A very busy day off

Longtail boat

Longtail boat ride

Second stop was the war memorial, commemorating those who died in Thailand during WW2 - many of them during the construction the Death Railway that connected Thailand and Burma. The POWS were mainly British, Australian and Dutch: it was odd and moving to see such familiar names all the way out here in Thailand.

The highlight of the day was a visit to a pretty amazing waterfall flowing down over a strange type of rock: we expected it to be smooth and slippery but it was actually rough like sandpaper, so that we could climb all the way to the top and sit under the water flow. It was a much needed chance to cool off and relax. For some reason, at this point we became tourist attractions ourselves, with a group of school kids asking to have their photos taken with us! (See below).

Who are the tourists here?

We also stopped off at a pretty awesome site (not sure where exactly) with a fantastic view of the Death Railway carved into the side of the mountains. We walked along the tracks a short way for some amazing photo opportunities.

At the death railway

Death Railway

Death Railway again

Then the monsoon began. We'd planned to go into town to finally sample a Chang or four...so that's what we did anyway. We stopped to pick up a very, very drenched Nicole and Tess along the way, extremely grateful for the songthaew that was keeping us dry. We spent the night at Tony's Bar, a little live music venue run by, you guessed it, Tony. We listened to the good old rock classics (and, for some reason, 'Achy Breaky Heart') sung in Thai, only interrupted by a group of very drunk Frenchmen who went and chatted up the Canadians (or was it the other way around?)

When we finally got back to the house, we found the monsoon had knocked the power supply out, which is pretty entertaining when you're drunk.

Tony's Bar

Tony!