70 Baht Bliss in Kanchanaburi

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If anyone is aware that 70 Baht is about the equivalent to $2.30 Canadian, you can appreciate the fact that I was stoked to find a killer guesthouse (Jollyfrog Guesthouse, right on the River Kwai) in Kanchanaburi for this price. There weren't cockroaches, mosquitos, bed bugs or anything, it has been great!

I arrived here, early Monday morning, and spent the day scoping out what I was going to do while in the area. Tuesday I took a Thai cooking class, complete with lady-boy instructor, it was so much fun, and as you can imagine, quite hilarious. We learned to make sweet and sour soup, coconut soup, pad thai, green, red and massaman curry, garlic-pepper chicken, sweet and sour vegetables and papaya salad. I left the class very full, but anxious to find a kitchen to test out my new skills. While at the school I met a girl from Seattle that I spent the week hanging out with and seeing the sights.

Wednesday, we took a bus out to Erawan Falls National Park and climbed the mountain to view the 7 tiers of this amazing waterfall. Almost as impressive as the waterfall were the monkeys, one of which stole a German lady's tampons from her bag. Funny for me, not for her!

Thursday we rented a scooter and made the 80km drive up to Hellfire Pass. This was the most difficult part of construction of the death railway (The railway constructed under Japanese rule during WWII, connecting Thailand to Burma by the POWs). It was very impressive and very disturbing to learn about what these POWs endured during this railway's construction. I continued with my exploration of the history of this railway on Friday, where I visited a museum, the memorial cemetary and the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai.

I have loved this region very much and could easily have spent more time here - as usual. The landscapes are very different from the rest of Thailand that I have seen. Everything is very arid, and there is evidence of forest fires everywhere. There are many sugarcane, papaya and tamarind plantations, as evident by the crops themselves and the streetside vendors almost exclusively selling tamarind (talk about competition)!

Well, its back to Bangkok for me in about an hour - I just can't seem to get enough of that place. Don't forget, all roads lead to Bangkok!

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Photos

The Bridge over the River Kwai
This is it, the famous bridge that symbolizes the horrible history of the construction of the Death Railway.

Thai Cooking!
As I try to master the art of Green Curry

Erawan National Park
This is the first tier of the Erawan Waterfall. The water was a beautiful turquoise colour from the limestone.

Doesn't he look guilty
This is the thief who ransacked the German lady's bag in search of tampons!