Bangkok...

After a few days of planning, we were on to our next trip, a much anticipated one, to Bangkok. We landed at the airport on 8^th August, by around midnight, and since the bus to Kanchanaburi starts only at 5, we decided to take rest in airport for sometime before traveling to the bus stand. We had some bakery food, and rested beneath a flight of steps before it was time to move to the bus stand. We caught the first bus to Kanchanaburi, and slept well on the way. :)

We reached Kanchanaburi by around 8am, and checked in into our hotel. We rented a bike, and decided to travel to Erawan falls and Hellfire pass. 

During the drive to hellfire pass...

But, unfortunately, the Hellfire pass which I saw on google maps, was not the “correct” one, and we had to skip Erawan falls. And to make things funnier, our bike got punctured in the way!





 So, after all the “complications”, we decided to go to hellfire pass. The museum near hellfire pass was amazing, with World War 2 exhibits in it. We were given audio tapes explaining the exhibits in the museum.

There were paintings, letters and some snaps taken by the POW’s.

Another moving exhibit in the museum...

After the museum, we decided to walk to the hellfire pass, a pass that was carved using simple tools like hammer and chisel. It was around 25 feet deep, and the entire pass was carved manually. It was a half kilometer walk, and was raining, however we were determined to walk and see the pass. Near the pass, there was a memorial as well, dedicated to the POW’s.  It was a great experience, a somber one though, thinking of the plight of humanity!



Should I say anymore!!!Near the hellfire pass memorial...

The hellfire pass - a 25m pass, carved with simple tools by WWII POW's.

Following the hellfire pass, we went over to Sai Nok waterfalls, which was near the pass. We drove towards the waterfalls, and it was raining heavily. We spent around an hour there, and I went and stood directly under the falls, massaging my back ;).



 We brought some snacks from the nearby shop, and went back to our hotel after the long day. We had dinner from a nearby restaurant, and ate in plenty.

The next day morning, we went to the bridge over river Kwai, made famous by the movie of the same name. The bridge was built by the POW’s under a Japanese major, and walking on it was a nice experience.

On the other side of the river, there was a Chinese Buddhist temple, and we spent some time there.





After the bridge, we went to Jeath museum, a WWII museum, which again had a number of exhibits related to WWII.

Then we went over to Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, it was an overwhelming experience. Reading what was written in the tombstones, and thinking about the poor soldiers who died to satisfy ambitions of certain people was, and is, something I will never understand.

 And what are we doing today???!!!???

We returned the scooter and had booked a cab for the rest of the day.
It was a mini-van that came to pick us up, and our next destination of the day was tiger temple in Kanchanaburi.

It was an unbelievable experience, sitting near and lying around tigers, walking with them, playing with them! We just felt we were in a whole other world, and dint realize the time spent around there.

The temple also had deers, horses, pigs, buffaloes and bears.

To sum it up, the experience was just awesome.

After the tiger temple, we went to Amphawa floating market. It was a long drive from the tiger temple, and we reached there by around 5:30, the time when the market becomes active. We had read about Bangkok markets before going over there, and this was another great experience.

Not a great touristy place, lot many locals buying and selling things, with a small floating market. There were only a few boats in the floating market, but we enjoyed walking around the place, and Kirti enjoyed some small shopping.






Following Amphawa floating market, the driver dropped us at our place of stay for the night, a simple hotel near the main floating market, Damnoen Saduak.

Next day early by around 7:30am, we had arranged our trip to Damnoen Saduak floating market, the well known, touristy floating market in Bangkok.

Again, this was another great experience, we reached there before the crowd started coming over and it was a pleasant experience. Again, Kirti did some minor shopping, and I enjoyed looking around.

Even though, it was a bit tourist-oriented, we enjoyed it quite well, and spent around 2hrs there. It amazes me, thinking how people used the river as a market, and practice probably the barter system. 




