Tigers, Temples and Trains

So i have now finished my 4 weeks of self defence training in Pattaya. I learnt a great deal doing the Muay Thai boxing and Krav Maga, the latter being especially handy should i ever find myself in any sticky situations!!

Dangerous Gerry - Krav Maga Expert Trainer

 Muay Thai World Champion, Christian and Me

Apichai, busy at work....as usual ;)

So, i said my goodbyes to the gang at Kombat Group and off i headed to Bangkok on the bus. It was time to go to the big city and stay in the famous Koh San Road, where all the other backpackers stay. It's basically a long street full of cheap bars, clubs, hostels and tailors trying to sell you a poorly made suit. Luckily, i'd pre-booked my accommodation and had decided to splash out on a place with a roof top pool, which was great as i could get away from all the noise at street level. Down on the strip, it's a very hectic place with Tuc Tuc drivers touting you for business every meter.. Then, if that's not bad enough, the police roll down the street every few hours closing all the bars and clearing everyone off the street for no apparent reason. Helpful.

It's all a bit crazy, so after a few days, i moved onto the next street that runs parallel with Kohsan and had a much more peaceful stay whilst only being a 2 minute walk from all the action. I decided to take a short break from all the noise and booked a tour i'd had my eye on. A day exploring Kanchanaburi was in order i thought. It's home to bridge 277, more commonly known as the Bridge over the river Kwai and the Death Railway. So, after yet another night out on Koh San, i slept through my alarm, but managed to make it to the bus in time at 7AM! From Bangkok, it's a two and a half hour drive up to Kanchanaburi. Once there, we were dropped at the War Cemetery where most of the Allied soldiers who died during the construction of the bridge are now laid to rest.

After a quick look round, we were then whisked over to the bridge itself. It doesn't resemble the one you've seen in the film at all, that was just a replica of the second bridge over the river (there were 2), and was built by a Hollywood art department and some engineers. It was constructed and blown up in Sri Lanka where most of the filming took place. Also, there is no actual river named 'Kwai', or bridge over it. It's the bridge over the Mae Klong. But this confused a lot of tourists in the early days after the book and film was released, so the Thais had a great idea and renamed the Mae Klong river to the Kwae Yai River, so you now have the Bridge over the River Kwae. Sorted....!.....well, not quite. Like i said, two bridges were constructed by the POW's during world war 2, one wooden and one made of concrete and steel. It's only the latter that now remains, but only just. The straight metal arches of the bridge are new sections, having been replaced due to US bombs destroying those two original spans in 1945. 

After a walk over the bridge, it was time to jump on a train. We headed off to a station further down the line and boarded the train for an hours trip along the death railway. Some sections of the track were so difficult to engineer and lay, it's amazing that some of it is still in place. There are parts of the track just stuck onto the side of a cliff face and it feels like you're travelling on the old wooden roller-coaster at BemBons (Dreamland for the younger kids.......or very old amongst you! For those that don't have a clue what the hell i'm yapping on about, it's an amusement park on the south coast of England!).

After the trip, we headed off to see some famous waterfalls....not that exciting, but nice enough to see, then it was off to visit the Tiger Temple! Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, AKA, The Tiger Temple is a Theravada Buddhist forest temple and a sanctuary for numerous animals including 100 plus tame tigers who are looked after by the Temples Buddhist Monks. The Temple, founded in bla bla bla......enough of that, check me out with all these tigers!!!!!!

So, back in Bangkok, i decided to do another tour. The following night, i embarked on a night ride around the city. It would have been a great evening had it not been for the lady who booked herself on the trip but was unable to ride a bike!! She quickly decided to push the bike around rather than cycling, which added an extra hour and a half to the trip.....arghhhh!!

The tour guide took us on the back streets and down little alleyways that you'd never normally have seen or even travelled down. We got to see loads of the famous temples whilst they were still open, yet deserted!

*TOP TIP* Don't visit the temples during the day, as they're crowded with tourists and scam artists and it's 30 degrees plus!! Go at night when it's empty and cooler :)

So, we headed over the river on our bikes...

...and after weaving our way though streets and alleys, we ended up the the Wat Arun temple in the middle of Bangkok.....

....which is the temple that is featured on the reverse of the 10 Bhat coin!

We then headed on to the night flower market.....

before finishing up at another historic temple....there are loads of them here in BK!

Bangkok is just like any other big city, so i was pleased when it was time to leave and have now arrived in Koh Tao. Koh Tao is a small island of the south east coast of Thailand and home to over 50 scuba diving schools, so you can imagine what most tourists do when they visit the island! I was previously on the island 5 years ago this month, which is when i completed my PADI Open Water dive course. Two days ago, i completed and passed my PADI Advanced Open Water certification, which included my first night dive! Diving at night is a very weird experience and you've got to have your wits about you. All you can see when you're under water is whatever your torch light can reflect off. If visibility is poor, you can only see about 1-2 meters. If it's good, you'll still be lucky to see the bottom at a relatively shallow 10m dive site. Having a dive computer is now a necessity i've learnt, as it was very handy to have an indication of how fast and deep my instructor and i were descending from the surface. Once down though, it's just like any other dive. Stay close to your buddy, constantly check your air and your surroundings and look for fish! We managed to find a Hermit crab moving between shells, then once happy in his new home, he went for a walk with it! We also managed to catch sight of 3 blue spotted Stingrays during the course of the dive too which was awesome to see!

Tomorrow, after 2 early morning fun dives, i'll be starting a specialist underwater video course! So keep an eye out for my next instalment as it's Whale Shark season and i hope to catch one on camera!