I slept reasonably well despite there being essentially no difference between the mattress and the floor. We left at 08:30 for Hellfire Pass, which is a cutting through a rocky outcrop that was dug by POWs. The work continued night and day, and during the night flaming torches were used to illuminate the area, casting flickering shadows of malnourished prisoners on the grey rock. This led to the nickname ‘hellfire’. The museum on the site was excellent, with many well written and presented exhibits, a model of the railway, and a short video. It concentrated mostly on the Australian POWs, since the museum is financed by the Australian government. The pass itself is now devoid of any railway, and in fact has a big tree growing up from the floor of the cutting. Two kilometers from the hellfire pass, we reached the riverbank and launched the kayaks that we had brought with us. Initially I had a single one, until I realised that my arms obviously weren’t cut out for this sort of thing. I switched with Charlotte and got a spot in one of the doubles. The other occupant of my kayak was a guide who was really starting to get on my nerves by calling my name all the time for no apparent reason, and Lorna’s even more often.

We passed various dragonboats, but the banks were mostly undeveloped. In one place there was a luxury floating hotel called the ‘Jungle Rafts’, consisting of a series of brightly decorated rooms (each one was actually a boat), all joined together in a long chain with the restaurant in the middle. It was covered from end to end in flowering plants, and looked great. In contrast a couple of miles further on there was one of the ugliest hotels I’ve seen standing on the riverbank, and I’m told it was 5-star. I wouldn’t stay there.

Lorna was having trouble backpaddling – only because the guide hadn’t told her how to do it, and as my guide barked orders at her that were supposed to be ‘back left’, but actually sounded a lot like ‘right left’, she disappeared behind a bush. The guide sharing my kayak turned us around to head upstream, and I realised how strong the current was. Both of us paddling hard only just managed to get the kayak moving very slowly back up the river. I wasn’t too worried initially, but when I saw Lorna’s paddle float out from our side of the bush, I realised that she must have capsised and might be stuck under the bush. We eventually pulled alongside to find her hanging on to a branch as water surged past her on both sides.

The guide’s attitude was not helping matters – he barked orders at her, then when she was safe told her she had obviously not followed his instructions properly. I told him to calm down. He didn’t understand me but at least he’d stopped shouting at Lorna, who was very close to telling him something he would definitely understand.

At last we arrived at the elephant station, though docking proved to be quite a problem as Lorna and Charlotte overshot the mark. Charlotte managed to fight her way back upstream, though it took her a while. Lorna was towed back by the second guide, who was fortunately a lot nicer than his collegue.

Seating on the elephants was quite comfy. The seats rocked from left to right as the elephant walked.

Back in the kayaks again, this time I was with Steve, Lorna with the rude guide and Charlotte and Sue going it alone. it didn’t take long to reach the final stop where we all beached successfully and put the kayaks back on the truck. The driver drove like a madman and got us back in Kanchanaburi in about 45 minutes. Nice one.

Not fast enough though – we’d missed the sunset again. The picture I got of the bridge yesterday will have to do.