The last few days of Thailand...

The bus ride from Bonpong to Bangkok was heartbreaking; I cried the entire way. Leang, the Abbot, Ma, Pa, Nan, as well as 2 old women from the village, all accompanied me to the bus station. It was really painful to leave them all behind after they had done so much for me. I truly felt that I was a part of that community, and I wished I didn’t have to go. I hugged everyone profusely (except the monks of course), and everyone cried (including the monks).

I was still in poor condition, in-fact, before arriving to the bus station; we went to the hospital in Korat for the last appointment there before I would be going to the hospital in Bangkok. As I quietly cried to myself on the bus I felt myself over heating. Continuously stirring in my seat and trying to cool off on the bus was difficult. It was a public bus and very crowded. My clothes were sticking to my body and I felt like my skin was on fire.

Around dusk I arrived at the bus terminal and took a tuk-tuk to the guesthouse where I had previously stayed during my other times in Bangkok. It was the best choice for me since I was already familiar with the area, the prices, places to get noodle soup, and internet access locations.
I immediately undressed to go shower before bed, and all over my body where ever my clothes had touched me, I had developed a bad heat-blister rash from being too hot on the bus. Perfect, just another thing to add to my list of fun lately. But at this point I cared little; I was worn out from traveling. Regardless that the trip was not long compared to other trips I’ve taken, I simply hadn’t been this active in a very long time, and I just wanted to sleep.
My objective was to rest in my hotel room as much as possible, got to the hospital frequently, maybe do a couple of touristy things if feeling up to it and overall just wait, wait, wait, until I was able to depart Thailand.

I spent the entire first day sleeping in my room and watching Thai TV, not bad now that I can understand some of it. I went out to get some food late in the afternoon and I came upon a temple in the touristy not far from my guesthouse. I had walked pasted it a dozen times but never went in before because of the crowds. However after eating my noodle soup and walking toward my guest house I passed by again. I heard noises coming from within, and so I entered the temple grounds. I wanted inside and took a seat on one of the mats on the floor in the back of the main hall.
Prayer chanting was taking place and it felt really nice to be there participating after missing Bonpong so much. This temple is located in Bangkok and thusly more extravagant than Wat Bonpong. There were dozens of monks here, as well as many novices as well, and it was a beautiful sight to see.

Another day I decided to go to the floating market that is located outside of Bangkok. Before coming on this trip I had seen video of it on TV before and I thought it looked so amazing. I had run out of time last time I was in Bangkok and so this time I really wanted to make sure I went since I had to spend a few days here anyway. I took a longtail boat from the pier, through the canal ways of the village.

All the houses are built on the water’s edge. Instead of cars they have boat garages under the bridges. There are walkways along the canals. It’s an interesting feeling driving in a boat through the neighborhood atop of water instead of a road.




I arrived in the early morning to the marketplace and the waterways were bursting with activity. All around me there were people in boats selling goods as well as shops lining the canals. Fruits, clothes, hats, anything really. Women were even in boats cooking. For lunch I approached a woman selling my beloved noodle soup right from her boat. I ate it out of a paper bowl and with disposable chopsticks and spoon. Pretty handy!

Another day I went to a historical place not far from Bangkok in Kanchanaburi.
It is known commonly as the Death Railroad…for every 8km of railroad, 1000 to 2000 workers died in the jungle. The Hellfire Pass Museum commemorates the 92,000 civilians and prisoners of war, who died at the hands of the Japanese military, a sign at the entrance states: "A life for every sleeper".
The men had to carry 110-pound (49kg) bags of rice on their backs for 2.5 miles (4km) from the River Kwai to the work camp. It took 4 men to carry the 600-pound (272kg) buckets of concrete, without any way to escape into the surrounding jungle.

Nearby the "Hellfire Pass Museum" is the "Jeath War Museum", operated by a Buddhist temple from the town of Kanchanaburi. The name, stands for countries involved in the atrocity: Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand and Holland. New Zealand POWs were also involved in the building of the railway.

As the war in the Pacific intensified, the Japanese desperately needed a supply route from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. The Allies controlled the sea around the Malaysian Peninsula, making an overland railway vital for the Japanese military to supply their troops in Burma.

The British had surveyed a rail route across the mountains separating Thailand and Burma but deemed it impossible to build.
The Japanese evaluated the project with a standard that didn't consider the cost of human lives. They conscripted 250,000 Malays, Chinese, Tamils, and Burmese and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war to work 12- to 18-hour shifts.
Within 16 months, 80,000 civilians and 12,000 POWs died of disease, starvation, and brutality, it is impossible to conceive the suffering the River Kwai has witnessed.

Two Allied cemeteries in Kanchanaburi, Thailand hold the remains of 7000 victims, only a small proportion of the bodies buried in mass graves that stretch along the 402km length of the Death Railroad.