After Damnoen Saduak, we boarded a local bus to visit the next market in our itinerary, the famous Mae Klong train market.

A temple near Mae Klong railway market

We reached there around half an hour before the scheduled arrival of the train, and we walked around the whole market. It was basically a food market, with lots of fishes, crabs, squids, prawns etc and also vegetables. A very crowded market with lots of locals, and a very colorful one.

However, the entire atmosphere of the market changes before the train comes. When the market receives the train signal, they take away the slanting poles which support the shops, and keep the poles vertical just outside the railway track. The train comes, it moves as if it just brushes the market and the people there, and immediately after the train takes off, the poles are kept slanting again on the railway track, and the market becomes lively again! 

After Mae Klong, we took a mini van to Bangkok, and from Bangkok to Pattaya. The journey was long, and we reached Pattaya by around 4pm or so. We took a motorbike taxi to our place of stay, and from there we rented a bike.

We took the ticket for Alcazar show, a transvestite cabaret show. Before the cabaret started, we saw a Kerala restaurant, and had food from there. The cabaret was amazing, and slightly similar to the Simon’s cabaret we saw in Phuket.

After the show, we went on to Pattaya beach, peaceful, calm and silent at night.

We spent some time there looking for meteors, as on that day we were supposed to see meteors

And this was me, looking for the meteors... ;)

Following this, we roamed around Pattaya which is famous for its night life, and walked across the Walking street (Not going into specific details here ;)) 

The next day morning, we went over to Buddha hill, hosting a Buddha statue atop a small hill, from where we could see Pattaya and Jomtien beaches. 

After Buddha hill, we went over to Jomtien beach, spent some time over there.

 We drove back to the hotel, checked out, and then went over to Ripley’s believe it or not museum. It was a great museum, and some of the exhibits were truly unbelievable! 

After Ripley’s museum, we went over to Louis Tussads wax museum, hosting some wax models. Some of the models were pretty nice, while some were not so great. Then we went to a maze game, which was probably meant for kids :P 

 Then we signed off from Pattaya, and took a mini van to Bangkok, where we were planning to spend the next day.

We had booked a room in a hotel in Khao San road, one of the most famous touristy roads in Bangkok. The walk across Khao San road was a good experience, with many tourists, and pubs alongside, and it was way different from the Walking Street in Pattaya. Kirti again shopped, and brought some earrings, while I was busy bird watching. ;) We had a potato roast stick, which was really nice. It was a pleasant little walk, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. After the walk, we decided to spend some time late night swimming in the hotel pool. It was around 1am, and we swam for around an hour before going back to sleep.

The next day was the only day we spent in Bangkok city.

 

We went over to Wat Pho, which had the biggest reclining Buddha statue in the world, and we roamed around the temple.

While Kirti could really enjoy the architecture of the temples, it was not my cup of tea really.

After Wat Pho, we had planned on to visit the Grand Palace, however, the palace was closed that day, and we were allowed only into the temple complex near the Grand Palace.

I found the initial part interesting, the architecture was marvelous, and colorful, however soon I got tired, but Kirti managed to hold up well and she really enjoyed the temples.

After the temple complex, we went back to our hotel, checked out, again walked around the completely different (from night) Khao San road, had lunch from KFC. We took a taxi to a nearby railway station, from where we took the metro to Bangkok airport.

Tioman Islands, Malaysia

 We started our trip early morning by around 6am from Singapore. Took the bus to Johor, and brought tickets to Mersing from Johor. The bus journey took around 2hrs, and we reached Mersing by around 10:30. However, the next ferry was scheduled only at 2pm.

We roamed around Mersing for some time, near the Mersing river, and had food from there before waiting for the ferry. Finally, by 3pm, the ferry took off from Mersing. 

-> Mersing river.

The sea was calm and the ride was peaceful, and we reached Air Batang by around 5pm. The peace and serenity in the place was visible from the jetty itself. A long stretch of the beach with absolutely no one, and the ocean with green water, so transparent that we could see the colors of the fish from above.

