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Published: March 19th 2005
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Khao San Rd
Yep, I got out of here as soon as possible... My travels in South East Asia have finally commenced. After touching down in Bangkok on Sunday night, and a couple of days on Khao San Road, I've spent the last few days in Kanchanaburi, a small, busy town spanning 5km along the northern bank of the River Kwai, about 150km west of Bangkok. The town is famous as the site of the base camp for Allied POW's in WWII working on the "Death Railway" linking Thailand to Burma, the main attraction being the bridge on the river Kwai, 5km north of town.
The town is now a major tourist centre, gateway to the national parks between here and the Burmese border, and a great spot to relax and sample the local brews for a few days! The bridge has now been shamelessly exploited by shops, restaurants, with day-tripping tourists from Bangkok riding loud boats up and down the river, but the rest of the town is a great mix of relaxing guesthouses on the river, and cheap restaurants and pubs. I'm staying in the "Jolly Frog Backpackers", which fronts the river, has a great garden/courtyard overlooking the water, and has some rooms built on rafts on the river itself.
Balcony View
Looking from my balcony onto the garden by the river The weather is exactly as I have gotten used to after a month in Innisfail: stinking, fucking hot days, but cool afternoons with fantastic sunsets.
In the centre of town, there is a very moving war cemetary for British, Dutch and Australian POWs who died working on the railway, and associated museum which were well worth checking out, but most of my time in town has been spent in the restaurants or bars, observing the inordinate number of hairdressing shops, or speedboats crusing the river. In my limited experience, it seems to be the Thai way that any good tourist/business ideas are copied shamelessly by everyone else! In Bangkok, every vendor would sell the same Pad Thai, or fresh pineapple, and here its hairdressing shops. Also, a crappy museum near the bridge has recently renamed itself the JEATH war museum, simply because there is another one in town by that name which is well-recommended by guidebooks! There is, of course, the totally unrelated "Jolly Good Massage" and "Jolly internet" just outside the Jolly Frog Backpackers.
About 60km from town are the Erawan waterfalls, a series of 7 falls down a hillside, which I visited on a day trip
The River Kwai
Another view from my balcony at the river and the mountains with a few others from the Jolly Frog. The recent dry weather unfortunately reduced the powerful cascades we had observed in pictures to fairly tame trickles, but it was fun nonetheless. To complete the trip, we returned to Kanchanaburi via the Death Railway. The countryside was dotted with sugar cane and papaw fields, and reminded me of home, although the number of Italian farmers was slightly diminished.
I've met a few interesting people here, NZers, Fins, Czechs, Canadians and Poms which probably has contributed to my general lack of drive to go anywhere else in Thailand in my short week here. A NZ father/son (Ian and Ian) have been the most interesting, having just arrived from Bangkok after I did, after an altercation with a Nigerian tourist/scammer which started with the Nigerian mugging Ian the father on his first night in Bangkok, and ended with Ian the son finding the guy in a restaurant, and putting him in hospital, amidst the congratulations of the local police and shop-owners! Needless to say, I was very nice to Ian, and laughed heartily at all of his jokes.
Its been a good week, and a nice slow start to travelling. I
The Bridge on the River Kwai
See! It wasn't wood, and it wasn't blown up by three useless englishman. needed somewhere relaxing to get over the weirdness of being here so suddenly after an excellent month in Innisfail, and last two weeks in Sydney, and certainly found it here. I'm staying here until Sunday, when I will return to Bangkok and then fly on to Ho Chi Minh City to meet the Cops on tour when I guess my real travels will begin.
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anonymous
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Great Photos!
Hi Warren! Great to read about your adventures so far. The photos are amazing. What a beautiful part of the world you have seen so far. Keep those photos and journals coming bro! - Meg