Thanks to my GPS and the tourist markers I found the Bridge on the River Kwai quite easily. The last marker actually showed the distance to the bridge, which meant that I just saw the first marker with distance information on it. Why don’t they put the distances on all the tourist markers I wonder again… Anyway, the location that I recorded is N14.04159 E99.50445.

The bridge was actually better then I expected, as what I expected was just an ordinary bridge. Well, it is in fact quite a normal bridge, but it is not in use anymore and you can walk on it between the rails. There are holes in between the sleepers on each side of the rails and there are even bigger gaps next to them. And still, there is no railing or anything else to make the bridge “safer” as so many people walk on it every day. I thought it was great that they just left it looking as it originally did. In Australia you would have railings there, the gaps sealed with something etc. or they would not allow people to walk on it at all due to safety regulations and the insurance bullshit that is going on in most westeern countries. Anything like that would spoil the experience. The railway is quite narrow so it is not absolutely easy to pass the people going in the opposite direction, but I really liked that.

It was almost 4PM already and the Dutch girls told me that they were in the Tiger Temple at about 4PM and they were part of the last tour of the day. As I really wanted to experience being so close to the local tigers I rushed to find the temple, which, as I asked the at the police/information station was about 43 km in exactly the direction I wanted to travel anyway. This was great news. What was not great was that I must have missed it and therefore I didn’t get to see the tigers. When it was clear that I missed it it was too late to turn back and search for it again.

About 80km from the bridge it started to look like it was raining in front of me. Eventually I did run into the rain and so I stopped at the earliest possibility. It was a big wooden stall where cactuses are being sold apparently as they are being grown all around.  When I got there I was too lazy to put the waterproof linings inside of my riding suite and I was also not too eager to ride into the rain that looked really heavy further in the direction of my travel. In about 15 minutes a young woman came to see who was there as this was obviously her stall. When she found me lying on the bench inside she gathered that I was there hiding form the rain. Couple of minutes later I had a cold bottle of water and a glass in front of me on the table. I wanted to pay for it but she refused. So I thanked the best I was able to and with that she left again. I saw her sitting in front of a shed about 150 meters away.

When the rain seemed to have stopped in the direction I wanted to go I returned the glass and the bottle to her and thanked to everybody there (her husband and a couple of other women) upon which I left. I rode about 30km when I could again see that there was a big storm in front of me. The sun has just set as well and there were no bigger towns in this area where I could hope for a hotel. And even though I saw signs for a couple of resorts I decided to return to these nice people and ask them if I could spend the night in their stall. It was of course no problem and in a moment I had two more bottles of cold water on the table, which I was trying to refuse unsuccessfully. There is everything I need and more in the stall, including water tap and sink and even coffee and tea maker.. Showers that I was offered to use are another 15m away. I don’t want to use their hospitality more than I need to though so I think I can be without a shower for one night.

Oh, I almost forgot… Yesterday was the first day since I’ve been riding in Asia that hasn’t rained. Today looked promising and so I thought I managed to escape the approaching rainy season. Well, out of the window are my hopes in this respect again… ;-)

Note(s): I even have power here and so I am sitting at a table and recharging my computer while writing this.