Bangkok - day 81

We got up at 5h40 this morning and after stopping about 5 taxis, we finally found one that knew the station we wanted to go to. From the Thonburi train station we took a 3rd class very old train to Kanchanaburi. On the way we stopped next to the Oriental Express train and wished we were on that one instead. We got off the train at the Bridge over River Kwai, which is a very famous historically important place in the west of Thailand. There were lots of tourists there, but it was still nice (and quick) to see. We walked over the bridge and train rails, trying not to fall into the water through the holes in the wood! Then we took a taxi (= the back of a pick-up truck) and then a scooter with a little iron structure attached to the side of it. It took us a good hour on that little scooter thing to get to the Tiger Temple. We were glad to have a good driver cause we went over the highway and passed a bunch of cows on the road and it could have been a lot scarier, especially seeing the state of the actual scooter (it was actually torn down the front...). Anyway, at the Tiger Temple they had a sign that said "If you are wearing red, pink or orange, you are not allowed inside the temple"... three guesses as to what Nat was wearing... yep, orange shorts and a bright pink polo! So we had to get the worst pair of pants ever and an ok souvenir-like bright blue polo to get in. When we got to the tigers, it was all worth it! We got up close and petted a whole bunch of tigers. We could even hold on to their tail and lift their paws! We saw some really big tigers, but also some 7-week old cubs! As well as 4 and 6 month old cubs. They were the cutest ever!! Getting so close to them was amazing! After walking around and seeing some buffaloes and wild pigs and camels, etc., we took the scooter-thing back to Kanchanaburi (another hour) and then a bus back to Bangkok which took us about 2,5 hours. From the bus station we took a taxi and got stuck in a massive non-moving traffic jam and decided to walk the rest of the way to the hostel. After getting changed, some friend's of Nat's (that she met 8 years ago in Egypt...) came to pick us up and took us to Patpong. Patpong is the equivalent of the red light district and is also home to a big street market where they sell lots of fake stuff. We had dinner in the area and tried some very good Thai specialties. Then we walked around the market and bought some stuff, before having a drink at Radio City bar. The night ended with a visit to a very typical Thai sex show. We would never have gone in there if it weren't for the fact that we were with Nat's friends who know the area very well... anyway, the show was... interesting... The girls where all overweight and completely naked, not making it a very pretty sight... The highlight must have been one of the girls popping out pingpong balls from between her thighs and aiming them at two poor tourists that quickly got up and left the building with tears in their eyes! Believe us, it was an unforgettable experience!

Weather: still hot and sunny

(Tomorrow night we are taking a night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and from there we are going on a 3 day 2 night jungle trek, so don't expect us to have internet access up there!)