Thailand - Day 2 morning, Death Railway Museum.

 We had dinner as a group and I had a delicious vegetarian green curry. In bed by 9:30 and up at 5:30 as we had to leave at 7am.

Not the first time I have posted a toilet picture. I am used to having to put toilet paper in a garbage can rather than in the bowl but here there is an addition to the appliance....a water gun to wash yourself off first, the paper is just for the final dry.

It was a rushed breakfast and then our luggage was loaded on to the bus and we were off.

Driving through the morning traffic of Bangkok.

The streets have plenty of ornamentation

and everywhere there are pictures of the current king.

He is now in his 70s but the pictures always depict him as a young man, sometimes with his wife.

There was a lot of car traffic but also Tuk Tuk and

masses of motorcycles and scooters.

Many of the trucks are elaborately painted with more decorations hanging off them.

This is Ammy, our guide (CEO, Chief Experience Officer). She talked for most of the 2 hour trip, explaining politics, geography, culture, customs, history and answering any of our question.

For instance she answered that this was split bamboo to be used for basket making and

that these people were selling strings of flowers for drivers to hang from their rear view mirrors, "they give good spirit to the car", perhaps a Thai equivalent to St Christopher.

Washroom break at a gas station with a coffee shop and a 7 Eleven.

Washroom was pretty primitive... squat, and flush using the pot.

While we were there this opportunist drove in and proceeded to cook soup for anyone that was hungry. It smelled very good.

As we boarded the bus he drove out, in search of new customers.

Our admission  to the museum was part of our package along with coffee or tea in the cafe.

 This days itinerary was of little interest to me but I do feel that when I have the opportunity to learn something, I should take it. It turned out to be a very good museum

not only identifying how the Thai-Burma railway fit into the big picture of World War 2

but also the construction methods

the lives of the POWs and conscripted Asians who built it

and the battles that saw the end of the war for in Asia.

Aside from the awful conditions and the huge loss of life, I was struck by the assistance offered

to those who were trying to find out what had happened

to their family members.

There were many camps and therefor many cemeteries but all that were found were reburied in this, huge, well maintained, cemetery, across the road.

I walked over and sat and painted a little sketch while the others walked around.

 The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 by Southeast Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and a smaller group of captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma.

 At least 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians were subjected to forced labour to ensure the construction of the Death Railway and more than 90,000 civilians died building it, as did around 12,000 Allied soldiers. The workers on the Thai side of the railway were Tamils, Malays, and fewer Chinese civilians from Malaya.^{[2] From wikipedia.}

Next we drove to lunch and the railway itself. Our days are packed and my sleep clock is still confused, so at the end of each day I am absolutely exhausted. So I am already a day and a half behind in blogging. I will continue to blog when I have the energy it needs but will probably finish it after I have left the country.