Blogs from Kanchanaburi, Western Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Day One After breakfast we made our way to the bus station to leave the crazy capital behind. We knew our Lonely Planet bible would now be our go to, for all of our decision making from now on. We had a 2 hour bus trip to Kanchanaburi ahead of us and we were just taking it as it comes. On buying our bus tickets we got some accomodation and tourist pamphlets and Pong Phen Guesthouse kept popping up so we decided to check it out - and it had a pool!! Bonus!! We got the last room at the guesthouse, we were very pleased with our decision, we didn't know it yet but we were about to make some great friends here. We soon found we had a wee gecko friend in our room. I ... read more

Having consumed lunch we made our way back to the car and then it was off to the Elephant Sanctuary. This took about 30 minutes and the journey took us ever deeper into the rural backwaters of Thailand. We were now climbing above the plains and into the mountains that border Thailand & Myanmar (Burma) which made it so difficult to build the railway and cause so much suffering. When we arrived we were the only tourists there so without any waiting (apart from the opportunity to purchase some ripe Thai bananas - 20 Baht - approx 50p) the Mahout arrived atop the Elephant we were to ride. On her back was, what can only be described as, a garden seat sitting precariously on her shoulders. Luckily the park had provided platforms which we climbed so ... read more

After the sober reflection of the war cemetery it was back to the car and a short drive to the Bridge over the River Kwai. The driver dropped us of and with the guide we made our way to the site of the bridge. The guide explained how the the Thai government allowed the japanese to build th railway as they felt indebted to them for helping get rid of the French before WW2. Not all Thais felt the same way and some acted as spies sending intelligence back to the Allies. We walked the length of the bridge and it was only at the end that I remembered that I was going to whistle 'Colonel Bogey' as I marched along (See the film if you don't know why!) I was reminded by a local man ... read more

Up at 6:30, body clock still on UK time so in need of caffeine. Breakfast in the restaurant consisted of, amongst the usual cereals and stuff , a Chinese croissant an acquired taste that I can only liken to a deep fried donut with a background taste of special fried rice . We met up with our guide in the hotel lobby (note to Trailfinders the guide had 7:30 we had 8:00 not a good start as it could have meant missing some of the itinerary.) The driver was ready to go so we drove into the Bangkok rush hour traffic... ...half an hour later we were still in it. Not long after it started to move and we entered the suburbs. The guide had said it might take 3 hours but the traffic was ok ... read more

Etter at vi kom oss inn på et hotell i Bangkok i går kveld ble det en bedre middag (som smakte dritt) og rett i seng. I dag begynte vi dagen med en helt utrulig nydelig frokost på hotellet. Etter litt avslapping satte vi oss i en av hotelets biler som skulle bringe oss til togstasjonen. Sjåføren var en underlig skrue. Han var singel og var av den formening at om han en dag skulle bli gift skulle ham feire honeymoon i Nord Norge.. Grunnen til det var at der var det midnattssol og han behøvde dermed ikke sløse bort tiden med å sove! Men en så lenge betalte han 1.000 Bath for en time med en hore i ny og ne …. Også noe å fortelle hotellgjestene! Etter at han hadde sluppet oss av på ... read more

So this will sum up our last few days of adventure! We are now in Kanchanaburi which is 100kms West of Thailand. But before we get to that, let's back up a few days. On Monday we decided to head to Wat Pho which is where the giant gold covered reclining Buddha is housed. We walked there from our hotel (about 25mins) So we know that when you go to any temple men..and women especially should dress conservatively, which means long pants, no sandals and covered shoulders. So we obliged...having entered the grounds of the Temple, or temples as there are a few smaller ones around. I notice groups or might I say hoardes of Euro tourists...the women are wearing basically glorified bathing suites. So here I am wearing fishermen pants and a black tshirt with ... read more

A couple of months ago Tyler told me that most of Asia doesn't celebrate Christmas. Of course, this makes sense because the majority of the population are Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim. The fact that they didn't celebrate Christmas was still extremely hard for me to comprehend. Christmas is one of my favourite times of year. When I was little, I was obviously excited for Santa to come but as I grew older I came to cherish the times I spent with my family. My amazing family. This Christmas is very different. I'm on the other side of the world for the first time in my life and being away from my family and friends is really hard. Normally I would wake up at my parents house on Christmas morning (because even after I moved out last ... read more