A Brit in The Orient.

There are times when you see such brilliant panoramic views, you feel really privileged just to be there.




The simplicity of the basics of ease to go about their daily business is a pleasure to behold.

I wouldn't say brilliant to use on a regular basis as they do, but you have to admire the same.




This photograph below enthrals me so much, I am presently using the same as a screen-saver. It's phenomenal when viewed in full size like that.

There are so many occasions whilst driving in the border regions that you come across un-shown (on the maps) border crossings or areas of no mans land leading to refugee camps. It's quite amazing how much life of unknown and un-written quantities going on in these zones.





No way are 'Farangs' going to be permitted a route across though.




The most basic of refugee homes though can look somewhat attractive to the human eye when you see that time and trouble has been taken to introduce a little plant colour here and there. Obviously you appreciate that the particular resident, and who knows what terrible atrocities they have left behind, wants to feel security and some kind of pride in their residence, no matter how humble it may be.





We had to admire the attempts along with the obvious concern and care.

There are some absolutely amazing sights to see in these mountain areas as well.

We usually notice, being out on a particular quest so to speak, driving here or there to a point we have heard about or seeing a sign for a waterfall we haven't visited and suddenly your whole intention changes.

I think we learned many years ago, if we saw or heard of something that looked or sounded unique, go for it. Strike while the iron is hot so to speak.


Consequently we always hire a four wheel drive off road vehicle with plenty of ground clearance. They come into their own on some of the river crossings you may have to make and on some of the unmade roads you decide to try out.






This particular road was a gem, it went right up into the mountains and eventually came to a full stop.


Reversing to find a decent point to turn round can be a bugger of a job at times.




Surprises like locating a place like this, miles away from anywhere, off the beaten track and in the main self supporting.

Man is quite an interesting animal when you think about it.





Or you come across a home or two of this caliber and realise there isn't a great deal to choose between one of these abodes and one in the refugee camps.





Thais in such locations of course do have the blessings of freedom of movement and many more options not permitted to the refugees.

I appreciate of course that the refugees could not be permitted to simply melt into the system, it wouldn't work.

Some form of regulation and control of their existence is obviously a requirement and they are better off than they would be in their homeland.

Children born into the camps on Thai soil for instance are not given Thai status though.




I have felt for these children of course, born into captivity, they could end up spending their whole lives within the confines of the barbed wire fences under authoritarian control.





I have no idea personally as to what the solution is, or even if there is one.

The daily life in the camps covers every aspect of existence, even down to building and or repairing the homes.

The way they balance on the bamboo is another amazing sight to witness.

I have mentioned it before too, but the photographs are much better in general if you put them to full screen and view them.





Then such a different outlook again, a few miles down the road so to speak,

You can come across any number of sights though in Thailand, that's for sure.





I'm surprised there were no more on the roof as well.





Can you for one minute imagine the British Plod let loose over there to sort it all out?




It would make Monty Pythons Flying Circus look like a Christmas pantomime.






I'm just feeding my Elephant Officer...




Or Baby want feeding Officer...




You couldn't make it up, could you.




Where you going with that pig?






Well this little piggy went to...........




I have seen them jump out of the backs of vehicles like this when being conveyed from one place to another.





May as well give this chap a lift, he's going the same way as me and my pig.





Still building new huts in the camps, but for the life of me, I cannot work out what is hanging in the trees in this photograph.


The chicken and her little brood have no idea what's going on in any event.

Meanwhile, back in the mountains looking for more refugee camps.





The attraction is magnetic to me and Flobo.



There is still so much beauty.





And so much pain.




This young fellow was telling us his life-story from a very young age in one of the camps. He had received quite a good education, and his English language standard was good.

He was allowed a certain amount of freedom and as you can see he had a motorcycle which is obviously a brilliant bonus.

He sang to us and played his guitar.

We could not make out any of the words of his song, but he had a really nice voice. His song was one of pain and sorrow.




We actually managed to meet his teacher, who has use of an e-mail address from time to time. I am of the impression that the same is monitored so we take care what we write to him, we note the caution in his replies, which are scarce in any event.





He had a nice voice as well.

I was originally intending to commence a separate thread for The River Kwai and Kanchanaburi, but as it is all Oriental information, mainly concerned with our travels, I didn't see any point or advantage in running an additional.

I hope you like the posts to follow;-

Humans have been running around Kanchanaburi for several thousand years.

The earliest being Stone Age folk, there primitive tools and debris have been discovered in several caves around the River Valleys of the Yai and Noi Rivers.

