Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai

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The train journey down here alone was worth the effort! Palm trees everywhere, warm and the aircon in the 3rd class wooden seated carriages is great - the large windows drop right down and they have ceiling fans. These so called 3rd class coaches are better than anything on Vietnam Railways but the service is not as punctual on this line - notorious for delays. The locals have a novel way of 'bagging' the seat they want if they aren't first in line at the door of the coach - they throw thier bag through one of the open windows onto the seat they want and then get on!!!
There are food sellers on the train selling spatchcocked chicken - flatten chichen spread out on a bamboo stick then barbequed - lovely. You get little bags of sticky rice too. Sometimes they put chilli sauce in the plastic bag along with whatever you've got on a stick. The peanuts here are really good - they're fresh not dried! Straight out of the ground. The Thai Graden Inn (10 mins walk from THE Bridge over the River Kwai) is where I stayed - really good value for money. If you want peace and quiet and are not too fussed that the rooms don't get serviced daily, and the burmese couple who do the cooking and waiting on tables dont understand english very well - what you order and what you get are not necessarily the same thing! They have a nice swimming pool too - I spent 2 days at the pool and got really sunburnt! Will visit Hellfire Pass and the War cemetaries while I'm here - would be a little disrepectful not to if your British. Will post more in a day or two.
bye for now

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