Tales and Songs from Weddings and Funerals

The Long Way Home

All too soon we are back in Canada, and while I don’t miss the constant sweat I am wishing it was a little warmer here at home.

Since the last e-mail we travelled overland from Siem Reap back to Bangkok, well actually rattled would be a more accurate descriptions. The road to Poi Pet (on the Cambodian side of the border) is a little rough – and the cars don’t have seat belts. I was being thrown around so badly that it looked like I was seizing. After three hours we were in Thailand and on paved roads.

With Bangkok as the base, we visited the Bridge Over the River Kwai and Hellfire Pass. Previous to this trip I didn’t know much about the impact of World War II in Asia, so this was an eye opener. After riding the Thailand-Burma Railway (Death Railway) from the city of Kanchanaburi, where the bridge is located, to Nam Tok, the current railway terminus, we visited the Konyu cutting. Knoyu was the name given by the Japanese, however it was also called Hellfire pass, because the fires from the bamboo torches required for light as the PoWs worked for 18 hours shifts were said to look like the lights from hell. This pass was the largest – 600m long and 30m deep – cut for the railway; it was also completed in a very short time, only six weeks using picks, shovels, hammers, drill taps and explosives as tools. Thousands of allied Prisoners of War and Asia workers died from Malaria and other diseases as they worked during the monsoon season. The real moment of understanding was when hiking up hundreds of steps to get back to the museum, sweating and having difficulty breathing, the audio guide mentioned that this walk was a small part of what the PoWs walked to-and-from the work site each day. I returned to Bangkok very humbled.

Bangkok provided a place to complete the rest of our travel plans, but we also took in some of the sights. The Royal palace redefined the word gaudy, but the amulet market and Temple of the Dawn (Wat Arun) were both interesting. Every Buddhist in Thailand has at least one amulet (usually more), for protection, and they range in price from a few baht to hundreds.

With time quickly running out we boarded a night train from the city south to Surat Thani arriving at 4:30 a.m. After a lot of waiting and some huge mistakes on the part of the travel company, we were headed to Khao Sok National Park. The two nights I spent there taught me something important – I am not a big fan of the jungle – especially in the rain!!
There were leeches … a lot of them, after pulling off three I pulled the plug on further hiking, despite only having travelled a few hundred metres. The next day was better, Cheo Larn Lake. Created by the hydroelectric damn, the lake is both beautiful and destructive – it pushed people from their land, but left a fascinating landscape, where giant karst mountains rise out of the water like islands. We went swimming and Mom – who is far braver than me when it comes to bugs, spiders, and deep water with unknown creatures – went back into the jungle, with a guide.

However, the swimming at Cheo Larn was nothing compared to the water off Koh Tao – our last official stop in Thailand. Known as Turtle Island because of its shape, it is a diving Mecca. In the wonderfully warm (27C) water, among the massive school of brightly coloured fish, I saw coral, sea cucumbers and a turtle. One of the days we even saw Nemo. It was like nowhere I had dived before. Picture sitting in the IMAX theatre watching the National Geographic version of the Living Sea – and that is not even the half of it. Mom even tried snorkeling, overcoming some pretty major fears, and was amazed at the abundance of life she could see while floating in the water. The time above water (and that was not much) was spent walking along Sariee beach’s endless white sand. Leaving was exceptionally difficult, but after having to no luck trying to find someone to take my ticket home, we headed to Koh Saumi (a neighbouring island) for our last night.

The plane out was at 6 a.m., we snuck off the beach like thieves, grateful for darkness so we wouldn’t see what we were leaving behind.

Due to weird ticketing we were left with a one day layover in Singapore – incidentally one needs more than a single day to see the city, but we tried. It started with a two hour walking tour of the Little India district, where I ended up with a henna tattoo and Indian candy, and Mom dragged me out of the Sari shop. Then Singapore Slings at the Raffles hotel, the only place in Singapore you can litter, the peanut shells coat the floor. Then to ride the old cargo ships, called Bumboats, to see the fabled Merlion – indeed part mermaid part lion. The grossly over priced cable cars took us to Sentosa Island – part Amusment Park, part tourist trap – where we say the surprisingly impressive Images of Singapore Museum. The interactive displays explained the history of the country, and the different ethnic groups that make it up: Malays, Indian, Eurasian, and Chinese. By the evening we were starving so we headed to Clake’s Quay, the trendy restaurant area, for the highly recommend, unique chili crab. It was amazing – if I was a crab, this is what I would want to die for. Delicious crab swimming in sweet/spicy chili sauce served with piping hot fried buns to soak up all the flavours. After tea and lychee ice cream, it took all our energy to drag ourselves back to the metro for the trip back to the hostel.

All that was left was the trip home. To those of you whose have made it through these marathon e-mails and I haven’t totally turned off Asia, if you decide to go I definitely recommend Singapore Airlines.

posted by Angela @ 5:17 p.m.