Traces and burial sites have also been discovered belonging to the Lawa and Mon people. There place has been taken by the Karen who of course migrated from Burma. Thais themselves are of course now the most prominent settlers in the vicinity, laying claim to land that was opened up by loggers, miners and general consumers of the regions natural resources.

The current population is in the region of one million.


The infrastructure is good and the land is certainly very well irrigated via a system of purpose built canals from the River Kwai.

This is a simple road shot on our way in from Mae Sot.

There are some beautiful places in the region, as this is basically an introduction to an extremely interesting area of Thailand for several reasons.

I thought I would put an odd photograph or two up and add comment regarding the same.


I will take time to relate about the region and The Thai Burma Railway, the terrible manner in which the Prisoners of war were treated, the horrendous death count applicable to the treatment of the prisoners as time passes along.




There are some superb water falls in the region.

The War Cemetery's are managed and maintained to perfection.



There are some absolutely amazing Temples.




Some energy sapping steps to get to the Temples as well.

Wow!






There really are some outstanding photographs and narratives regarding this section of the Oriental thread.

There are some amazing and attractive caves in the locality.





The Police were really busy one day.

It appeared that everybody was under close scrutiny, I don't know what the problem was.



People live in some strange homes.



Amazing at times, it certainly amazes me and Flobo.



This next one took some beating. A vehicle had at some time or another crashed out in the bush here. There was a guy and his wife living in it, bits of coverings here and there.



I spoke with both of them, they were very happy.


Not a care in the world, they appeared to like a drink as well.



There is certainly tremendous variation in what you can see in this part of the world.

Some of the beauty is beyond description at times.




I have probably said it previously, but these photographs really need to be viewed full screen size.

If you right click on them and save them to your computers picture manager, they are brilliant.

We came across this cemetery earlier this year, It's Chinese.

Personally I have never seen a cemetery like this in my life before.

Apparently it is only for the deceased affluent Chinese who reside in Kanchanaburi.






This place just has me fascinated.

I couldn't believe they had set up home in there.

So I'm showing you another angle of the abode.



The town itself is quite a busy little hive of activity, but it somehow manages to retain that laid back feeling and sense of

'There's nothing in the world to rush for'



Let's be honest, who needs a heart attack?

There was plenty of sugar cane available here.




Note the cones as well, that surprised me, I've only ever seen twigs around accidents before. :wink:

There were some beautiful views on the river as well.


I'll be in trouble for taking these.





When the weather is right
There's nothing quite like
Messing about on the river





There are some beautiful places along the River Kwai though.




You have to see it;-

Home Sweet home.

Imagine it in The UK...

Yes Officer, this truck overtook me with a bull and a goat stood up in the back, and a gentleman sporting a blue bandana sitting in a hammock.


Just blow in this bag mate and give me them keys.




You can't make any of this up..



One of the places we took as accomodation..




We have really varied accomodation in Kanchanaburi, I'll show you all the different places we have stayed at.

Rafts the lot.

Brilliant place to visit and plenty to do there.

Another Cave,





Fantastic little Water Fall.

Soi Yok; a different angle from the earlier shot.

Nice isn't it.



A market photograph, very colourful, as they always are.

The Japanese began a very aggressive course of action with a contrived clash with China as far back as September 1931 which resulted in the occupation of Manchuria.
In February 1933 after being severely censured regarding the aggressive action with China, Japan withdrew from The League of Nations.
Further Japanese instigated contrived clashes with China precipitated war between the two countries,

The First Sino - Japanese War was a major conflict between the Japanese and China {The Qing Dynasty} over the control of Korea. The War was fought between 1st August 1894 and April 17th 1895
The war actually exposed the feebleness of China under the Qing Dynasty and demonstrated the success of modernisation in Japan since the Meiji Restoration.
The war resulted in a shift of regional dominance in Asia from China to Japan. Historians hesitate not in stating that this First Sino-Japanese War lead to the Revolution in 1911.
Japan and China fought intermittently from 1931 full scale war between the two countries started in 1937


1939 was certainly the ?'Year' which saw the real commencement of World War 11.
1939;- Japan Invaded Hainan Island.
Germany invaded Poland
Britain and France declared War on Germany.
1940 Germany Invaded Denmark and Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium and France.
1941 Germany Invaded Russia
Japan Invaded Hong Kong, Malaya and Thailand.
Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, Guam and the Philippines
Japan Sank HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, giving Japan total control of the Pacific..

Japan Invaded Burma via Thailand.
1942 Japan and Thailand sign a treaty of co-operation.
Thailand declares War on The United States of America and Great Britain

In excess of five thousand civilians died in the first two days of air raids on China in 1939.

