We had breakfast at the hotel on the morning of Day 2 after I took some random pictures of the grounds.
Then, we took our taxi thing to the Bridge on the River Kwai which was about 10 minutes away from the hotel. My mum flipped when she saw it. There was this movie made about the events surrounding the construction of this bridge that she watched growing up, so she got all excited.
Being on the bridge itself was quite cool, cuz it's part of an actual, fully-operating railroad track. Two people can't really stand next to each other - someone has to move, and through the gaps in the bridge, you can see the River Kwai below you. There are these platforms at certain intervals , which is where people have to stand when the train crosses the bridge. We had planned to take the train to the Death Curve, so while we were waiting we walked across the bridge, which actually is a lot longer than it looks. We also checked out a little market. The train was all wooden and things, but man, it moved so fast! Hurtling through the countryside was an experience - we passed fields and farms and rivers. Every now and then, it would stop at what seemed like the middle of nowhere, with just a little bus-stop looking thing, and people would get off and begin their trek to wherever it was they were going. We passed a school, and a group of little girls waved at us. Also, people would walk through the carriages selling souvenirs but more interestingly, ice-cold drinks and food. We bought a packet of these miniature things that looked like curry puffs, with a sort of peanut stuffing. It was really, really good.
The Death Curve was about an hour away, and we had arranged for our taxi guy to pick us up from the station there. This gave me plenty of time to think about the poor people who were forced to build this railway. Back in the day, it was nothing but a jungle. They had to make their way through the wilderness, in the intense heat and build it from scratch. It's no wonder that so many of them died. They don't call it the Death Railway for nothing. The Death Curve is a part of the railway in which on the right side of the train is nothing but the face of the cliff, and the right side is a drop to the river below. At this point, everyone on the train rushes to the left side, and when you stick your head out the window, you see a line of heads and elbows.
We got off at the station just as the train was pulling away, cuz we weren't exactly sure if it was where our driver would be. Arranging the whole thing did take a while.Unlike the last few stations, this one was bigger and had little shops selling things like wooden, hand-carved objects and pictures made using buffalo skins. We met up with our taxi driver and after a quick drink, we set off for a waterfall. The journey took quite a while and we were famished when we reached our destination. I can't for the life of me, remember the name of the place. It's either Sai Yok Yai or Sai Yok Noi. We wanted to go to this huge, gorgeous (from the pictures, anyway) one, but for that you had to take a boat and all and we didn't have time. So we had lunch, and then made our way up to the waterfall.
It was all pretty and very shady, and my brother, my mum and I went all the way up. After wandering around for a bit, we got back into the taxi thing for the trip back to the hotel. After checking out, we stopped by the very well maintained War Cemetery. Everything was so neat and orderly. So many of the soldiers who died were really, really young.
After that, we were dropped off at in town, where the buses to Bangkok depart from. We picked up reinforcements (Lay's, which is ridiculously cheap in Thailand and comes in the most outrageous flavors like Seaweed, Extreme Seafood...or maybe Extreme Barbecue, cant' remember...and Bacon & Cheese. And yes, I had Original...), and settled in for what was supposed to be a two-hour journey. Just after the bus pulled away, a Thai karaoke video started to play. Loudly. It was hilarious. My mum said by the end of the two hours, we'd be able to speak fluent Thai. I think that was when I started to read The Devil Wears Prada (and loved every page). The whole journey took over two hours, and the sun was setting when we reached Bangkok. Restlessness was in the air - from my side of the bus, you couldn't see the road signs, so I had no idea where we were or how long more it would take. The early sunset made it seem later than it really was, which was quite frustrating.
The next task was to get a taxi and get to the hotel, which was the most harrowing experience I've ever had while traveling. The first taxi guy had no idea what we were saying, but the second guy said okay. He turned out to be a little...odd. He kept talking to himself, and we begun to wonder if he had any idea where he was going. He didn't, and we made him stop at the first major hotel we saw. The concierge proceeded to give him the wrong directions, and at this stage, I was ready to scream. I wanted out of that taxi so. bad. He was getting quite creepy, so when we saw another famous hotel, we made him stop, and this time, we got out. The people at this hotel were able to call ours and let them know we were on our way (which was really nice of them), and after a whole bunch of taxis turned us down cuz the area we were staying in would have been a little hectic, we finally got into a taxi, and we finally, finally got to our hotel.
We were exhausted, and after showers, we left for the Suan Lum Night Bazaar that we had visited on our last trip. It hadn't changed, and we wandered around deciding where to have dinner. We settled on this outdoorsy place, and as we were leaving, Home by Michael Bublé started to play. I had an 'awwwww' moment, until the guy started singing with a Thai accent. Then, it got funny :) We hit the shops, and I bought a whole bunch of things, including my now-favorite t-shirts (one says 'Hate', but 'Love' when you look at it in the mirror, and the other says "I'm not spoiled, just well taken care of...). The guy I bought them from was really nice, spoke perfect English and had the coolest t-shirts. We took a tuk-tuk back to our hotel, and crashed.
The next morning, we walked to the nearest BTS (their version of the LRT, which is a really, really good idea. You avoid the crazy traffic and the crazy heat) station, and left for Siam Square, which is where we stayed the last time. It was really nice to see all the familiar places, like the restaurant where we had amazing food twice and Hard Rock Café with it's tuk-tuk embedded into the front of the building. We had breakfast at the same waffle place and Orange Julius, then we walked to MBK, which is this shopping mall that everyone goes to. I bought my now-favorite pair of jeans there, and they altered it for me in half an hour. I also ran out of Bahts, and had to borrow money from everyone else. Lunch was McDonald's, which was so strange cuz they had all these pork burgers (Samurai Pork and a burger where instead of buns, you get glutinous rice). After spending more money than I had and a quick trip to the supermarket to pick up some green curry paste and a glass Coke bottle for my cousin (he collects them), we left for the hotel. My brother, my dad and I walked to 7-11 for more reinforcements (Lays for my friends and sandwiches for us), and after showers, we checked out and left for the airport.
Near KL, I started throwing up, which at the time, I thought was the strangest thing. I've been flying since I was 1, and I don't remember ever being sick on a plane. I didn't think it was strange when I didn't stop throwing up for nine or so hours - it definitely wasn't travel sickness. A trip to the doctor rounded up a difficult night.
Overall, this wasn't the easiest holiday we've been on, and there were definitely moments where we were all stressed out. But there were also moments that made it all worth it :)
"Not all who wander are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien
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