Cola Hotel Kanchanaburi

... and a few other farang including a dutch bloke who spends most of the year in thailand and an english and welsh bloke, all buying each other drink and having a laugh. Got some wicked photos and had a ball. They took the **** about Scottish blokes being tight and only buying a round because it was 10 baht a drink.

Then we moved over to another bar (Sugars Place ...

... They look like the most beautiful women you have ever seen, but at closer look you see that their bottoms are men’s bottoms, their breasts are fake, but wow…they are more feminine then myself!

A seven and a half hour bus ride later and I find myself in Sangklaburi….my new home for the next two years….Katy are I are here for my placement visit to visit the organisations I will be working for, and find me a place to live, set up a bank account and ...

... you're trying to pet them and play with them. We also learned the hard way that they will stalk you from behind and pounce on you when you're sitting down. I now have a good bite mark on my back from one of them. It'll cool if I have a scar from being bit by a tiger cub. They love to play and love being fed. You get to feed them a bottle of milk and the cub even held out a paw for me to hold, it was so cute. The monastery is undergoing a project to expand the sanctuary to ...

... pockets of friends, mostly girls on one side and guys on the other, just standing while the music is playing. And the only people on the dance floor are a few crazy kids trying to dance as ridiculous as possible. Yep that’s about it. And we had to be there chaperoning it for 4 hours! Now they were playing some good music like T.I. and Flo Rida, but no Soundgarden or Boys II Men, so the music selection was just average. And yes, the music that is popular in America is popular in ...

... original track was still there, a moden one had been built either side of it. You could also see the original part of the bridge and the newer part that was rebuilt after it was bombed. There were platforms built on either side off the track hanging over the river so if a train came you could stand there and wave. I wasnt keen on walking along it, you could see the river way below through the gaps. But you ...

... that sits over a little pond. If possible, the food was even better this time and I ate and drank until my belly distended. All the veggie dishes were amazing and each had a different flavor. There was the dark brown peppery soup with tofu the size and shape of marshmallows, the eggplant and onion dish that was full of cilantro, the rigatoni-sized lotus root that was nice and spicy, and some other bok choi-like green that was my favorite. I slept a happy man...

... is a very moving atmosphere there, a fitting memorial to the men that died during the construction. Also visited the Erawan waterfalls in the area, 7 tiers of turquoise waterfalls, all very pretty but it was soooo humid that a swim was definitely in order (had to dodge the evil nibbling fish though!!!). All in all an interesting side trip and very different from the manic-ness of Bangkok. Off to see some ruins now :)

... to the beach after Kanchanaburi instead of heading up north for more historical sightseeing. I'm debating between 3 islands near each other, all of which have snorkeling and 2 of which have yoga. The yoga was a big draw in coming here although I've had trouble finding it, so the presence of reasonably priced yoga may have already made my decision for me. Of course, you'll know soon enough what it is.

We are know in kanchanaburi. Got there on friday. Had to get a taxi a very long way in the end to the bus station, no one seemed to no where it was which was odd. Got a ticket to kanchanaburi, once the bus was moving they checked the tickets and told us that we were on the wrong bus so we ended up paying twice. Now mayb the busses work like that but to me, if you have two number 81 buses leaving for kanchanaburi at the same time then its not very clear. It may have been a ...

... the giant reclining Budha - it really is very big! That night I said goodbye to Katie and Izzy who are continuing on an intrepid tour down to Asia. I am on my own again - boo! It was great fun hanging out with them and doing the tour together so I am sure we will meet up again when am back in the uk. The next day I went on a day trip to Kanchanaburi where the bridge over the river Kwai is. I dont really remember much of the story behind it so it was a learning ...