Historian consider that in excess of 300,000 people perished in the Nanking Massacre , some Japanese Historians deny such a massacre happened at all.

By 1940 China's air force was virtually wiped out, the country did not have the means to replace air-craft lost in combat.
During the next few years Japan mercilessly bombed civilian targets on almost every major city in China leaving untold millions dead, injured and homeless.

Japanese marines at Guangdong in the Battle of Wuhan .




{The above photograph was taken from the internet}

The Japanese used a strategy of creating friendly puppet governments in the occupied territories of China.
They succeeded in recruiting and training a Collaborationist Chinese Army to maintain control of the public and ensure security in occupied areas.
The fighting reached a stalemate situation by 1940 in china, Japan held almost all of the eastern coast of China and Vietnam, however guerrilla fighting was rampaging through the occupied areas but China did not have the technology, infrastructure or industrial capacity to launch a modern warfare counter attack against Japan.

General Chiang Kai-Shek had lost the best part of his army defending Shanghai, he was really at the mercy of his Generals who maintained a high degree of independence from the central KMT {Kuomintang or Chinese Nationalist Party} government.
Japan had suffered heavy losses from the unexpected and very effective stubborn resistance in China and was experiencing great difficulties in managing the conquered and seized territories.

We certainly were not seeing the type of progress in China which Germany was getting in Europe, that's for sure.

You can of course Google The Nanking Massacre for yourself, there are some outstanding accounts.



OK I got carried away again, but the introduction is quite important I think.

The British had considered building a railroad linking Thailand with Burma many years before the War but had shelved the idea due to the numerous difficulties envisaged and predicted.
Plus they did not have ?'unlimited slaves' to do the donkey-work.
The Japanese did however use the same route which the British had considered using.

The Japanese had made use of railways as part of their mode of operation throughout Asia and soon after Japan and Thailand signed their agreement of co-operation the Commanding Officer of Southern Region Army's 2 Railway Control in Thailand, Major General Hattori ordered that construction of a railroad begin linking Nong Pladuk in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma.

Due to the inhospitable and difficult terrain, there was no chance of using heavy construction machinery, they assessed that a workforce of some 60,000 inclusive of 10,000 prisoners of war would be required to build the same.

After losing the battle of Midway and the heavy losses incurred by the Japanese Navy the long sea voyage around the Malay Peninsula to Rangoon became a more perilous undertaking for the Japanese and the railroad became a project of vital importance to the Japanese war Machine.

I thought I'd do a little tonight on one of the mountain temples in the Kanchanaburi area.

The Dragon Temple or Wat Ban Tham, giving it it's correct title is rather unique, we certainly found it very interesting indeed.

You climb quite a lengthy staircase before reaching the mouth of the dragon and then you walk up many more stairs through the body of the mythical creature.

The walls are painted with various murals relating to the folklore of The Temple and it is a more interesting walk due to the manner of it's construction which is very beautifully done.

It is a fair old walk from the ground level to the mouth, through the body and out of the tail which leads you into a beautiful cave.

The cave then has an opening to the heavens which allows in rays of sunlight, giving the same a very striking and indeed picturesque finish.




I'm surprised they haven't found a use for this setting in a movie yet.

They will.




It's extremely well constructed. The Temple building also is very striking in it's general appearance.




There is new framework but un-finished buildings to the right of the Temple. They appear to have been neglected, and for some time at that.

Probably lack of funds, this seems to happen quite often on many Temple developments throughout The Kingdom.

It's a pity.




As you can see, the appearance inside the cave is quite striking

Kanchanaburi is steeped in history;- The old town of Kanchanaburi was located near Ban Lat Ya, a small village some 20 kilometers north of the present town.

The site has been well recorded in Thai history as an invasion route from Burma, direct into the Thai kingdom.

Thais had a habit of concealing their religious icons and other precious assets in their caves. No doubt this cave was one such place of safety and indeed refuge for the Thais.




It was an extremely hot day when we climbed the numerous steps to the cave, I must say we found the cave to be a really welcoming cool refuge from the heat of the day.




I don't know if they have done any excavations regarding archeology in the cave.


I rather think it would be a very interesting exercise.




It has an extremely interesting allure to it in general in it's own free-standing appearance.

From the mouth of the cave which rests at the tail end of the dragon, you have a superb view across towards the River Kwai.




From the sizes of some of the magnificent Buddha images you come across in these caves, it is obvious the same have to have been made within the confines of the walls.





I've said it before I know, but if you put these photographs to your photograph management program and enlarge them to screen size, they are quire phenomenal.