Hollywood made a film about this historical event but many of the facts were off and the entire situation was down-played. The bridge over the River Kwai was not build with wood, but steel. A smaller wooden bridge was a temporary bridge built downstream for trucks to carry materials to build the "Bridge Over The River Kwai" as we see today, spanning the Kwai Yai River, upstream from the confluence with the Kwai Noi River, which the railroad follows into Burma.

River Kwai Bridge has eleven picturesque semicircular arches stretch 365 meters over the Kwai river. POWs took 9 months to construct the concrete pylons and assemble the sections of the bridge, which the Japanese robbed from Java, along with much of the railroad track.

A 75km section of the Death Railroad still operates today. Although I didn’t’ take the full ride on the train, today it still chugs slowly along, stopping at small Thai villages, passing through fields of bananas, sugarcane, and tapioca. You will see Thai Buddhist monks in their saffron robes, villagers going to and coming from the market, and school children crowd into the cars. After six decades, the river Kwai railroad still runs, only it serves the people of Thailand's countryside and not the Japanese Imperial army. The prisoners of war and civilian workers sacrificed their lives, but left a legacy for generations to come.
The railroad follows the winding of the river Kwai, crossing steep mountain cliffside trestles built at a staggering cost of human lives.

I went to a hospital in Bangkok that was across the river in another town. In actuality it was much closer than one in Bangkok. It was a mere 15 minute walk to the pier to take the boat across the river, and then just another 5 minutes to the hospital complex. It was a local hospital so I knew it would be much cheaper than the tourist hospitals would be. The prices were the same as they were in Korat, so that was a relief. I spent the better part of a day there, and then wandered the streets and markets of this town before returning back to my guesthouse. I went to this hospital almost daily to get the bandages changed on my bite wound, injections of antibiotics, and my scheduled Rabies shot before leaving Thailand.

Another day I took a tour to a temple that houses tigers. It has been documented on TV around the world over the years; since I had worked with Big Cats in the past I was really eager to be around tigers again. I genuinely looked forward to some wildlife interaction and to experience some conservation of tigers in this country. I yearned for some tree-hugging kindness and was excited to visit this place.

Unfortunately after spending only a few minutes in the tiger’s presence, it became strikingly apparent that they are drugged. I suspect a short term sedative given to the tigers in order to keep them calm and make them sleepy. This probably lasts an hour or so longer than they are on display. Also I’m sure that local anesthetic is used on all of their hind quarters because this is the only area where the tour guides allow you to touch them, and when you do, they don’t twitch or flinch like they should. Think of when you touch a cat or dog lightly; barely grazing their hair, the animal will twitch from the sensation, and these tigers don’t respond that way at all. Also there are flies all over their back end and the tigers don’t notice in the least. Many of them fully passed out sleeping or are laying down splayed out with their legs open which is not normal for them to stay in that position for long, and most of them smell of urine where if anesthetized they wouldn’t register the need to urinate and would at anytime. This was a sad reality….but makes sense. There is no way that un-trained people could actually walk up to an open area fully of dozens of tigers and bend down to pet one. They are some of the most aggressive Big Cats on the planet and anger easily, and because of this fact I had basically come to this conclusion before arriving here, but was still sad to confirm none the less.
The guides are all western people and speak English. When many of the people in the tour groups asked about the drugging, they all denied it. However I am pretty certain that I am the only one around that has worked with non-drugged tigers, so I am certain that I am right. Further I’m a pretty good judge their conditions considering I have worked in veterinary clinics for over 10 years and have seen many types of anesthetics and the symptoms that can be displayed by the animals.

I’m sure the guides don’t know the truth, and the monks too. The operation was bought-out by a larger commercialized company and allows the monks to remain at the temple there. The monks do the grounds keeping; sweeping, raking leaves and maintaining the gardens. Sounds to me as its free labor traded for a place to live. Pretty lame.

On the bright side of things, I was still happy to come and be in the presence of tigers again, even though I felt terrible about the drugging. At least they are alive and not being butchered for the black market…this is Thailand after all, so some good is being done here.

While spending this time in Bangkok, I needed to decide where to go next, however I already had a credit with an airline to go to Vietnam which was my plan to climb there, so I had just 12 days I could be away before my next Rabies shot. The reputations of hospitals in Vietnam are not that great so I would need to go else where when the time comes. Also when going home I will need to pass though Seoul, S. Korea then take a flight back to the States. Sangwon whom I had climbed with in Thailand lives in Seoul and invited me there to stay with him while receiving the last of my treatment at the hospitals there before going home. This was a great idea since Seoul is a fine city and very modern, yet medical treatment is far cheaper than the U.S.’s.

So the plan became to leave BKK and head for Hanoi, Vietnam to rest for a few days and perhaps a little climbing if feeling up for it.