Tuesday 16 February Today we have a plan. As we cannot walk or hike very far, due to aforementioned heat/humidity levels, we will walk the 25 minutes to Kanchanaburi Railway Station to catch the 10.30am tourist train across the River Kwai, and onto Nam Tok, it's final destination, taking over two hours each way. The fare is either bht100 (£2) or special class tourist price bht300 (do the math), which includes a cushion to sit on, coffee, iced water, cheesy biscuit AND a jammy sponge cake, not to mention copious cups of iced Coca Cola and chilled hand wipes - AND a certificate to say we travelled on the train! So, we splashed out and travelled in style. Having visited the official museum yesterday, we really did sense the enormity of this railway. It was an ... read more

Sunday 14 February Change of plans this morning. A dodgy meal somewhere renders Leo incapable of travelling first thing, we find out there is a later 1400 train which allows Leo to see out the problem. Paula having nothing better to do while Leo suffers, sits on the balcony with a mug of tea, times the regularity of the Orange flag express boats. Concluding that our last check out is 1200 hrs allowing us 17 minutes to walk the short journey to the Marine Jetty (N4 on the map of the river). As a bonus, because it's a later boat we have space for us and our bulky luggage. Our previous evening's reccee pays off, as we position ourselves in the right spot and side for the precarious disembarkation at Jetty N11, leaving us plenty of ... read more

Friday 12 February We rise earlier than intended this morning as the Hotel is full of very noisy Chinese, who believe the only form of communication is to shout instead of talking. After breakfast, we decide to take a river cruise, choosing to go via the Old Town and along the river to the jetty, via the post office to send some postcards (we are really starting to know our way around by day 5). En route we pass another Wat which is old and beautiful, however, the atmosphere and serenity is a little dampened by the Wat's specially added feature, displaying a life size model of Donald Duck amongst the religious Icons - only in Thailand, of course. Paula decides we will cross the river Ping and walk along the quiet bank towards the ferry ... read more

Wednesday 10 February Every one here in Thailand is very respectful and we are greeted with clasped hands prayer-like to the face and either 'hello' or 'thank you very much' in Thai, wherever we go, village or city. There is a male and female form, unfortunately the pronunciation of both is very difficult to Western tongues, Paula decided it was easier to mumble it behind raised hands saying either Cardboard Car (female) and Cardboard Crap (male) and so far it seems to work. Given time She could bring a complete 'Stanley Unwinism' to the Thai language! (Yes, Paula had to google Stanley Unwin to understand this statement) Following Alf's careful directions, we make our way to........... Boots the chemist at the East Gate of the city. Same, same - from blue plastic shopping baskets to familiar ... read more

Foodie photos for my Sister x... read more