Thailand: Kanchanaburi: Erawan National Park

After a great morning of swimming with elephants in the River Kwai we were told to take a shower and get ready to head out for our next adventure. In our bathroom we noticed that our shower and toilet water went straight into the river! Gross! We were also told that we had only been given one night to stay there on the floating house but we decided to buy another night so we could spend it with our Swedish friends and we really enjoyed our room. Two beds, fan and A/C. We were living it up at this place. After breakfast we got into a van with Christian and Stephi and went to Erawan National Park. This park boasts a seven-tiered waterfall which really lived up to the hype. We started up the trail to the first waterfall which was pretty amazing. I was so excited to get in the water and swim in deep pools of clear blue water. We hiked up the trail to the 6th waterfall and stopped there to get in the water and enjoy the cool water. As soon as we got in we were swarmed by fish that would nibble on our skin. These fish fed on dead skin and in the cities you could pay for a fish massage where these fish would nibble on your skin, cleaning off all the dead skin cells and giving you a nice massage at the same time. I climbed to the top of the waterfall and found a shallow pool to sit in with baby fish that didn't freak me out so much and let them nibble on my feet and legs. What a strange feeling! On our way down we stopped at another waterfall that people were cliff jumping into. It wasn't really much of a cliff but a good 8 feet or so. Dayton noticed a higher spot that would require jumping from the top of the waterfall and clearing some rock toward the bottom. We tested the depth and he went for it. He cleared it no problem and I followed. We had a really good time jumping in the waterfall. Our time was spent though and we had to head down for a ride back to the floating house. After we got out of the water Dayton noticed that his watch was missing. The river swallowed it whole. Across the canyon we noticed a bunch of monkeys hanging out in the trees and making their way down the canyon along side us. Dayton and I decided to trail run down the mountain. It felt so good to be running in nature again. I couldn't help but think how cold and snowy it was back home and here we were, enjoying the mountains and swimming in waterfalls. Once we reached the bottom the monkeys were already there harassing the tourists. One lady tried to get a picture with a monkey in the background and the monkey jumped on her back! She jumped away, extremely frightened. They monkeys will hang out and steal cameras, purses and food. It was hilarious to watch them go after all the tourists. Once we arrived back at our floating house we went for a walk to check out some of our surroundings. We were near a bridge that went across the river that we had noticed some children jumping off into the river. The bridge must have been 25 feet off the water. We had another great dinner prepared for us and then the entire staff at the floating house got drunk and started dancing. They even played musical chairs and one Thai woman wouldn't stop dancing. Christian and Dayton took part in the musical chairs while Stephi and I looked on with laughter. It was a great way to end an amazing day! The next morning while I was in my room some English speaking girls about our age showed up and tried to get into our room. Good thing the door was locked because I was in the middle of changing. When I came out they asked "Is that your room?!" duh. There were about 5 of them, it was strange to see a group of girls traveling alone. We would be running into these girls later on our trip. Next stop: Ayutthaya Here's a few more photos of the waterfalls:

Thailand: Kanchanaburi: ELEPHANTS!

After an amazing night's sleep we woke up, fresh and ready to go. Before breakfast we were loaded into the back of a pickup with the Taiwanese family and were driven down river a little ways where we ran into 3 elephants walking down the road. I had never seen an elephant up close and we drove by them as if it was an everyday occurrence. We got to the river bank and the elephants we had passed walked up right behind us and into the river. These were the elephants we'd be swimming with. I was really unsure what to expect. I was so glad to have the Taiwanese family there to watch us because Dayton and I gave our cameras to them and they stereotypically took hundreds of photos. The elephant's skin was so weird feeling, unlike anythin I've ever felt before. When he would dunk his head in the water, he would use his ears to press my legs down against his neck so I wouldn't float away. These creatures are extremely intelligent and listen to every command that the trainer gives. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Enjoy!

