Krungsri River Hotel Kanchanaburi

... Thai massage back near our hostel. I had wanted to get one since I've been here, even though I had heard some mixed reviews. It was quite the interesting experience (see previous post for details) but I am really glad I did it. I definitely need at least one more while I'm here to compare, although I dont know if I'd do too many more. 

Another very successful weekend even if we still havent gotten the knack for quick travels. I'm sure it will come with time...

... Needless to say, I felt a lot further away from home than any other time, and was consoled by some poor Australian sheep farmer.  I am keeping it together pretty well and have all the faith in the world that I will see him here in Sangklaburi in a few months. But I have had a slight shift on reality, and am realizing his strength and my own more than ever.  

Back in Chiang Mai I sat through and persisted with my Thai classes. We also had medical and emergency ...

... Noi Waterfall. We walked up a little way on a cute path before coming to the most stunning waterfall I've ever been to, and that's no exaggeration. I couldn't even get all of it in a picture but it was incredible. You can climb up and slide around, with a deep pool to swim in that's just the right temperature. Behind the falls were some crazy caves I went into, with these cone-like formations above me dripping water. The rocks were really shiny and weird colors, I'm not ...

... this consisted of was 12 different obstacle courses through the woods, such as a rope walk, cargo net climb, etc. Now I was really pumped up for this because not only am I crazy competitive, but I have been taking some spinning and body pump classes and was feeling really jacked up. But it turns out the chaperones were really just the coaches! So I passed on my enthusiasm to my team. There were 11 teams total consisting of about 12 students each team and ever team complete the ...

... Kwai. Having got tickets for 100tb (1.50 sterling) each we found our seats that were broken, having been re-located to new seats we settled down, only for the ticket lady to tell us all to get off and wait on the platform for the train coming in. We waited and waited and then our original train left! We boarded the new one and hoped we wouldnt be going to Bangkok. Luckly we didnt. The sights from our window ...

... but they thinned out the further we went up the trail.

As I said there are seven main falls. We made it up to the fourth one and then there is a bit of a hike to get to the fifth series. It was so hot and humid that I thought my bones were going to jump out of my skin and go for a dip themselves. The air hung on you like a wet blanket and there was just no relief, outside of swimming as the water was the perfect cool temperature to make life enjoyable ...

... a blank white plastic packet and swallowed the contents. I speculated that it was some kind of James-Bond-style buoyancy device that would help her rise over the water.

Oh the disappointment. The lady entered the water, took a deep breath, and just lay there a bit below the surface. Then she turned over and lay on her front for about 20 seconds. At this stage I was still ...

... few monks and local people were looking after BABY TIGERS on leashes. You may be able to guess that these things are absolutely adorable. We could all get close to them, see them play, pet them... OMG!! I love them. Next, a truck full of squash started moving slowly down the road next to our baby tigers. It emptied itself of the squash, and water buffalo and cows came running up to get it. We ...

... about 700 years ago but has recently been restored. We hired some bikes and cycled round all the temples in about 5 or 6 hours. It was a really good day, the temples themselves are all pretty amazing but most of all we just had a laugh messing around on the bikes. I think i may have broken the world record for riding a bike with no hands! Banj and Tiley have probably wrote about this in their blogs but it would be more like "Ben ...

... River Kwai, Chris even braved it and went for a swin of the floating deck. Laura didn't chance going in as Chris said that he could feel lots of river plants grabbing him round the ankles! We have both really enjoyed our time in Kanchanaburi, can't believe how cheap it is here compared to other tourist hotspots in Thailand. We both also feel like we are feeling coming to the end of our trip now, Bangkok next and then home :-(