Busy in Kanchanaburi
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2006
1
73
75
Trip End
May 17, 2007
Kanchanaburi,
Thailand
Monday, May 14, 2007
Luckily the Jolly Frog has a really nice garden area on the River Kwai with hammocks and chairs, perfect for nursing the hangover in the sun on Tuesday. That was as productive as that day got thankfully.
However, by Wednesday I was ready for action (despite another sore head). I hired a motorbike for 150baht and made my way to the Tourist Information place to get a map and work out what I was going to do. After a very helpful chat I hit the road to see some less-visited attractions. First stop was Wat Tham Mungkornthong, a temple in a cave that has a floating nun. I was the only person there, with the exception of the bats that insisted on swooping past my head every few seconds. Cheeky sods. After that I drove through a military gate, into the army's training centre for horses. I was there because apparently there was an impressive tree (that's right, and impressive tree!) in the grounds. I'm not too sure I was meant to bee there to be honest, but they didn't shoot me so I guess it was ok. Oh yeah, and the tree was massive! After my tree-loving, I drove back into town and visited the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, which is a really good museum explaining the history of the railway, the Bridge over River Kwai, and about the Prisoners of War involved in building them. This museum is right next to the Donrak War Cemetary, which holds 6982 graves of POWs that died in the making of the railway. Very sad! Next stop on this mammoth tourist day was the War Museum, which was crap, and then the ACTUAL Bridge over River Kwai. Last stop for the day was the JEATH Museum, which was also pretty rubbish. I felt very impressed with myself after doing so much in one day!
Thursday was also productive. I convinced Wayne and Diane to get motorbikes too, and we drove 65km out to the Erawan Waterfalls. These waterfalls are soooo nice, with 7 tiers over 1.5km, 3 of which you can swim in. At the same time monkeys fly overhead, scoping potential thefts from tourists. We had a cool time there, but just as we were leaving the heavens opened. We ended up stopping undercover for some food to let the rain pass as we were soaked. We all invested in some sexy ponchos and hit the road after a while - we looked like absolute idiots, as the looks from locals confirmed! Ah well, they served their purpose.
Friday was a recovery day from 2 days of sight-seeing. Wayne and Diane moved on too. I just chilled for a few days, and partied a bit. We got a group of people together on Friday and Saturday night, and hit the local club Glitzy. It's not a place full of farang, which I always like, and it even had a few famous Thai actors there when we went. There was a live band, and we had a quality time, with the exception of one idiot Thai guy who decided to try and argue with me for no reason. Luckily some Thai girl came and saved the day, and drove me back to the guesthouse. She said she new the man, and said it was a good idea not to stay!!!! Korp kewn krup tee-rak,
I jumped on the train back to Bangkok on Sunday to do my final bits of shopping before my epic trip comes to an end. Reality beckons, and I don't think I like it....
