Thailand Trip (Day 27)

Day 27:
Today I left Kao San Road, Bangkok for Kanchanaburi. The trip took a little over two hours since I took a direct shuttle from Kao San. The van arrived in Kanchanaburi outside a place called Bamboo House (the probably have a deal to drop tourists off their). It turned out that a room was only 200 Baht, so I checked it out. The room was a bamboo hut floating one on a square raft made of wood and barrels. Surprisingly, it did have electricity, but the bathroom was in a central location on the land. I decided to take the room, but only for one night. It will be good for the experience and perhaps I will try another guesthouse tomorrow. After having at brisk lunch at the Bamboo House restaurant I decided to join a minivan heading to the Tiger Temple. The Temple is one a large wildlife refuge that is home to wild boars, deer, elk looking creatures, peacocks, buffalo, horses, and of course tigers. The tigers are very strange and quite docile. According to the temple, it is because they are raised by humans since they are cubs and are used to the human contact. Still they need to be led around on leashes with handlers (most of which are monks). It was great having the opportunity to visit the temple and get a picture taken next to a sleeping tiger. Later I was taking a picture of a monk walking a tiger on a leash and he stopped to let me walk the tiger around. It was quite the experience! Later I met a Doctor who was a vet at the refuge. He told me about the tigers, Buddhism, and also doing socially responsible business in the area. It was a top notch learning opportunity. After returning from the Temple, I headed to the Donrak War Cemetery. The Cemetery is home to thousands of graves of the soldiers and civilians that died building the Death Railway (Bridge over the River Kwai). It was a sad place to see, but a good historical site. Going their gives one a very eerie feeling. After leaving the cemetery I headed off to dinner and then the net cafe **at the cafe now!**.