River Kwai | Hello from the Five Star Vagabond

Everybody loves Thailand

June 30, 2020 by David Herd

Everybody loves Thailand

Everybody loves Thailand, the food, the people, the temples, the beach resorts, the tropical islands, it’s all here for you to enjoy. Lets not forget Bangkok, as they say in the song, one night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster. 🙂

We are going to start in the north at Chiang Mai & then head south all the way to Phuket, Krabi & Koh Samui. For each location I will give you links to my fabulous photo blogs. 🙂

A beautiful Chiang Mai Temple.

Good restaurants in Chaing Mai.

River Kwai Bridge Kanchanaburi

River Kwai Bridge Kanchanaburi was of special interest to me due to my late uncle Allan Herd, who spent 2 years as a POW on the Burma Railway. In fact I urge you to read his amazing story, you can find it by following this link which will take you to “One Soldiers Incredible Story”.

River Kwai photo blog.

Ayutthaya Historical Park Thailand

Just an hour north of Bangkok, there are lots of low price day tours you can take.

Ayutthaya Historical Park

Bangkok is known as “The Big Mango.”

What a fabulous city, home to over 10 million people. There are so many things to see you need to spend at least a week here. Here is a LINK for a very nice hotel in a great location, for a good discount just use THIS LINK.

However if you want a low cost hotel where all the action is please use THIS LINK. Rooms start at $25 USD per night.

Sirocco Sky Bar State Tower Bangkok

Bangkok Grand Palace

Bangkok’s number 1 attraction Reclining Buddha Wat Pho.

Soi Cowboy Bangkok playground

Pattaya 2 hours south of Bangkok

Beach side city with hundreds of good restaurants & clubs.

Beach Road Pattaya

Pattaya attractions

World famous Walking Street

Sanctuary of Truth.

Here is a LINK to get an excellent room rate at a very good hotel.

Koh Chang

Close to the Cambodian border this is the 2nd largest island in Thailand. A perfect place to enjoy crystal clear water & sandy beaches. Or just relax in the pool with an ice cold beer. 🙂

The Kacha hotel above is on the beach and close to lots of restaurants, use THIS LINK for a great room rate.

White sands beach Koh Chang.

Fabulous Koh Chang.

Phuket

Phuket, a mountainous island in the Andaman Sea, with some of Thailand’s most popular beaches, mainly situated along the clear waters of the western shore. Patong is the main resort town, it has many nightclubs, bars and discos.

Use THIS LINK for great hotel discounts & pay later.

Let your hair down in Phuket.

Krabi in southern Thailand.

Krabi, on southern Thailand’s west coast, has many craggy, sheer limestone cliffs, dense mangrove forests, and more than a hundred offshore islands. Some of its most popular beach destinations include the Phi Phi Islands.

Follow THIS LINK for more Krabi photos.

Beautiful Koh Samui

One of my favourite places in Thailand, lots of daily flights from Bangkok.

Restaurants on the north coast.

Taxi ride around Koh Samui

20 years of Koh Samui memories.

For a good discount on you hotel room just use THIS LINK.

Farewell folks

Thanks for visiting my Everybody loves Thailand photo blog. If you need any more tips just email to [email protected]

Soi Cowboy

Nana Plaza

Patpong

Everybody loves Thailand & don’t forget it. 🙂 🙂 🙂

https://fivestarvagabond.com/best-pattaya-beach-thailand-webcam/

Counter only started July 1st 2020

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River Kwai Bridge Kanchanaburi

February 19, 2015 by David Herd

The Burma Railway

River Kwai Bridge

River Kwai Bridge Kanchanaburi was of special interest to me due to my late uncle Allan Herd, who spent 2 years as a POW on the Burma Railway. In fact I urge you to read his amazing story, you can find it by following this link which will take you to “One Soldiers Incredible Story”.

War Museum

The war museum shows you how the poor prisoners lived and died at the hands of the brutal Japanese army and their incredibly cruel Korean guards.

Forgive but not forget

The sign outside the museum says it all.

River Kwai Bridge war graves

The cemetery is beautiful kept, I was really surprised by the diverse number of nationalities buried here as well as their ages, many were so young.

What a waste of lives

Forced labour was used in its construction. More than 180,000—possibly many more—Asian civilian labourers (romusha) and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these, estimates of romusha deaths are little more than guesses, but probably about 90,000 died. 12,621 Allied POWs died during the construction. The dead POWs included 6,904 British personnel, 2,802 Australians, 2,782 Dutch, and 133 Americans. After the end of World War II, 111 Japanese and Koreans were tried for war crimes because of their brutalization of POWs during the construction of the railway. 32 were sentenced to death

Some of the weapons

They look very ancient indeed.

River Kwai Bridge guard tower

That’s my brother Warren Herd inspecting the five star facilities.

Dheva Mantra Resort

We stayed at this very nice hotel on the river about 15 minutes walk to the bridge. Restaurants and rooms were good and a terrific pool area and grounds. Book the Dheva Mantra Resort here.