We take a rattling ride on the Death Railway to the end of the line at Pakseng – an exhilarating 30 minute boat ride through spectacular limestone gorges. Suddenly we are in a different world – primitive, turbulent and mysterious.

Notwithstanding the fear of the dreaded disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and the myriad, masked figures, Bangkok was as big, bright and beautiful as ever. Jayashree Menon, who braved the four-letter word, recently renewed her romance with the city.

It’s summer 2003 and a four-letter word has become the bane of our lives. The moment we announce that we are off to Bangkok, there is a general uproar amongst near and dear ones. ‘You must be joking’ and ‘You can’t be serious’ is the unanimous sentiment.

Someone goes as far as to suggest that we are on a suicide mission – en famille.

My hitherto gung-ho disposition deserts me after a doomsday call from my harried father-in-law, chilling me with facts and figures culled from the BBC no less.

“Maybe Sri Lanka will be better…” I suggest tremulously.

“Bangkok it is and Bangkok it will be,” my husband roars.

His logic is simple. We live in Mumbai. We travel. We inhale god knows what every day. We eat veggies grown beside railway tracks and we do know what nourishes those.

We have battle-scarred immune systems. Are we going to give up our holiday for something called SARS?

And so we go where nobody from a paranoid world is willing to go. To Bangkok.

We eagerly look around for masked figures. We see none. Our son, Aneesh, all of 12, is sorely disappointed having envisioned a Gotham lookalike city with masked figures running amuck.

Since most tourists have succumbed to the fear of the dreaded SARS, we have a city all to ourselves. Notwithstanding the traffic jams and the one-way streets, we set out to explore and enjoy and eat.

We have decided that this is Aneesh’s holiday as much as ours and so a destination that is infamous for its X-rated adult delights turns into a pre-teen paradise.

World Trade Centre, with its ice skating rink, becomes a daily pilgrimage spot. While son skates for a few hours and husband chills (literally) watching over him, I am told I am free to shop, an activity both the men in my life dislike intensely and one that I cannot live without.

And Bangkok offers some of the greatest shopping this side of the planet. Besides, as the Baht is only slightly more than the rupee, it means that even Indians, much used to stretching pounds and dollars to thrifty limits, can live and spend in Bangkok, if not like kings, at least like minor league princes.

I do the rounds of all the shopping malls, big and small, but the one that turns me on most is MBK Centre, just off Siam Square. It’s big, bright and buzzing. My Cinderella-like feet have ensured I can never in this lifetime hope to emulate Ms Marcos. But at MBK, glory be, I find the trendiest, funkiest pairs while Aneesh gets himself a pair of wheelies – shoes that double up as skates – and we’re in sole paradise.

And yet not a mask in sight.

Elephants and Orangutans

On the sightseeing front, it’s only after paying obeisance to all the Buddhas in the city – big, small, reclining, gold, jade – that we venture outside the city.

The various animal shows at Safari World are great fun, especially the orangutans kick boxing, the sea lions playing basketball and, of course, the utterly loveable dolphins and beluga whales leaping skywards.

There are photo ops with various creatures and Aneesh gets clicked with owl, macaw, tiger cub, while the entire family poses with an orangutan!

The Samphran elephant ground and zoo is disappointing in comparison. While the elephant theme show has the pachyderms showing off all their skills in caparisoned finery, the crocodile wrestling event is a big yawn with somnolent crocs literally being kicked awake to reveal their fearsome molars.

Although we see hordes of people at both Safari World and Samphran, including an Indian tour group, everybody appears to enjoy remarkably robust immune systems and there are no telltale masks.

The visit to the Damnoen Sadauak Floating Market has us out and about at the unearthly – for a holiday – time of 6.30 a.m., since we have to travel almost 80 km southwest of the city and the market is only active in the mornings till 11 a.m.

We get into a long fishtail boat and drift down the waterway, while other boats, laden with everything from fruit to jumbo prawns, jostle alongside. If you want to buy something, you indicate as much to your boat woman and she gently nudges her boat towards the sellers’. We eat, we drink and it seems to be an idyllic way of life except for the sun beating mercilessly down and I wonder at the peachy perfect skins of all the boat women.

Cabbages and Safe Sex

Though we have been eating nonstop since our arrival, one restaurant stands out.

