Blogs from Kanchanaburi, Western Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 50

I left Bangkok today and got the bus to Kanchanaburi. It took about two hours and only cost me just over a pound! I'm staying in a guest house next to the river, which is lovely. I walked up to the bridge, which was a little further than I had anticipated! I have some pictures but I can't download then on this computer but will as soon as I can. I went to the museums next to the bridge which tell you about the war and history of the bridge. They were very interesting but also very sad to see how many lives it took. I am hoping to go on a day trek and do a cooking course in the next couple of days as I've heard that both are very good here. With the ... read more

Despite having an early night at the bar last night (we got in by midnight for a change), Glynn couldn't quite drag himself out of bed this morning. That meant that the half day we had remaining for the motorbike went unused but Glynn certainly looked better for the sleep. We took the bike back to the rental shop and stopped off at the Blue Star Guest House where our German friends, Sascha and Ulrike, are staying. They had already booked themselves on an elephant trek which we also wanted to do so we though it would be lots of fun if we all went together :-) We then trundled off to the Jolly Frog for lunch, where the food is very cheap and reasonably good. At 3.30pm we were picked up for the trip in ... read more

The plan today was to rent a couple of mountain bikes and go exploring around and beyond Kanchanaburi but by the time we got round to the hire place it was already midday and it looked like all the bikes were out for the day. Eyeing up the motorbikes keenly, Glynn suddenly suggested we hire one of them instead. 200 Baht later and we were off on our latest mode of transport. Given my recent bad relationship with mopeds, I was glad that we were on a bigger bike with Glynn at the helm. With no map to guide us, we simply pointed the bike in the direction of the river, found a roadbridge across (not the famous bridge btw) and rode into the jungle. The scenery was amazing with tropical tress rustling gently in the ... read more

On the map, it looked like it might be a bit complicated to get to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok but in actual fact it couldn't be simpler. Just follow these 3 instructions and you too could enjoy the wonders of the west of Thailand: Step 1 - Find taxi to take you to southern bus station in Bangkok. Step 2 - Get air con bus to Kanchanaburi for a mere 106 Baht per person (about one pound fifty). Sit back and relax as they serve you ice cold water on the way. Step 3 - Arrive in Kanchanaburi to the sounds of 'taxi mister?'. Agree price of 30 Baht each and take red pick-up truck type bus thingy to guesthouse. Easy! We're staying in the very picturesque Ploy Guest House which is on the main drag by ... read more

I had been really looking forward to visiting the tiger temple. I recently saw the first season of 'The Amazing Race' where they came to Thailand and one of the challenges was to collect a clue by walking through the tigers at the Tiger Temple in Kachanaburi. I knew then that I had to go and see these amazing creatures for myself. I arranged to go on a tour of the Temple, essentially a 45min ride there and a chance to take photos for an hour, then a ride back into town. They were scheduled to leave at 3:30pm and we must have left late as by the time we arrived they were trying to rush us through and get our photos with the tigers. I had no idea what to expect and was suddenly being ... read more