides to become a bit restless and so she runs back to the safety of the group behind the rope (complete with the invisible force field). From what we could see the tigers were not drugged just very well behaved. The one that became a bit frisky was contained by one guy pulling his tail and another hitting it on the nose (brave dude). Anyway we are sure it's only a matter of time before one of the tigers snaps and eats a tourist. What great photos that will make. Anyway, we get back to our bungalows and go for a swimin the pool and indulge in a fantastic pizza for tea from the only traditional wood fired pizza oven in town. Great. We also try the papaya salad which is WAY too hot. Nevermind. Thursday 26th January Wake up at 08.30 and Stu goes for a swim first thing (pool was empty apart from a few dead flies) Quick breakfast and then we are off into town for a spot of sightseeing. The first stop is the Chung Kai War Cemetery about 3km out of town. Feeling particularly stingy we decide to walk the 3km out of town to the Cemetery. As it's pretty hot (30 degrees) after about 2km we are regretting this decision. Once more Stu decides that's it's a good idea to start sweating profusely. Just as we are starting to abandon hope (really 'a good show' seeing that the people who have died at this cemetery did forced hard labour for a number of years) the lovely gardens announce themselves on the horizon. The Cemetery (mostly Brit and Dutch soldiers) is extremely quiet and it is obvious that we are the only ones who have bothered to traipse out of town to view this cemetery (there is another one conveniently located in the town centre). The gardens are immaculately kept and there was a real sense that this place was being properly looked after by the Thai government. We view the nice comments of remembrance and head for a snack of a few oranges by the river. We then walk back into town and on the way stop for the toilet at a bizarre shopping mall (we were the only ones in there and it looked more like a caretakers office than a mall) We decide to eat at a simple street stall and perhaps we should have guessed that waking the cook up (who was sleeping nearby) was not a good idea. He advises us not to try the chicken curry as it will be far to hot for our pallets so we go for the pork with basil leaves. After advising that he won't make it too hot for us we have to say that it was one of the hottest meals that we have ever eaten. One of those nose dribbling, eyes watering experiences that we'll never forget. Still the food was pretty good and perhaps it wouldn't have been so hot had Stu not added more Chilli sauce (before trying naturally). We try our best to say thanks very much to the chef (it's a bit difficult as our mouths have started to swell up and our air-ways weren't looking too rosy) On we go to the death railway museum which was most informative telling us about the hardships of those who built the railway and how many Brits died (can't remember but it was about 200,000). I do remember that a massive 45 Americans died though. It was also good learning about the war on the other side of the world (those Japs really were kind of aggressive and hunted in packs, maybe that's why they have to do the group sightseeing tours as well, after all you are always pretty vulnerable on your own. Danielsan). We walk up to the famous bridge, which from our map only looked about 1km away. 3km later we finally arrive and I can't help thinking back to the movie of the bridge over the river Kwai (where I think Michael Caine blows up a train load of Japs as they are crossing the bridge). The riverbanks on the one side looked really familiar. As we are crossing over a group of Israelis decide that it's a really good idea to lie down playing dead in the middle of the rail tracks (what is it with these guys and the staking out of territory?). We have no time for this and physically force our way past, I mean talk about sick joke, really. Amy mutters some rude words under her breath but unfortunately these guys understand everything she says. Nevermind. A few pictures later we are on our way back to the bungalows and off for another swim. A few beers, the customary pizza, and then bed. Friday the 27th January We wake up intending to have a relaxing day by the pool and we get down there for about 11am after a tasty breakfast. The weather is hot and sunny again with no sign of any clouds at all. After tanning and swimming we decide to book the elephant riding at a local elephant park, which we had intended to do tomorrow. This turns out to be great fun. Stu gets to ride on the elephants neck, and to say that it's a bit sore on the old backside is a bit of an understatement. As we are going along the elephant handler does a good job of controlling the elephant just using his voice and not the nasty looking stick in his hands. We swap over halfway and Amy sits on the neck with Stu on the seat, which thankfully gives the cheeks a bit of a rest. The highlight of the day was really the part where we went 'swimming' with the elephants. Once more we got on the elephants necks and went into a lovely river, you could see the power of the elephants just by how much water they displaced when they got in. It was all good fun with Stu's elephant taking to plunging himself underwater and trying to throw me off. The really funny bit started when Amy got in the water on her massive elephant. It seems that her elephant was really up for a laugh as he was the only one capable of firing water backwards (at high velocity) using his trunk. So you can imagine the scene with most people trying not to fall off as their elephants begin dunking them. As Stu turns round to look at Amy all you can hear are cries of "my one keeps squirting me in the face!" and just as she says that another jet of river water crashes into her face soaking her once more. After several more cries of "it's not fair" and "get him, get him!" the wife is dripping from head to toe. We have a great meal after overlooking the river and for some reason the Thais feel it necessary to provide us with a bowl of chips despite us all favouring the local delicacies. Back we head to the bungalows for a few beers and then bed. Saturday 28th January Stu's birthday today! Why is it that my birthday has to fall on a Saturday this year when basically everyday is a weekend. Anyway we have a really lazy day lying by the pool, once more it is really hot and sunny. To celebrate Stu decides to have an 'American' breakfast. For lunch we have a tuna salad and vegetable fried rice from the fantastic on-site restaurant. More lazing around the pool in the afternoon and hey what do you know it's time for dinner which is Calzone pizza for Stu and Hawaiian pizza for Aims. Stu whips Amy at the free pool whilst consuming several beers before we settle in to watch the FA cup 4th round which Spurs have decided to opt out of this year. Bed. Anyway please keep the messages coming. Lots of love Stu & Amy.