7 tier waterfalls and bridges over the River Kwai

1st waterfall at Erawan national park

Busy morning with only time for toast and luke warm river water, sorry, I mean coffee, for breakfast. Picked up at 8am for a trip up to Erawan national park to see their 7 tiers of waterfalls.

In actual fact it spreads down over 2km and there are loads of smaller falls but the impressive bits are the 1-7. They are so super clear and turquoise at some levels and the others are amazing high drop falls! Impressive seeing as its dry season! The one thing they all have in common is the feet nibbling fish...we 're not talking little itsy bitsy nibblers here like you get i the shops at home, we're the talking super sized on-steroids gannets variety! And sqillions of them!!

Hot Liss in the jungle!

After 2 1/2hrs of steep climbing and very nearly reaching the fifth level, we'd all had anough in 35 degrees heat so decamped back down the levels, stopping for a brief diving session in the 3rd waterfall pool for the boys and went to meet our guide for lunch. Pad Thai and Fried rice with fresh local watermelon and pineapple for pud...yum!

Hell fire pass with one single tree that has grown

Next stop was the Hellfire Pass and its museum. During WWII 60,000 prisoners of war and 200,000 Thais were put to work carving a 400km railway from Bangkok to Burma through the mountains. They were worked for 18hr days with no breaks or water and if the heat and humidity was anything like today, it would have been unbearable within minutes. The hardest part to carve was this section.

The hellfire pass was so called as they had to work in candle light and the shadows the gaunt prisoners working cast on the slopes they were cutting through looked like a real life hell. There were lots of poppies dotted randomly in the rock faces, very poignant. 100,000 of these guys died... Cemetery visit on monday

Last visit of the day was a trip on an old rickety Thai train on a part of the railway these prisoners of war built, about 50km away from the pass. It was the part of the line that the highest death rates while being built...it's easy to see why when you see how its built and where it sits. The only hospital along the 400km sat at the start of this bridge...

We couldn't get to the film version "real" bridge over the river kwai today but we passed plenty of others and saw it in the distance!

The train was hot, uncomfy and bumpy but just fab...where else could you stand on the steps of the doorway leaning out to take pics of people further along while moving along the bridge 30m above the river??!

Sunset dip in the pool back at the guesthouse and dinner out at a different cafe tonight, cost us an extortionate £7 total for us all to eat and drink. Kids shattered, hot, grumpy at times but seem to be loving it so far :-)