9-29 (Friday) Bangkok, Thailand

I was awake at 1:30 a.m. I kept hearing a siren on and off for hours. I was wondering if something was going on with the coup. I think I might have fallen asleep about a half hour before we got up at 5 a.m.

We were downstairs for breakfast by 5:50. We were to meet our tour to the River Kwai in the lobby at 6:30. When the guide arrived she tried to switch us off to another tour (of the old city of Bangkok.) I was having none of it, I had my heart set on the River Kwai and that’s what we paid for. It was agreed that’s where we would go. There were 2 other girls (from Germany) in the van with us. They were going to the old city so we had to take them to a different hotel to pick up their tour. The driver went to the wrong hotel so we had to drive about another 45 minutes to get to the correct place. They got out of the van then it was just the two of us and the guide and driver off to the river. We had an old van and the driver was driving like a bat out of hell. It scared me to death. There are NO seat belts in these vehicles and I certainly know their importance having just been in an accident.

We stopped first at the war museum. There were old photos showing the prisoners and the terrible conditions under which they had to live and die. It was very sad. Next we went to the bridge. We walked across it and took pictures. As we were walking back across a train was coming towards us. There are platforms along the bridge that you can get on to let the train pass so we hopped onto one of those just in the nick of time.

We went back to the van and drove to another location where we boarded the train and rode along the same tracks that the prisoners had built. A group of school children were taking a field trip and were in the same car with me. I sat down next to a couple of them and scared them to death. They were really cute in their school uniforms. We had a lovely buffet lunch when we got off the train. Afterwards we walked along the railway to a cave that had been used as a hospital for the prisoners. I walked way back in it where bats were flying around.

We went on to an elephant camp. The idea was for us to pay and take a short ride. I’d done it before and thankfully Joyce didn’t want to so we departed. We drove a long way to the cemetery where all the deceased prisoner’s bodies were brought to be laid to rest. It was sad to see how many graves were there and how young the men were that lost their lives. There were many different nationalities represented . . . the Brits, Americans, Aussies and Asians.

We were just leaving to return to Bangkok (a 2 hour drive) when our van stalled. It sounded like the battery was dead but the air still worked so I don’t guess it was that. The driver tried and tried to get it going to no avail. We got out and stood on the sidewalk in case someone hit the van. Two guys on motorcycles stopped and helped the driver push the van out of the road. While we were standing there on the sidewalk Charlee, our guide from yesterday, came running up to us to say hello. We told her about our problem. She said we could ride back to Bangkok with her group. There were only 6 in her group so there was room for two more. We took her up on it because there was no telling how long it would take to get our van fixed.

If I thought the previous driver was a speed demon he was nothing compared to the new driver. First of all he looked like a teenager and not old enough to even have a license. He reminded me of a horse who knows he’s on his way back to his barn, he will go at lightening speed and not let anything stop him. It felt like we were going about 80 mph. Going that fast when you are right on the bumper of the car in front of you is not good. There would be two lanes of traffic and he would make his own 3^rd lane by going right between the two. Motorcycles do this all the time but cars? Then he would pass on the right shoulder of the road. I know anyone who has ever been to Thailand knows the driving is crazy but this guy was a total nut. I was so happy when we got back to Bangkok two hours later so that the city traffic would slow him down just a bit. We had to go back to the jewel “factory” where we were yesterday. We walked in, had our complimentary drink and walked straight to the “lounge.” We weren’t about to walk around again looking at stuff we couldn’t afford. Charlee finally saw us sitting there and put us on a bus back to the hotel.

Before going to the room we stopped by Peter’s office (he’s our travel agent) and picked up our air tickets to Myanmar tomorrow and our hotel voucher.

I was beat from not sleeping AGAIN. We did the internet very briefly then settled in for the evening. I took a shower and washed my hair. We packed up to leave in the morning.