Down the Khao San Road...

They say Bangkok and more to the point the Khao San Road is where backpacking all began... and if you've ever been there you'll know this is probably true - its backpacker heaven! Shops and stalls selling T-shirts, Tattoos and every type of food you can imagine - the cocktails are served in buckets and it seems nothing ever closes. I think if you arrived there as a first time, 20-somnething traveler you would probably go totally nuts....ofcourse I was far more sensible :-)

After 2 days in the city, travel buddy shelley said goodbye and my journey has continued via Kanchanaburi, the town made famous by the "death railway" I spend some time in the mueseum which told of the horrific way the japanese treated their prisoners of war during WWII and specifically how 61,000 of them were forced to build the death railway which was to link Thailand with Burma - most of them were British, Australian, Dutch and American. The way they were treated was awful and many thousands died of disease and starvation. Next to the museum is the cemetary where many of them are burried, it was really moving to read the names of so many English men so far from home. I never knew about this, it was a real shock to learn about this part of the war. The most famous bit of the railway is the bridge over the river kwai, so next I boarded a train and traveled the 1.5hrs up the track and over the bridge on the river kwai. Having just read about the construction of the railway it was then amazing and emotional to be traveling on the death railway.

Next and final stop in Thailand before I leave tommorrow for Malaysia is Ao Nang a beautiful beach in Krabi province in the south of Thailand. Its been great to spend time just lazing on the beach and finally working on the tan, we are surrounded by lmestone rocks and just a short trip away from where "The Beach" was filmed. I spent yesterday Kayaking on the sea and through the amazing mangroves, its a real paradise, such a tranquil place, yet the tranquilty can so easily be destroyed - we stopped in a cave and the guide I was with spoke about an hour about his experience during the Tsunami - It brought tears to my eyes....when the wave hit he was out fishing in deep waters in his friends boat, they had left early in the morning and came home to Phi Phi Island (v.close to Ao Nang) around sunset, they heard or saw nothing whilst they were out fishng it was only as they approached the island they realised something was wrong. There were no lights on as there usually would be, then they noticed many of the trees standing tall when they left that morning were no longer there and when they reached the shore dead bodies were everywhere. At this point they still didnt know what had happend... I just can't imagine coming home to that scene. He found some petrol, got back in the boat and sailed to Krabi where people then told him that a big wave had hit. He then very emotionally continued that he lost his entire business that day, 2 speed boats and his staff, the boat drivers. He also lost his home and 47 of his family and friends - like many of the people in this area he wont go back to Phi Phi island he now lives in Krabi and is trying to rebuild his life.

For those interested in environmental issues and effects on the poor, drop me a note and I can bore you with some thoughts on palm oil v sugar cane and the conspiracy to keep the poor poor.

Current reading material: First they killed my father - A daughter of Cambodia remembers by Laung Ung

Current iPod tunes: Jeff Searles