Kate and Shelli begin to bond again, but slowly break away from the rest of the group. Could this spell disaster for the rest of our holiday? Tensions were boiling when the ladies complained they were making all the decisions about the trip whilst the boys played pool. Brandon is emerging as the leader of the group because of his keen sense of direction and because he’s almost always at the front of the walking line. He also had a wicked sense of luck at pool when no one expects it, awing the other guys. Craig continues to find solace in his iPod, but perhaps now it’s to get him mind off the fact that he has been dinner for the local insect population. I think Jim is losing his mind. His idea of male bonding is a little hard on the senses and… wait, perhaps that’s why Craig is using his iPod more often. What happens in Thailand… stays in Thailand!
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Today was pretty chill. We really had no plans other than making it through the day. We walked back to the River Kwai Bridge to exchange money and do some shopping. Jim and Craig found the biggest gun-shaped lighter they’d ever seen and the girls finally got the Thai pants they wanted. We then took a trip over the bridge.

Ready to cross... just as the bomb dropped.

I was glad traffic on the the bridge was not as bad as it previously was, but I did find out that trains still apparently use it. I appointed myself tour guide for this portion of the trip since I was the only person who’d actually crossed already. Unfortunately, they didn’t care about my talk on the history of the bridge and continued walking without me.

Wait... I'm not done telling you about the bridge!

When we reached the other side, we found this wild looking bird that Craig befriended and Jim antagonized.

Craig: Friend to birds

Jim: Hated by birds everywhere

Soon, we lounged on the banks of the river and watched as tourists walked and boats sped down the river. I was still upset about not being listened to and put on Explosions in the Sky on my iPod and flicked ants into the river.

Jim climbing out over the River Kwai

Relaxing in the shadow of the bridge.

The River Kwai Bridge

But hunger got the best of us and we searched for a place to refuel. We found a quaint little place called the River Kwai Restaurant. Jim found his new favorite dish: Pad Thai. Shelli, continuing her hate against food that is too spicy, left all her peppers on the side of her plate. I popped the green chilies and red peppers in my mouth with no reservations. I was then referred to as a “beast” by Craig. Never question this Cajun’s tolerance for the spicy.

After lunch, and I’d downed an entire large bottle of water, we set off for our next destination. It was a sacred place, and not because it was a Buddhist temple. No, it’s hallowed ground because it was a stop on my Amazing Race World Tour. As those who know me best, The Amazing Race is my favorite reality competition… as well as my destiny. Whenever my travels make an intersection with the places the Race has been, I like to visit and show my love. Thailand is one of the Race’s favorite destinations and since I was going to be in the area… I had to make a detour to get a few pics.

As we rode in the open truck taxi (mode number 2 of 4 on my Thailand transportation wish list), I just played the Amazing Race theme over and over on my iPod.

Off to the Tiger Temple!!!

When we arrived at the Tiger Temple, we were greeted with an almost safari-like experience. We saw a camel, reindeer, ponies, boar, and water buffalo. There were also peacocks that pretty much kept Kate’s attention for about 3 minutes (just like showing her shiny things). Shelli and Kate got a lesson in wildlife etiquette when a pony that didn’t want to be touched tried to kick her.

But the best part of the Tiger Temple was actually getting up close and personal with the vicious beasts.

You can't get much closer than this!

Craig taming the wild beast!

It's just like my puppy!!!

This tiger seems ready to eat dinner... and Jim's on the menu!

The guides lead you around and you are able to get your picture with a real, live sedated tiger… granted, the sedated part is unsubstantiated. Afterwards, we went and saw the younger tigers. I got my picture taken with a 6-month old cub. It was so cute.

It wouldn't hurt a fly... i think!

When the tiger started getting restless and began to stand, there was no reason to be alarmed, but I was to quickly stand up and move away gingerly. Look at me… in the middle of danger! Of course, I’d never do the things these monks tried… like yanking a tiger hard by the collar or hitting one on the nose with a water bottle. This is what it did to that water bottle:

Umm... I'm thankful I'm not that bottle!

It was finally time to go, but not before we had to cross a bridge and answer 3 questions posed to us by the goat that was blocking the exit gate. Little did we know that these would be the least frightening animal encounters we’d experience today.

We made our way back to the guesthouse and got changed for dinner. We revisited our favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant and were not disappointed once again. The guys went to play pool while the girls did Lord knows what. All I know is that I had 3 AMAZING shots that left Jim and Craig speechless. Maybe it’s because I’d sucked the whole game and actually doubled the number of balls I’d gotten into the pocket all night.

Then the ladies arrived and interrupted our game with unimportant decision-making questions like: “How do you want to get transport back to Bangkok and on to Ko Samet tomorrow?” They got miffed when we didn’t want to answer and claimed they were making all the decisions on this trip. What did they expect? I mean, we couldn’t be bothered. We were in the middle of an important male bonding sport: pool. Finally, we gave them an “appropriate” response and they let us get back to our game while they went shopping. Honestly, I don’t even know what we agreed to. For all I know, we could end up being dumped in Burma.

A little while later, Jim, Craig and I decided to take a stroll down the strip in search of some local night life. One awkward prostitute’s proposition later, we’d had enough. Of course, Craig was a little jealous the girl only hit on Jim and me. But that’s only because he’s the invisible Asian guy in our group of white males.

We made our way to the local night market, but not before being attacked by a killer dog. We found the ladies at the market, but they didn’t know it. A few stalker-ish photos and videos later (come on… we walked right next to them and they didn’t even notice us), we decided to head back… even though Jim didn’t get his ginormous Thai watch.

On the way home, we were almost attacked by the same dog and Craig would have been the bait whilst Jim and I ran. Before we returned to the guesthouse, we stopped at 7/11 to pick up a few supplies. As we were returning to our place of rest, we interrupted an angry dog convention and once again barely got away with our lives.

We settled in for the night, reflecting on the relaxing day we’d had… and realizing that maybe we should steer clear of the animal population from now on.

Tags: Amazing Race, frightening animals, Kanchanaburi, pool, River Kwai, shopping, Tiger Temple, tigers, wildlife