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We've met some interesting people in Kanchanaburi. We met one guy from London who didn't realise that there was a problem with AIDS in Thailand (and had spent many a night having unprotected sex at Brothels). We also played pool with a middle aged couple from Canada, "Rog and Barb", who were loud and annoying enough to be American. They said that they had never heard of the rule that if you commit a foul shot, then the other person gets two shots (because in Canada they play it differently) - this despite the fact that the guy lived in Australia for a number of years. The guy then said it must be one of those rules like they have in "No Rules Football", an extremely lame pun on Australian Rules Football. To make them more annoying, the guy was a close talker, constantly invading my personal space (to the point that his nose was almost touching my chin) and would just stare at me until i gave a satisfactory response to any questions he had for me (unless he decided to answer them himself of course). Thankfully, they eventually went away.

We also got talking to an English guy who was lying on the beach in Phuket when the Tsunami hit. When I say lying, he actually passed out on the beach the night before. He said that the first thing he knew about the Tsunami was waking up and being pinned against a wall by the tidal wave. He was still drunk and it took him a while to register what was happening. The wall he was pinned against collapsed and he was underwater for a while before being pinned against another wall of a building. Fortuantely for him, there were people on the top of that building and they pulled him to safety. When the tidal waves subsided, he walked to his hotel and saw that it was lying on top of a big pile of rubble. He deciede to climb the rubble and try to retrieve his stuff. He climbed to the top and realised that the hotel was a mangled wreck that was likely to collapse at any moment. Nonetheless, he retrieved most of his stuff (while the building was making an uncomfortable amount of creaking sounds) and made his way down the rubble.

He also mentioned that he had been travelling (and working very little) for the last seven years. During that time he went to Australia - with only $60 AUD in his bank account on a "tourist" visa for three months. Customs decided to question him quite throughly. At one point they asked him "Do you have a criminal record?" - to which he replied "Nah, I didn't realise that you still needed one." They eventually let him go. He ended up staying in Australia for 18 months.

This guy had also been to Pakistan. While there, he went to a movie theatre that was showing "Austin Powers". Apparently, the movie was edited so that there was no revealing flesh. Also, only guys were allowed in. During the movie, the Pakistani guys just talked the whole time, except when Elizabeth Hurley came on screen. Then, the theatre went silent. When she went off the screen, they started talking again. During the course of the movie, men with torches would walk along the isles and shine them on the laps of the guys in the cinema to see if they were masterbating. Interesting.

He was also in Pakistan right next to it's border with Afghanistan on September 11, 2001. He said that it was more Afghani than Pakistani. While him and his brother were walking around, a guy came up to saying "Did you see Bomb? BOMB!" - to which he replied, "eh, no". They walked along a bit further and saw a group of guys crowding around a shop window that contained numerous TV's. The men were chanting "Osama! Osama! Osama!" over and over again. After a few more people came up to them and asked about the bomb, they decided that perhaps something bad had happened and went back to the hotel. They found out what had occured and realised that they had to leave the country immediately.

They took the first bus out of there that was going to India. They were the only white guys on the bus. The rest of the bus was talking quite loud, and the only thing they could understand was "Osama", "Bomb" and "American Bastard", the latter usually being accompanied by hand gestures in their general direction.

The bus made a stop to refuel and everyone got out. The two guys were then surrounded by everyone else on the bus and were told that they were "American Bastards" and were interogated along the following lines:
Pakistani's : You know BOMB!?
British Guys : Bomb? What Bomb?
Pakistani's : You know Osama!? OSAMA!
British Guys : Os who?
Pakistani's : OSAMA!!!
British Guys : Osmoi?
Pakistani's : OSAMA!!!!!
British Guys : Osmama? Never heard of him.
Pakistani's : Ok, why you leave.
British Guys : Visa ran out.
Pakistani's : YOU ARE AMERICAN BASTARD!!
British Guys : Eh, no we're English actually.
etc...
Basically by pleading ignorance, they avoided getting harmed. Some people just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time everytime.