Taking the rough with the smooth

It got off to a bad start and I should have read the omens. The minibus to Kanchanaburi had broken air vents and it's windows were stuck shut, making for an uncormfortable two and a half hours.

When I arrived at around midday, I was told that the bus to 'The Tiger Temple' would be leaving at 2.30pm. Luckily the 'infamous' bridge over the River Kwai was a ten minute walk away and I had bags of spare time on my hands. Silver linings and all that! It's not a very impressive sight, infact its a very modest iron and wooden construction, but the weight of it's bloody history more than makes up for that. After crossing the bridge twice - including playing 'chicken' with an admittedly very slow train - and photographing it from every vantage point I could find, I walked to the nearby War Museum, only to refuse to pay the tiny 40 baht admission fee. The frugal backpacker in me reared it's head!

Instead I clambered into an old steam train that was used by the Japanese to transport munitions into Burma during WWII. I couldn't bring myself to take a look inside the teapot sitting above the boiler door. What was it doing there anyway?

At the 'Tiger Temple' I paid my 300 baht entrance fee, signed the legal waiver - "not all the animals are tame...the temple accepts no responsibility for any injuries sufferd" - and wandered into the 'Tiger Canyon' to have my photo taken whilst stroking a few tigers. I felt a mixture of awe, glee and sheer terror. They were extraordinary animals.

Then the fun began. The taxi driver drove us back to the pick-up point and looked at me expectantly. "Bus to Bangkok", I told him. So he drove us to the bus terminal. But we were had paid for a minibus back to Bangkok, so he drove us to a travel operator. He was getting flustered and I was feeling sorry for the hassle we were causing him. Afterall, he had done his job, it was the travel operators who had cocked-up.

At the travel operator a friendly chap kept smiling at us and reassuring us that a bus would be here soon. It was getting dark and all that I could think about was missing my flight to Cambodia the next morning. Or even worse, the laundry place being closed when I got back to Khao San and having to travel to Cambodia with only two t-shirts and pair of pants to wear! I was considering asking him to drive us back to Khao San himself and I'd pay him double when we arrived!

However, we eventually arrived at Bangkok two and a half hours later, and four hours late for collecting my laundry, which was thankfully still open - Phew!! Wipes sweat off brow.

Still, despite the saga, the tigers were incredible. And the green curry and banana split for dinner wasn't too shabby either!