Whenever I find myself in caves, especially when it is known that early man had an existence in the same, I get carried away, thinking what it must have been like.

"Make me a roast mammoth butty love."

"Roast," she replies.

"You'd better invent fire then."

You skirt through the cave to find yourself in front of a very dilapidated iron spiral staircase which leads up and ever upwards to the glimmer of light which is shining down on you from above.

It's one of those situations where a holy person or a regular church goer for instance might just find the hairs on the back of their necks standing on edge as they considered the route would lead them to their maker.

I haven't found a photograph of the spiral staircase as yet, I'm sure I took at least one, so I will endeavour to locate the same again, asap.

After the staircase, you come out into the open air through a hole in the top of the cave {not the one in the photographs with the sunlight shining through this is a much smaller aperture you climb through.

Then you have to climb up on numerous rocks with rails to hold onto every now and then.

Considering you had to take your shoes off to enter the 'Holy Cave' it's somewhat hard on the soles of your feet and not a lot of people I rather imagine would get past first base to the top of the mountain, purely to look out over the river and ring the bell.

We did of course.

This is the very top of the mountain, it was a hard and difficult climb especially with no footwear.

You can just about see a section of the gong on the left of the photograph, which when bonged hard with what resembled a base ball bat, made it all worth while.



Mad Dogs and Englishmen.



All joking aside, it was hard work climbing up, but well worth the effort. Flobo enjoyed the climb as well, but as she said, she wouldn't like to be stuck up there at night.

It was very precarious and highly dangerous in places.

This is the top of the last section of climb. The section to the right of the brush {broom} is the holding canopy for the Buddha statues and the gong as shown on the photograph above.



As you can see by the view it's a fair old height.



Some Monks quarters viewed just behind the end of The Dragon Tail.

I have noticed that Thai Monks enjoy the solitude of high mountain perches and or secluded caves. It's an interesting issue.





Looking towards the heavens.




You can even see a daft looking bird on the photograph above which appeared to be grinning at us both.

Typical terrain on the upwards climb up the mountain.




Flobo knocked her toe's a couple of times.

It was a dodgy trail to take and rather dangerous.

Not a great deal if anything at all for you if you slipped or fell.

Only a long drop.

I had to show another photograph od the Dragon's mouth, it was superb.

I thought I'd enter some snippets of information and a few photographs of Kanchanaburi and The River Kwai in general.

The photograph below shows one of the bridges of the Thai Burma Railway running alongside the River Kwai and along the side of the cliff.

The work carried out by the Prisoners of War was amazing, the cost in human lives and the misery and pain associated with the construction was horrendous.




It is known that the Japanese used the many caves in this particular area as their own billets and to store weapons etc.

Also to shelter from the air raids.

Especially when the RAF went on a mission.

There are some beautiful places to see and visit in this part of Thailand though.




There's a place about ten miles out of town with a private type of zoo.

The animals are simply loose in massive compounds which you drive through in your own vehicle.

However, unlike Knowsley Park or such like, the animals have no barriers or fences to stop them coming straight up to your vehicle.

Keep your windows closed and be careful if you do visit. The security is pathetically abysmal.

It's simply a matter of time.





You can't make it up, can you.




I simply opened the window of the car and took these photographs.

It was a rather foolish thing to do as well.

One of the Tigers, was really ready to go.


I thought this beast was going to leap and drag me through the window.

He was quite mad.



I just thought I'd stick an old one in here of our lads giving that bridge a right direct smack on the nose as well.




I bet that gave the Japanese cause to think!

It did when we went back into Burma.

And just take a look at what our Royal Air Force did.

Getting back to them wild animals. Another Tiger here;-





He didn't half let a roar out.




The Big American Buffalo actually stuck his head through the open window of the vehicle.

He was quite harmless though as far as eating human beings go's.




Mr Bear wasn't at all happy about being disturbed either.




Lions, they were all over the place.





Some of them, not all of them, looked rather under-nourished.

That is always a concern.

These lads appeared happy enough, perhaps they had no idea what was around the corner from them. They lived close enough to the 'Home Made Zoo' for it to be a worry.




Same with these





These two were pretending to be fish, in case the Lions and Tigers came.




There were a few down by the River as well going for a drink.





I tell you, if these beasts got loose, and there isn't a lot holding them in:-





It would be sirloin and fillet steaks all round.




This fellow (he lived near the resort) was
pretending to be a 'toughy' he was quite
a big softie though when I took him
some scraps of meat etc that I saved for him each day.




I bought him a full beef-burger two or three times, he really loved that treat