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| The bridge over the river Kwai |
For our final days in Thailand, we decided to head to Kanchanaburi, which is about a 2 hour drive by car, or a 4 - 5 hour drive by bus, which we took. Kanchanaburi is famous for its location near the famous bridge over the river Kwai, which is part of the Death Railway. The Death Railway is a railroad that was meant to cross Thailand and then travel into Burma. It was built by the Japanese in WW2 using the forced labor of POWs and local laborers, all of whom were subjected to absolutely terrible living conditions and brutal treatment by the Japanese soldiers. During the construction of the railway 16,000 POWs and 90,000 Asian laborers
died. During our time in Kanchanaburi, we spent time seeing the bridge, as well as a museum about the prisoners. The next day, we booked a tour with a company called Mellow Treks and were picked up by our guide, Usi, at 6:00 AM. We set off first to the famous and controversial Tiger Temple, which is a Buddhist temple where the monks have taken in and care for tigers. They offer a unique and once-in-a-lifetime experience for visitors, as you are able to get up close and personal with tigers of all ages and sizes. We started out first thing in the morning with an offering to the monks, followed by our first encounter
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| JEATH Musuem at the bridge. |
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| Baby tigers are pretty cute |
with the baby tigers.We were first led to a group of tigers that were a few months old, where we were able to bottle feed them. They were already pretty large, and Senushi's tiger really wanted the bottle. It used its huge paws to reach for the bottle and push her arm down, which Nush was not liking. The bottle was turned over to the handler, and Senushi came to sit by me while we finished feeding. After the feeding we were free to play with the tigers before breakfast. Fortunately, we were one of the first groups to get to see and hold the temple's newest group of baby tigers, which immediately melted Senushi's heart and made her forget about the earlier experience.
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| This one is only 3-weeks old and can't even roar |
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| We bottle fed these 1-month old tigers |
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| Taking baby tigers for a walk |
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| A full grown tiger...and us! |
They were only three weeks old, and were the cutest and funniest little creatures I have ever seen. They don't know how to walk properly, nor are they able to roar, so they awkwardly walk around while making all sorts of strange sounds.
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| Giving the baby tigers a bath. |
After this, we had a quick breakfast with the monks, before taking our tigers on a walk across the grounds to get them washed. Walking a young tiger feels pretty similar to how you would imagine walking a big house-cat would feel. The tiger kind of walks were it wants, and you just keep up with it as it decides when and where it wants to move. After finally getting to the washing area, we were able to soap up and bathe our tigers, which was pretty entertaining. After the bath, the trip to the temple, made an abrupt switch from entertaining to terrifying as we found out that we were done with the baby tigers and that we were on our way to "tiger island" to play with the adolescent tigers. The adolescent tigers were absolutely huge, and it was really scary to be surrounded by them. When we entered the enclosure, we were given a long stick with a bag on the end of it, and encouraged to use it to play with the tigers. We were both really nervous, but it was a neat experience to see the large tigers up close. After we left the enclosure and breathed a big sigh of relief, we were able to get our picture taken with the full grown tigers and then walk them to the canyon where they would then be allowed to play. We thought the adolescent tigers were large, but they paled in comparison to the big guys.
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| Playing with the adolescent tigers |
After watching the big ones play for a while, it was time to go. We left the Tiger Temple behind and headed for the Hellfire Pass museum, which is built on the site of a particularly brutal part of the Death Railroad. It was a very well-done and touching museum, and it is hard to imagine going through what those people were forced to endure. We spent about an hour at the museum before heading to the beautiful Erawan Waterfalls.The falls consist of seven levels, each of which is very different. We spent most of our time at a level where you are able to slide down a slick boulder into a deep pool. It was a really great time, and the cold water felt great after a long day in the heat.
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| A baby monkey and its mom |
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| These monkeys are particularly mischevious |
There are also some strange little fish in the water that are famous for giving pedicures. If you keep your feet still in the water, you will start to feel these little fish nibbling on your feet. They supposedly just eat the dead skin, but it was one of the strangest feeling I have ever experienced, and neither one of us could take much of it. Overall, it was a fantastic day! Usi was a great guide, and we had one of the best days of our trip.
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| At the top of the boulder getting ready to slide down |
First, let's talk about all the good stuff about our Thailand experience thus far: We arrived in Krabi, Thailand on April 27th. Krabi is famous as the jumping off point for many of the beautiful islands in Thailand. You can see beautiful limestone sea cliffs everywhere, the ocean water is always about 85 degrees because it's SO hot here, and the flora and fauna is just gorgeous. The Thai people are also extremely warm and very eager to please guests. As long as you shy away from eating at your hotel restaurant, the food is pretty cheap. As opposed to Singapore and Malaysia, the shopping here is very cheap. You can find sarongs, knock off handbags, and crafts for quite a bargain. 
As with everything else though, you get what you pay for. To sum it up, everyone will agree that Thailand is quite beautiful. On the flip side, this is a poor country and there are signs of this almost everywhere you turn. The most disconcerting of these indications is how many older Western men you see touring Thailand for female companions. This is a popular stereotype of Thailand that I was hoping would be a gross exaggeration. Unfortunately, the stereotype is just proven as an understatement when you're here. When we were in the Phuket airport leaving for Chiang Mai, we went into a bookshop just to browse.
They had all the normal stuff-- magazines, 
Harry Potter, other New York Times bestsellers-- but they also had a section called "Thai Western Relationships." I was pretty horrified to find titles like "So Many Girls! So Little Time!" This aspect of Thailand bothered me the most and further underscored the consequences of a country's poverty and ill-funded education system. I had to remind myself to focus on the positive in Thailand because the negative would endanger my overall experience in this country. When we arrived in our hotel in Phuket, it was time to relax...and watch the Royal Wedding. Sorry, but I was sucked into the "William and Kate" craze that is SO popular around the world. We went downstairs to eat dinner and had our best meal thus far in Thailand. Come to find out, the hotel and its restaurant were founded and are currently run by an American couple who fell in love with the nearby beaches on their honeymoon. The hotel was such a great value and so was the food at its restaurant (room: $40/night and 3 course dinner for each of us totaled: $20). It's amazing how much they've rebuilt in Phuket after the devastating Tsunami of 2005. A couple of tips for those thinking about traveling to Southern Thailand: nice hotels by the beach are EXPENSIVE even by American standards, Thai food is not like the Thai you're used to in the States and many travelers don't like the fermented fish sauce they use in almost all the Thai dishes here, and while you're here be aware of some of the negative aspects but try your best to focus on the beauty and hospitality in Thailand.
