Kanchanaburi

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Originally uploaded by Shaggy Z.

Woke up at about 6 Thursday morning, took a shower and packed my bags. Met up with Craig and Michelle at 7 and grabbed a taxi for the southern bus terminal. Although we got there at 7:45, the next available bus was at 9 so we had to wait in a crowded bus terminal for an hour. When the bus came and Craig showed the men loading the luggage his ticket, they told him that we had missed our bus but we went on anyways and there wasn’t any problem. It took about 2.5 hours to get to Kanchanaburi as the bus stopped at various locations around the way. Upon arrival we took a pickup taxi (pickup truck with covered back and benches down the sides) to the guesthouse we were staying. We stayed at Blue Star Guesthouse, which is built near the river over a Klong (water canal), so the walkways are like cement docks and the guesthouses are built on built on stilts (pics on Flickr). We rented motorcycles and spent most of the day buzzing around on those. We checked out the Allied War Cemetery. After a lengthy discussion of where we should park, we decided to park the motorcycles on the sidewalk. The cemetery was very well-kept with flowers planted beside each tombstone. It was hard to imagine the beautiful, hill-filled region engulfed in war 50 years ago. On our map we noticed another allied war cemetery 2 km outside of the city, so took a two-lane highway out there. It was very similar to the first, so we kept going down the highway and passed by a few wats (temples). We saw a narrow cement road and decided to follow that. It took us past farmers working in their fields, and at some points you couldn’t see a building in any direction. We were surrounded by forested, rocky hills and green fields. Such a nice change from the crowdiness of Bangkok and Nonthaburi. Eventually the cement road turned into a bumpy gravel road that eventually ended at a monastery that seemed in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by hills. While we were there a pick-up truck came and about 20 monks piled into the back of the truck and took off (they wear orange robes which makes them very easy to distinguish). As they passed us some smiled and waved at us. We weren’t sure if they would be angry for us invading their privacy but they didn’t seem to mind, but we didn’t stick around too long or attempt to talk to any of the monks. After that we found a smaller muddy road that branched off the gravel road which we decided to take. It was tough keeping the motorcycle under control going through the mud and I got stuck pretty good. After we passed the muddy road it turned into a grass road which we took for a bit until it curved around and headed towards the monastery from the back side, so we turned around and headed back to Kanchanaburi. We drove to the famous “Bridge Over the River Kwai” which is a railway bridge built by Allied POW’s in WWII to connect Burma and Thailand for the Japanese. Conditions were harsh and many died. The original bridge was destroyed by Allied bombers but was rebuilt after the war. It was really crowded there so I didn’t enjoy the bridge to much. We went to a WWII museum which was pretty interesting and also had a lot of stuff about Thai history. We drove around a bit deciding which restaurant to go too and then returned our motorcycles. It costs about 8 dollars to rent a motorcycle for 24 hours so I plan to go back again. It was my first time driving a motorcycle and beats a bicycle any day! The next morning we had breakfast at the guesthouse and then left for a guided tour at 8. A minivan came and picked us up along with 5 other people staying at the same place (a couple from Vancouver and 3 Germans). We headed out towards Erawan national park which is about an hour west of Kanchanaburi. But were delayed for 45 minutes with a flat tire. After the tire was fixed the Germans went to the same van and us and the Canadians went into another van that came because we were taking a different tour than the Germans. We ended up hanging out with the Canadians pretty much the whole day. They are a young married couple (26 and 27 (Stephanie and Dave)) who are teachers at an international school in Korea. We first went elephant trekking for about a half hour. It was my first time on an elephant and I had a blast. The elephant I rode was 22 years old and its trainer, Say-lee (I’m just guessing at the spelling), was also 22. We first went across the highway and up a hill, then he had me get off the seat and ride on the elephants head for the rest of the trek. We waded through a river and went by a small village. One of the houses had “Jeses Loves You” spray painted on the side. It was interesting to see, but I figured the owner had probably seen that phrase somewhere and copied it without really knowing what it means. The elephant trainer called me “See You Later” because Steph said “See You Later” to me as we passed her. After the elephant trek we took a 10-minute jeep ride to the river and got onto a bamboo raft. The raft ride was about a half hour. It was basically a bunch of bamboo poles tied together and half sinking, and a guy would steer it with a long pole. The highlight was jumping off and swimming in the river. After the rafting we took the minivan to Erawan falls. After lunch we walked up to the falls. It has 7 tiers, the top one being about 2 km away. It was quite beautiful, but the water volume was quite low and it was crowded with people. Some of the Thai people there were quite rowdy, which is quite different from how most Thai people act and some of them were drunk. At the top I swam around in the pool below the 7th tier for a bit. It felt nice to be cold for a change. We walked back down and took the minivan for about 45 minutes to the railway which has been dubbed “Death Valley Rail.” We took it back to Kanchanaburi and crossed over the “Bridge Over the River Kwai.” The train ride was scenic and we saw a lot of the country side. The style of life seemed very laid-back and sometimes people would wave as the train went by. It lasted about 2 hours, including a half hour stop. We headed back to the guesthouse at about 6:30 and had a drink with Stephanie and Dave, the 3 Germans, and 2 Dutch people. The two women Germans are teachers in Germany and the Dutch woman was a teacher in the Netherlands. 8 teachers from all over the world hanging out in Thailand! The 10 of us went for supper together and then came back to the guest house for another drink and talked for an hour or so. It was a very neat experience having random strangers from all around the world meet up at a guesthouse and end up acquaintances, only to split up again and all go our separate ways and probably never see each other again. This morning (Saturday) we left the bus station at 11:30 with Stephanie and Dave to head back to Bangkok. They will be in Bangkok a few nights and will then be heading back to Korea. We exchanged email addresses and said we would see each other again some day and then came back home. We got back here at about 2:30 and I napped for an hour before doing some lesson planning. I’ve never been seen a more beautiful place than Kanchanaburi (except for Leech Lake of course) and I plan to go back again some day.