Kanchanaburi & The abduction

We arrived after our hell journey to the quieter town of Kanchanaburi. There was a section of the road which resembled the Khoa san of Bangkok where bars where full of Thai women in skimpy clothes shouting 'helllooooo u wan drink?'. Fortunately our hotel was a short walk away and we had the blessing of air con and a nice room :-). We stayed in Sams house for two nights while we got our bearings visited the local night market and found we were the only white people in sight which was a stark contrast from patong. We visited the bridge over the river khwai (pronounces quare!) made famous by a film showing how the Thai prisoners of war built it because of American forces wanting a link between Thailand and Burma. Many people died through malnutrition and mistreatment but nowadays you can get a train along it for 40p per person unless it lashes down and you have to make a quick dash for the nearest coffee shop! And when you arrive at the coffee shop you sit next to a tiger from the local temple and find out where your going the next day! The following days activities got cancelled because of the rain so we hung about in our new hotel 'Pong phen guest house'. The next day we decided to visit the tiger temple where Gem as per usual went dressed in 'innappropriate' shorts and had to buy the strangest pants that would probably fit an elephant! We think they called them fisherman's pants because you could possibly fit his boat in them! At the temple you got to take the tigers for a walk, watch them play and pet them in the shade of a valley. The tigers didn't appear drugged despite claims they are and they all seemed to have some effection for their owners. We got some photos with the tigers and wandered round the sanctuary until the heavens opened and we made our way to the exit. As we left the rain was torrential and 200 meters from the entrance an unsuspecting mini bus driver got himself stuck in what could only be described as a swamp! So next thing me know were up to our knees in mud while another motorbike rider is wheel spinning the bus all over the place. After lodging rocks and branches under the wheels we got him out eventually. We headed back home and it soon stopped raining gem was convinced it was Buddha's doing. We made it home got changed and went to the restaurant we named the sisters for obvious reasons. They made a good sweet and sour not like the one we know! We called it a night and had our plan for the next day ready...it was going to be a long one. Breakfast of chicken fried rice in the sisters and off we went on our 100 mile round trip on a 100cc motor bike in 35° heat. After getting about twenty miles into our trip i was curious as to why the petrol gauge on our bike hadn't moved from half full for the last 12 hours and thought it might be worth visiting a petrol station soon. No more than two miles later our bike was chugging and the tank was empty...in the middle of nowhere...with no idea which way to go. We laughed for abit then seen a pickup truck heading our way...we thumbed him hoping he was Thai, could speak English, had spare fuel and didn't think about taking this opportunity to fleece us of everything we had. In true Thai spirit they were the perfect people you would want to meet when stranded. A humble farming couple who looked as though there truck was on deaths door, they were shoe-less, teeth-less and the biggest smiles you could imagine. They found it hilarious that our petrol gauge didnt work and that this kind of thing happens all the time! Their first idea was flagging a taxi but seens as though there wasn't a cab in sight that wasn't going to happen. The next idea was to syphon the petrol out of his van but he didn't have any either! The third idea was Gem would go with them and come back with the goods in 20 minutes. We know what your thinking and it goes against everything your taught as a toddler but this is Thailand and these people are more likely to take you home and serve you up some chili beef and spicy basil with sticky rice than abduct you. So Gem got in the car and left me with a...'hope i'll see you again....'
Gem - okaay sooo maybe it was a bit dramatic to say that but all in all i was a lil bit nervous haha! So i got in the car (sorry Mum!!) Gettin in a car two people ya don't know Ben forgot to mention the angriest dog in the world was also keeping me company in the car. So i got in the car and sat down well tried to lol there was stuff everywhere...oh yeah an no seat haha! So i sat on whatever i could n we set off. I eyed up two forks on the dashboard at the ready incase they tried anything funny! After being in the car for two mins i new i wouldn't be needing the forks, they really were the nicest people you could meet! The man kept patting my head and asking me questions about England we also had a good conversation about Buddha! We arrived at the petrol station the lady got out and sorted everything for me i just sat while the guy asking do we have Buddha in England i told him we had Jesus he then said amen and made the sign of the cross and laughed ha! Then we made our way back to Ben waiting at the side of the road with the bike. In the way back the guy showed me he had nearly no petrol himself i offer him some money and he wouldn't take it! He patted my head then patted his heart and said no problem you are baby we look after you! The woman then give me the biggest hug ever and smiled from ear to ear! We pulled up next to Ben and gave him the bottles of petrol he filled up and the bike was ready to roll again yay! We offered the couple some money again but they refused,they wished us good luck and watched us drive off, is there no end to these peoples kindness?!!
Ben : We headed to the petrol station and had a coke and walked around to relieve our numb bums from the non-existent seat on our bike. We drove the other twenty odd miles of scenic roads with ease and made it to the seven steps waterfall named Erawan. The waterfall was full of locals having picnics and diving into the cool pools. We headed to the first pool were we saw a monkey grabbing a plastic bag off a woman which was full of picnic supplies! He quickly climbed a tree and sat at the top eating her crisps and nuts cheekily. We headed to the fourth step and swam in the waters and slid down the natural slides of the fall. We took some photos and headed back to our bike because the park was closing. The fifty mile journey back wasn't too bad but we were glad to have the feeling back in our rears :-). We had our dinner in the centre of town and bumped into a French Canadian friend we spent our night at the full moon party with but we left early so we could pack because the next day we will be leaving for sangklaburi which is a border town near Burma.