Bridge over the River Kwai

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Hi Blog fans.

On 7th Nov, we checked out of the Rambuttri Inn at about Mid day, then hung out at our favourite Thai restaurant on Soi Rambuttri unitil about 14.00, jumped into an internet cafe until about 15.00 and then took a taxi to the Vietnamese embassy to pick up our passports and hopefully visas. After a successful visit to the embassy we went onto the Southern Bus Teminal where we managed to buy tickets to Kanchanaburi.

"Platform 10" said the woman in her air-conditioned booth (not that we were jealous, of course!), we found platform 10 pretty successfully and stood around looking smug for about 15 minutes before a random Thai Bus-looking-man told us to "follow that lady!"... having no other options and not wanting to miss our bus, we dutifully followed at breakneck speed. She lead us to another platform 10...turns out we were standing at arrivals and not departures! Jumped on bus just in time and after 2 hours we emerged into a hot and humid Kanchanaburi.

Saying farewell to the disgruntled woman / beast bus conductor and climbing into our first Sawngthaew (literally meaning two benches- kind of a big tuk-tuk). "Sams River Rafthouse, please!" we exclaimed in a touristy way...little did we know the horrors that would lie ahead...

Halfway to "Sam's" the Sawngthaew driver stopped to tell his friend where we were both heading, his friend then jumpd into the Sawngthaew with us! For some reason I didn't like this, but none the less we all arrived at Sams and were shown to our room by Miss Grumpy Thailand 2008. The rooms were floating on the river (somehow) but had a worrying slant to them. I again was not happy with the set up and closer inspection revealed tht the door did not lock, due to the obviuosly many times it had been kicked in before..... There we were floating on the river Kwai at a jaunty angle with a door that did not lock!!I just coulodn't settle in the room and decided to take myself ofo up the track to find another guesthouse. About a three minute walk away I found VN's guesthouse, and I asked to see a room (already learning from our previous mistakes!) I was somewhat releaved to find that this door had two internal locks and a padlock for good measure. Is crime a problem in this part of Kanchanburi? lets just say that Yale should have there headquarters here!!

After some food at the restuaranty bit of our new guesthouse we settled down to test our Jag bags and Mozzie net etc. for the first time. After taking most of the ceiling down with gaffer tape, we found the net to be a little too small for the bed and judging that there weren't any flies around decided to bathe in mozzie repellant and pass out for the night.

We checked out of VN's at about 11.00 and wandered along the lane onto the "main drag" We eventually found The Jolly Frog which had come highly recommended to us (and at 200B/night we really couldn't complain.) We had heard really good things about The Jolly Frog from Ozzie Paul and also the lonely planet. It truely is a brilliant lace to sit and watch the world go by and eat really cheap Thai food!

Just to fill in the bits Barney missed...I'm sorry to say i didn't even notice the inadaquacies of the river rafthouse because the River Kwai is Stunning by night! As we were desending the 'steps of doom' to the 'hut of hell' there were geckos basking in the lamplight, frogs singing their night chorus and the lights of Kanchanaburi temples reflected in the river... it was beautiful!

After checking into Jolly Frog on the 8th we hired some bikes (bicycles for any concerned parents reading) and cycled to the Bridge. They were rickety, 70's style Raliegh bikes but great fun all the same...
After taking lots of pics we went to the WW2 museum which housed a bizarre collection of memorabilia, from Japenese motorbikes to morris minors and a multitude of guns. I got a bit carried away with the picture taking and we were both brought harshly back down to earth by a glass case full of bones near the exit signifying how many lives were lost, we lit some incense and left in silence. Its hard to say how we felt, so I'll leave it there I think.

Just to end the blog on a high note, below are the ramdom selection of inappropriate songs we heard whilst at the bridge...

1. Shania Twain - Man, I feel like a woman! (We've seen 2 definate Ladyboys so far, but I can't say any were present at the building of the bridge?!?)
2. The Eagles - Hotel California
3. James Blunt - The one about the Wise men at the sea as sung by Uncle Bryn in 'Gavin and Stacey'
4. Phil Collins - Either 'Think Twice' or 'Paradise'...we couldn't remember what it was called.

And sorry to Dad and Danny...I now retract my statements on the pointlessness of Gaffa Tape, Barney has found 3 uses in the last week...

1. Fixing his bag
2. Fixing Mozzie net to ceiling
3. Taping flapping curtain to wall

more Gaffa tape adventures to follow...

The following day we visited the Tiger Temple... it was overpriced and we didn't like how none of the money we were paying had gone on looking after tigers... they shouldn't be lead about on chains. No more words will be spent on it here but pictures will follow...

We've now left Kanchanaburi and due to the fact we couldn't get transport to Chiang Mai (it was all booked up for the festival) we've decided to come down south and our boat to Koh Tao leaves tomorrow morning at 7.00!! Yea for sea and sand!

Here endeth the longest blog in history.

H & B xx

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Comments

[Andrew Allbon]

Concerns for the reader.
Hi Barnaby, Hello Hannah! Ummm a small request - although picky and maybe very obvious could you state who is writing which part of the blog? I like to have your voice in my head when i read it to myself. In fact, if i was to say, read it in Barnaby's voice I would now to add a sarcastic tone to each sentence he writes. Thus forth adding impact to the written language. Your sincerely A big fan (size) xx

[Mouse and Bear]

Hannah - No probs Andy... all of Barneys bits are boring anyway Barney - Hey big boy!