Two Days in Kanchanaburi

Day 1

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

Immaculately Kept

So many young POWs died building the Burma/Thailand railway - very moving

Bridge Over The River Kwai

Resting Long Boats (speed long boats)

An original peg - can you spot the 1940 stamp? It was the only one on the bridge

Wanted to buy one of these and create a shelter for sleeping in the form of an arched roof so that I could travel SE Asia on the water. They cost just STG.228

The first morning I got up (still really happy to be ON the water - just like a boat) and had my favourite breakfast: yogurt, fruit & muesli. I had thought about my day's route the evening before, contemplating renting a bicycle but I woke up full of steam and did something quite different. Yes another one of the 'on the list of things to do'.... I walked to the end of the hotel drive and rented a motorcycle. Besides learning how to Tango (really Tango) in Argentina and how to surf in Central America I also want to learn how to ride a motorbike on this trip. Well Mum, its better than getting a Tattoo ..eh no?! :)

My lesson consisted of twice up and down the 20-odd metre hotel drive and then I was sent off on my way!! 150Baht/day, not a bad investment. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how legit all this is, the bike was a moped with gears... does that still constitute as a motorcycle? Calling all motorcycle buddies, what do you think?

This is how kids travel in Thailand


Going back to my motorcycle experience: my first stop was the petrol station followed by the Death Railway Museum and the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, I managed the petrol station fine but 5 mins later I took a wrong turn - approximately 15mins into 'driving a motor for the first time', I find myself in a market!! The pathway was about a metre wide (and was a regular motorcycle throughway) I was quite amused and feared for their safety! I wish I had pictures of myself on this beast but unfortunately that's the downfall of solo days.

See what I mean - Check out that motorcycle and the market corridor

I left the market to return for Lunch and photo ops later that day. Other than that I went to the above mentioned sites, the Bridge over the River Kwai and a couple of other really unappealing local attractions such as the Monkey School. ...I think hanging out with Joanna for a month may have turned me into somewhat of an animal conservationist. Ha Jumpy you see!!! You did good. Thanks for your message, miss you too. (For those of you who have just tuned in, Jumpy got her nickname on the beaches of the turtle conservation project - she'd jump at anything, crab walked past us, a bug flew too close etc hehe it was funny.)

BTW the war cemetery is immaculately kept and very sad, the majority of men buried there were boys in their early 20's. On the bridge I walked the whole length looking down at the track and I found one original 1940 peg. (pic above)

The Jolly Frog Hotel - Lawn

Sunset from my Porch (sundowner's deck opposite)

More Sunset

Outside the jolly Frog Hotel there's the Jolly Good Massage! Made me laugh - looks more like Bugibba

Lunch at Market - Sort of Dim Sum Thai Spinach and the other I wasn't sure but GOOD!

My Lunch box - one of each, helmet and toes :)

Just in case the first shot didn't show just how narrow that path was! :)

Anyone for crabs?

Or maybe you prefer frogs?

...water snakes for your main course!

ehh nah... :) These are the friends I made at the Market & other shots

Day 2

On day 2 I signed up for a day trip which turned out to be incredible. I met some great people: Henry, Patricia, Connor, Andrea, Darrel, and Matt. We went (OK a little non PC on the conservation front) Elephant trekking, River Rafting (FANTASTIC), hiked up to the 7th: highest and most beautiful waterfall at the Erawan Waterfalls (Erawan National Park) and finally we rode the railway through Hellfire Pass. Matt and I hit it off straight a way having been naturally thrown together being the two singletons - so we did the rafting & elephant trekking together, he was a lot of fun. Following on from a full and fabulous day, including the fact that I managed to convince our Irishman (most funny guy (Connor) on the trip) into believing that Evian bottled their water at the Erawan Falls hehehe, we all met up for dinner. Most people left town today and I just heard from Matt - it looks like he may join me on the Gibbon experience in Laos.

OK folks that's all for now... :) boy is this blog is time consuming (I've posted too many pics!!) but fun to do. Enjoy the pics and speak soon. I've arrived in Ayutthaya and I'm off to look for a nice restaurant for dinner.

T xx

In order of the day:

Our Elephant saying 'Hello'

Everything about the trunk is hard, I expected a soft wet trunk end but afraid not they're as hard as a rock!

The Wave Good Bye

The Rafting was simply fantastic - you can't see it but the current was strong

(end of the dry season so no rapids (thank Canon God!) Yep was a little worried about taking the camera along.

Connor and Andrea on the left and Darrel on the right

Matt's on the left (is it just me or does he look 25 to you?) Henry and Patricia on the right

'Ere we go!

Would you believe it Matt's just qualified as a Chiropractor - he's heading to London Girls and his first stop is Earls Court to stay with his pal in town.... small world eh!

Erawan Falls - Prayer tree

The Park Keepers

Fall # 2

Fall # 4

Fall # 7 - The water was fresh and the fish in there nibble you- really nibble you and it hurts!!

On the train at Hellfire's Pass - Henry & Patricia (a Great Dutch Couple)

Called Hellfire's because a) it was really hard to build all the bridges that hug the cliff edge b) they'd be made to work at night and the name comes from the shapes made by the fire torches - Practically every man that worked on this section of the track died. 100,000 boys/men died building this railway track.

That monk gave me two Buddhist pendants

The train was pretty fast