Central Thailand (Bangkok - Kanchanaburi - Bangkok)

---

After a sticky 8 hour bus trip from Sukhothai we arrived in steamy Bangkok and found ourselves a cell of a room for a very expensive price. We had decided to spend 2 nights in the Siam Square area rather than the surrounds of Khao San Rd (which we were to do upon our return), which turned out to be a rather expensive decision.

Anyway, the main reason for this location was that it would allow easy access to Bangkok’s famed shopping centres. I (Merric was sick) spent the entirety of the next day browsing MBK, Siam Discovery Centre, Siam Centre, Siam Paragon and the MASSIVE Central World Plaza. I’m not going to lie, it was amazing. After months trekking through dirt and rubbish (I think I neglected to mention previously that I fell through the pavement and INTO a sewer in Cambodia), sweating and fan cooled accommodation it was a shiny, clean, air-conditioned paradise. Despite spending all day browsing, I didn’t even buy anything considering most of the shops were way too upmarket for an almost broke backpacker, but still it was somewhat comforting.

Following our short stint in Bangkok we headed to Kanchanaburi, which proved to be quite a challenge primarily due to Bangkok’s high population of dodgy taxi drivers. After wandering the streets for 20 minutes carrying over 20kgs each on our backs we finally found a taxi driver willing to use the meter. We told him we wanted to go to the Southern Bus Terminal (which confusingly enough is north-west of Bangkok). One hundred Baht later he happily drops us off at what we assume to be the Southern Bus Terminal. Some ‘helpful’ man approaches us to ask us where we are headed and waits till we have paid the taxi driver and he has sped off to inform us we are in fact at the Eastern Bus Terminal, which is as far away as possible from where we want to be (remembering that the Southern Bus Terminal is actually north-west). Then he proceeds to try and ‘help’ us by getting his friend, another dodgy taxi driver, to take us to where we want to go for some ridiculous price. In the end we found a decent guy willing to use the meter and take us to the Southern Bus terminal where we arrived 320 Baht poorer and three hours after we left our hotel. Thankfully there was a bus leaving immediately and we were able to slip into air-conditioned bliss for the next 3 hours.

On arrival in Kanchanaburi we made a beeline to Jolly Frog Backpackers, for some cheap accommodation and cheap food. In between lying in front of the river we managed to find some time to get some history into us by paying a visit to the War Cemetery and the Thailand-Burma Railway museum, the latter an excellent account of the role of construction of the so called “Death Railway” linking Thailand with Burma allowing the Japanese to send supplies via rail rather than by sea, which was becoming increasingly risky. We also checked out the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai and jumped on a train to ride the Death Railway. Further afield, we fitted in a day trip to the 7 tiered Erawan Falls for some swimming and trekking before it was time to get a move on back to Bangkok.

This time we stationed ourselves on one of the roads near the infamous Khao San, and thanks to the generosity of Mr Fletcher we stayed in a nice room with aircon, hotwater and even a TV! We spent most of our first day wandering around and checking out the surrounds, whilst the following was spent checking out sights further abroad including the Grand Palace which is every bit as opulent as it was last time I saw it 5 years ago. It really is a sight to be seen, just check out the pictures. It has it all - shiny mirrors, gaudy colours and endless walls of murals complete with well manicured shrubbery. Following our palace adventures we also set out to Wat Pho, which is home to a giant, 46 metre long reclining Buddha. Not much to say, other than it was massive!

Whilst in the area we thought it only necessary to complete a pub crawl down Khao San road. We started off with cocktails so strong it was like drinking fuel and ended with a seedy Thai metal bar with a local band playing Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, with everything in the middle from lady boys to a spot of 6 Nations rugby. Pad Thai and Banana Roti replaced the kebab for the late night food of choice before it was off to bed.

Most of our final day in Bangkok (for now anyway) was spent at the doctors, trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with us (I believe my recurring illness has been well documented in this blog). Thankfully all the tests came back negative which means I have probably gotten over whatever I had lingering around (or that it is some dangerous rare disease), and I am very happy to report we have both been in excellent shape over the last week.

So we said our farewells to Thailand (for three or so weeks anyway) the following morning and headed off to the airport for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We also had the pleasure of paying for a JetStar ticket, only to find that they would be sharing with the much nicer Bangkok Airlines.

Anyway, until next time (which may be a while as we seem to be stuck in Nha Trang, sunning ourselves at the beach everyday),

Kate

---