Got picked up in bangkok at 7am by good times travel company..........arrived on time and with large , new airconditioned van that easily fit 8 of us and luggage.......had driver and guide, both were funny and had good english....made our next 3 days very enjoyable,

Headed for the floating markets , about 1.5 hours from bangkok, and boarded a logtail boat to discover them.they go sooooo fast!...bought some spring rolls, and deep fried bananas for breakfast and enjoyed our hour here.Next, went to wood carving centre( about 30 min away).just amazing the skill and time some of this stuff takes. From here went to kanchana buri, and checked in at motel.river kwai hotel....not bad for $35 night for 2 people including buffet breakfast.......then went to floating restaurant right under bridge for lunch.Walked acrosss the bridge, started to rain while on it , so kids ran back..we decided towait for it to stop, or catch small train back- well it didn't stop , it got heavier, and small trains doors all locked, so got very wet walking back, though i was greeted with an umbrella about half way back. Tour guides got out towels for us to dry ourselves, then reorganized so we could go to the war museum next. in the dry.Jeath war museum very moving.rain now eased, so we catch a longtail boat up to a viewpoint of river, past monkeys, and explore a cave with temples inside , also where the japanese used to stora ammunition and armaments while building railway.

Next we drove about 40 min to raft on the river kwai on tom sawyer type rafts,,,,,,,,very peaceful and beautiful, but still raining a little.....at the end , they transported us to the elephant camp in the back of a ute......fun but a bit cold, as we were quite wet from the rain!!!

Elephant trek was great, up and down hill, with 1 mahout jumping off and patting his elephants rump, saying "go eleephant", then singing " in the jungle".......near the end they let us ride the elephants on their necks,,,,,,not as easy as it looks. , but great fun.After this we changed into swimmers, and went down to the river to bathe with the elephants. 1 mahout and 1 person go into river , and the elephant fully submerges while you sit on it. They then give you cleaner and brush and you scrub their heads , before submerging again......this worried me alittle, as due to cancer on nose operation 2 weeks before, i could not get it wet.i nearly died when elephant went so far under that only my neck was out of water, but it was a great adventure,We were then served a great dinner by the river, and got back to our hotel about 8pm , and very tired, so had an early night.

day 6

got picked up at 8am after huge breakfast, and drove about 45 min to erawan waterfall.........this was a total surprise just how beautiful each level was......we visited the first 4 levels and swam in the clear blue water from the limestone at levels 3 and 4........got nibbled by fish, and saw a python swimming at level 1........just a beautiful place!!!Next , drove back for lunch near train station, then had ride on local train on death railway.......great views...we got off just before wooden bridge built during war, and walked over this. Van than drove us to tiger temple, but on the way, we saw monkeys on the side of the road , so stopped to feed one,,,,,,,than alla of a sudden about 30 monkeys came from nowhere!!!!. .....continued on , and had photos with baby tiger and large tigers.all included in entrance price....was a good experience,though very hot!!!last stop for this day was war cemetry we had missed the day before because of rain, then back to hotel for swim , cocktails, and went out for dinner,. Decided to have dinner at the cowboy bar, as they had a live band that was entertaining, but this got even funnier when the band stopped and the interval entertainment came out....."the kanchanburi cowboys"...2 thai guys with guitar and banjo that stated singing cowboy songs, but progressed into hava nagila".........we had a ball singing along...i think we embarassed the kids!!!!

day7

big buffet breakfast again, checked out , and vanand driver took us back to bangkok airport to catch our plane to phuket.

good times travel was superb company,,,,,,,,very informative and fun, and reorganised parts of our trip due to some rain......even got the raft company to stay open late as we were running about 1.5 hours late..........guides name was anna.....she was just adelight. Whole 3 day trip including all meals , accomadation,entrance fees, petrol etc was 5400bht each from bangkok..............it was bargain for such great adventure , and all so easy......we highly recommend them

next part of journey is on phuket forum.........