Building Bridges

I made my way from Ko Tao back up to Bangkok with a few friends I'd made diving, we took the slow ferry back to Chumphon and then a sleeper train up to Bangkok, We arrived in Bangkok at about 5am where I said my goodbyes to my new friends and continued by train to Kanchanaburi.

The train ride was about 2 hours and uneventful, and on arriving in Kanchanaburi I ended up at the Jolly Frog Guest House for 70 Bhat a night.... that's about £1.20 .... Win. I then checked my pockets and realised I'd left my phone on the ferry.... Lose.

To cut a long story short (but not that short) here is what happened in Kanchanaburi....

Disclaimer:
The following events contain exaggeration and hyperbole. The stories are loosely based true events - but what actually what happened is quite hazy so it will have to do.

Day One:
I met a guy from France in my guesthouse called Yoan and we went drinking. It turned out he spoke fluent Thai and we ended up hanging out with some locals who wanted to practice their English and possibly steal my wallet.

edit: I still have my wallet so either they weren't trying to steal my wallet - or they weren't very good at it, I guess we will never know.

Day Two:
I'd booked on to a tour the night before so it was an early start.... well....eight o'clock. I was awoken by urgent knocking at the door. In a somnambulant stupor I answered the door only to find a very distressed tour guide whose state of mind was not helped by the sight of a man wearing only boxer shorts (and in all likelihood, with more on show than it is proper to reveal on a first date). My original plan of waking up from natural causes - because I had lost my phone which was my only form of time keeping - had failed. So, after issuing a high pitched scream of terror (both of us did this) the poor girl informed me I was late for the tour and the minibus was down stairs waiting and ran off in a stream of tears.
I threw some clothes on and shoved lots of things I wouldn't need in to my bag and ran to the minibus. The tour took us to a national park to see the Erawan seven tiered waterfalls, a museum about the 'death railway' - the railway that was built by POW's during World War II made famous in the movie 'bridge over the river Kwai'- and on a train ride along some of the railway still in use today. The tour group got on well so we all went for a drink that night.

Tour Group Drinks.

Day Three:
Some of the locals Yoan and I met on the first night took us to see some sights that were difficult to reach without a car, then we went for a drink.....til 8am.

Day Four:
I took some time to relax and recover from the night before in the guesthouse's hammocks. I was later joined by Chrissy and Brooke, two girls from California I'd met the day before. We grabbed a bottle of wine for lunch, then I caught up on some much needed sleep!

Me, Brooke and Chrissy enjoying a bottle of wine for lunch.

Day Five:
I went to the Erawan waterfalls for a second time (I didn't get enough time there with the tour) with Chrissy and Brooke, then said goodbye to them as they had to head back to Bangkok. I then met Jean-Christophe, a lovely gentleman from Montreal - Quebec.... and we went for a drink.

Day Six:
I went on a bike ride with Jean-Christophe, then we went for a drink.... again.

Day Seven:
And so my time in Kanchanaburi came to an end. I decided to head to Sangkhlaburi and Jean-Christophe decided to join me.

Here, in no particular order - are some highlights in picture and caption form:

The last tier of the seven tier waterfall in Erawan National Park.

Known as Death Railway it was built during World War II by POW's and locals - many of whom died due to poor living conditions and exhaustion.

View of a statue from the Bridge over the River Kwai

It was rainy season - and when it rained it did not hang about.

Bridge over the River Kwai at night.

Sign at the Erawan National Park warning of evil monkeys - I didn't actually see any though - What I did see though was a wasp that was the size of a small car (well, maybe a small toy car that's the size of large wasp).

Erawan national park - you COULD go swimming in the small pools at each tier , but if you did you were eaten alive by fish.

The Bridge over the River Kwai.

Budda - doing his thing.

Me - doing my thing.

OoooOOO - architecture.

OooOOOo - doorways.

Spot the 4 kittens that I accidently let in to my room and who then proceeded to jump all over my stuff. It took about half an hour to get them out as they kept on running away from me!