We took accommodation in a room near the jetty, unpacked, and set ourselves for a walk in the beach. The beach was a little rocky one, and is stretched for a kilometer or so. We walked till the end, passing across a few chalets on the beachside and small shops. There were quite a few shells and bleached corals on the shore, and Kirti started collecting those as her souvenir. 

 

It was a nice calm walk, with the ocean also very calm with little waves. We were impressed by the color of the water, and the peacefulness of the area. We had dinner from a small restaurant nearby and called the day off.

Color of the sky during sunset in tioman.

Next day, we rented life jacket, and snorkeling glass from the owner of our place, and we went to Marine Park, which was around 20 minutes walk across the shore from our place. We decided to do snorkeling, it was my second experience and Kirti’s first. 

Initially, we snorkeled near the shore, and there were a huge variety of fishes, including a shoal of small fish, zebra fish, golden fish, a yellow-black fish, dark green, dark blue and almost all colors familiar to mankind. It was an absolutely amazing experience, and we were truly wondered by the underwater colors. 

 Sadly, we had no underwater case for the camera. This pic is taken from the top. ->

We continued shore snorkeling for some more time, until we decided to move away from the shore, to the main place where fish feeding was done, and hence, a large number of fishes would be present. After Kirti gathered her composure, we went on there, and it was another breathtaking experience. The variety of fishes was truly great, and we had a splendid time observing them underwater. Meanwhile, I had cramps, however Sriram, another tourist helped relaxing my muscles, and we took off from there after that. Also, Kirti spent some time swimming on the shores. ;)

Afternoon, we had scheduled a trip to the nearby islands of Tioman with the speed boat owned by the hotel owner. 

 

He took us to an uninhabited island around half an hour in speed boat from our place. It was a bumpy ride, and Kirti was having a slight back pain. The island, an amazing one, featuring a small beach with silky white sand, and a pure green beach nearby. We felt really in paradise, and it was just us in the whole place, later though, a giant monitor lizard joined us. We spent some time there, and later proceeded to Monkey bay.

 

Monitor lizard in the island near Coral Island.

Monkey bay was another small bay in Tioman, which is also famous for snorkeling. However, the sea was a bit rough, and our ride to Monkey bay was enthralling, with the boat hitting the waves, had us swaying from one end to the other. It took us around 20 minutes to reach there, and any roller coaster experience would have easily been a cakewalk for us by then.

 

I decided to jump to the sea for seeing the corals beneath, however spent only a few minutes snorkeling, as the sea was not very calm. We headed to monkey bay, the beach, and spent a few minutes there as well. Again, green water and a small peaceful shore.

                                                
                                                       Monkey bay ->

We decided to call of the trip then, as rains were imminent. We started to ride back to our island, and before we reached there it started raining. The owner who drove the speed boat, however skillfully managed to get us to the shore, while the rain was pouring down, and the sea was at her violent best. It was really an adventurous trip, more than the scenic one, as by the end of the trip, we were talking about the bumpy ride rather than the beauty of the islands visited.

 

We took rest, and by evening, we walked in the beach towards the opposite end, had dinner and called the day off.

Unluckily, we could not get the return ticket for the next day evening ferry, and we had to return to Mersing by the morning ferry

Kirti lazing around before catching the return ferry to Mersing.

and I was involved in clicking :)

In Mersing, we had food from a restaurant, yet again owned by a Keralite, and then spent some time in KFC, and visited a Chinese temple, and a Hindu temple nearby, before starting our return trip to Johor.


-> Chinese temple in Mersing.



The return trip was again very scenic, and we realized it was such a long time since we have seen the blue sky with such a huge expanse. We reached Johor, boarded the bus to Singapore, even if the immigration port was crowded, we managed to reach back in Singapore before midnight, and had a sound sleep.