Thailand: Kanchanaburi: War Museum

Once we finally got on a bus with our stickers on our shirts (we still didn't know what this was supposed to represent) we settled in for a nice long bus ride. We finally got to the Jeath War Museum in Kanchanaburi. Hot, confused and hungry, we walked around the museum trying to figure out where we were and what we were doing there. Originally, we had booked our own place to stay in Kanchanaburi and we were trying to establish a time line for our activities. The man who drove us to this new city left as soon as we got there and some new guy found us (I still have no idea how he knew who we were and what we were supposed to be doing). But we told him we were hungry and he bought us a meager meal near the Bridge Over the River Kwai. We decided to check out the bridge while we were there, not really knowing anything about it. It turns out that it was a major piece of WWII history. When the allied troops came in to bomb the Japanese who had occupied Thailand, the Japanese made the allied POW's stand on the bridge right before it was blown up. It was pretty interesting to check out a piece of history that I never expected to see. Still unsure why we were there, the guy that bought us lunch herded us into a new minivan with new people. There were a couple white people that Dayton struck up a conversation with toward the front and I was in the back with some Asians. When I started to pay attention, I realized I could understand about 25% of what the Asian family was saying and even better, I realized they were speaking Taiwanese! So I asked them, in Mandarin, what part of Taiwan they were from. We became friends instantly. The van ride took us into the mountains where we found ourselves at a very small train station in a very small village. I asked the driver why were were there and he said "To wait for the train". When I asked "Where is the train going?" he said "Stop! Just stop!" Apparently Dayton and I had already paid for this train ride, wherever it was going. The Taiwanese family I had made friends with had not paid for this train and were required to buy a ticket even though the man wouldn't tell us where it was going or why we were about to ride it. After everyone paid and had tickets we waited in the extreme heat for the train to come. The people that Dayton had met in the van were from Sweden and spoke English really well. We talked with them while we waited and found out that they had some of the same struggles that we had with the TAT office. It turns out the train ride we went on was on the Death Railway. Lots of allied POW's perished while building an extremely steep, dangerous railway. We were only on the train for 30 minutes or so when we got off and were met by the guy that had gotten mad at me for asking too many questions. "STOP! JUST STOP!" By then it was later in the afternoon and we were taken to a floating house on the river in a very out-of-the-way place. We were given a room with a/c (supposedly we had already paid for it) Then we sat and watched the sunset with Christian and Stephi. They had a lot of questions for us. They were very curious why I was able to speak Chinese to the other passengers in our van. I told them about serving a mission in Taiwan and our discussion turned to religion. We had a great conversation about religion and different beliefs. The atmosphere couldn't have been better for a spiritual discussion. Dinner was provided (vegetarian dishes were prepared special for Dayton and I) and we enjoyed the company of our new Swedish friends while we dined. We decided that the hassle we had dealt with in the morning was worth it. We had been given a free room, with a/c and were surrounded by good people. We were looking forward to the next morning when we would be swimming with elephants and hiking waterfalls in Erawan National Park. Even with all the stress and discomfort the trip was turning out to be the adventure of a lifetime.

Thailand: Bangkok

After the Philippines we made our way by boat and plane to Thailand where we arrived in Bangkok. Our first night there was miserable. We try to live on the cheap as much as possible and therefor for a room without A/C and only a fan. It wasn't so bad once we opened the windows to the night air but then the fireworks and pot banging began... it was Chinese New Year (this is celebrated throughout Asia) Once things quieted down we got to sleep for a few hours and then Dayton woke up with bug bites all over his legs that began to swell. He searched everywhere for the bug but to no avail. We both began to worry about what bug it could have been and especially the size of the bites but he took some benadryl and we both went back to sleep. The next morning we got some breakfast and attempted to make our way to church in downtown Bangkok via bus. This turned out disastrous as we got lost while wondering around. We eventually found someone that took us to a TAT office (tourism authority of thailand) There we planned our stay in Thailand and paid for an all inclusive custom tour. We paid our money and awaited all the transportation tickets and receipts to come the following day. We enjoyed more of Bangkok as we spent time at a park and changed hostels (to one with a more quiet atmosphere) We spent an afternoon walking around the city and stumbling across different temples that amazingly were very peaceful places among the roar of the city. As soon as we entered the doors to the temple grounds the noise and commotion left us and we watched as groups of Buddhist monks walked by to go say their prayers. After dinner we walked around the night market where I've never seen so many Europeans with dreadlocks. This place was truly hippie central. Everyone was speaking English and hawkers were peddling everything you can imagine, CD's, DVD's, massages (a little extra money could get you a happy ending), all sorts of toys and trinkets, parody t-shirts, and my personal favorite, diplomas, driver's licenses and passports. One man approached me asking me if I wanted to see a ping-pong show. I thought that sounded pretty cool, scenes from forest gump came to mind, fast-paced extreme ping pong tournament. When he handed me a card with a preview of what I'd be seeing I wanted to vomit on his shoes. Not the ping-pong I was thinking of. It wouldn't be a tourist destination in Asia without Indian men asking us if we wanted to buy a suit. We were practically bombarded by people trying to sell us stuff but it made for an interesting evening. The next morning we waiting outside out hostel to be picked up by our driver for transport to our next city. We waited, and waited, and waited. They never came. An angry fire began to burn inside me and I saw myself storming into the TAT office and punching the guy in the face (he was a Canadian living there in Thailand). We arrived to the office and were greeted by a nice, pretty Thai woman who sorted out all the issues and arranged for transportation for us and also compensated us for our taxi fares. I learned pretty quick to stop jumping to conclusions. We were taken to the nicest hotel in Bangkok and we were met by another young Thai girl who put a small round sticker on each of us as we boarded a minivan to our next destination. Having no idea what the sticker was for we made our way to Kanchanaburi.