A free vasectomy from the clinic next door is one of the perks for males dining at Cabbages and Condoms, a restaurant with a major theme of condoms! The world’s largest collection of national brands is displayed around the walls and the carpet has cartoons of typical condoms for various professions woven into the fabric. Instead of an after-dinner mint, all diners get a condom with coffee!

In the adjoining gift shop, bouquets of condoms stand in vases next to piles of T-shirts emblazoned with the message, ‘Cabbages and Condoms, our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy’.

Proceeds from the sale of these thingummies and the restaurant’s meals are given to the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), a non-profit organisation founded in 1974 by Mechai Viravaidya, the former Thai minister of health.

There are five Cabbages and Condoms restaurants located around Thailand, with the main restaurant next door to the PDA head office in Sukhumvit, Bangkok.

Later, eschewing Pattaya, Phuket and other touristy spots, we choose to spend a night at Jungle Rafts, River Kwai.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

We drive northwest to the town of Kanchanaburi. We reach the bridge on the river Kwai, made immortal by the film. Still in use today, it was the target of frequent Allied bombing raids in 1945 and was rebuilt after the war ended. The bridge, a horrific testament to human brutality, ironically is one of Thailand’s major tourist attractions. Strolling down the bridge, history assails us.

As the Japanese powered their way through Thailand into Burma, they needed a supply line for their advancing troops. Using POWs and civilian conscripts, they adopted a barbaric work regime that saw the completion of the 415 km Thai-Burma railway line in one year, rather than the three it was estimated to take. A staggering six thousand men lost their lives while building the line which came to be known as the Death Railway.

We visit the JEATH War Museum, an unusual thatched-roof structure reminiscent of an Allied prisoners of war camp, displaying POW photos and memorabilia.

As we stand in silence before the rows of gravestones at the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, we notice the national flags fluttering overhead. Our Indian tiranga stands tall, a moving testimony to the number of Indians who lost their lives building the infamous railway. I take a closer look at the gravestones and want to weep – the age of the dead is mind numbingly young; the average is barely 23.

We opt for a tour of Hellfire Pass, so named because of the gaunt shadows cast by torchlight as the workers dug through the night. Hellfire Pass took just 12 weeks to complete, the tools available were staggeringly basic; one reason why 70 per cent of the cutting workforce were dead by the time the job was done.

It’s time to move on. From Kanchanaburi, we take a rattling ride on the Death Railway to the end of the line at Pakseng. Now comes the fun part – an exhilarating 30 minute boat ride through the unquiet river winding through spectacular limestone gorges. Clusters of brilliantly coloured birds soar overhead as our boat ventures deeper into the wild heart of the jungle.

Suddenly we are in a different world – primitive, turbulent and mysterious.

We reach the River Kwai.

Jungle Rafts and gape in delight at the rows of rafts bobbing gently on the river. Each raft is complete with its own room, sun deck and mini garden.

The river looks cool and enticing and my husband, Bobby, dives off our deck. But, the current is strong and almost sweeps him off. He barely manages to hang on to the home raft while I shout the house down for help. It takes two hefty Norwegians – fellow guests – to pull him out and as he lies panting, I shudder and decide to stick to more prosaic activities like trekking and exploring.

As Day Fades into Night

Moored as we are in the middle of the river, we can touch terra firma only after braving a small, extremely rickety bamboo bridge that takes us to the nearest Mon village.

The resort is notable for the relationship it has established with the village, populated by descendants of the ancient Mon people. Tourism has enabled the traditional dance and life style to survive here. As day fades into night and the mood of the river becomes more reflective, the magical notes of Mon music echo through the stillness. We enjoy an exuberant dance performance that evening.

Although we spend just one night here, there are activities aplenty for those staying longer. (See box.)

Accommodation on the rafts is simple, charming and comfortable. The food is great. There is just one catch – there is no electricity and since we, townies used to AC comfort, are here at the height of summer, sleep evades us. On the flip side, with the gentle flickering of lanterns, we feel more attuned to the peaceful river and the silence of the forest.

On our return to Bangkok there is the flurry of last minute shopping. I am determined to carry back local fruit – rambutan, mangosteen, longan – also in spite of Bobby’s mutterings on ‘excess luggage’ – a few coconuts.

At the airport, we are told Air-India pilots are refusing to fly to SARS afflicted countries and flights are being cancelled. With much cajoling we manage to catch an outbound flight of our national carrier by the skin of our teeth. As the flight takes off, Aneesh points out excitedly. Two passengers across the aisles are wearing masks!