Blogs from Kanchanaburi, Western Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 5

Up at 6:30, body clock still on UK time so in need of caffeine. Breakfast in the restaurant consisted of, amongst the usual cereals and stuff , a Chinese croissant an acquired taste that I can only liken to a deep fried donut with a background taste of special fried rice . We met up with our guide in the hotel lobby (note to Trailfinders the guide had 7:30 we had 8:00 not a good start as it could have meant missing some of the itinerary.) The driver was ready to go so we drove into the Bangkok rush hour traffic... ...half an hour later we were still in it. Not long after it started to move and we entered the suburbs. The guide had said it might take 3 hours but the traffic was ok ... read more

I checked out of the Rambuttri and set off for the Royal Hotel nearby, where the minibus from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi departs. Given the heat and the weight of my rucksack I decided to flag down a taxi and take the hit of the £1 fare. The minibus was scheduled to leave at 12 and I thought I was in good time, but then I didn't factor in the infamous Bangkok traffic. Thankfully I was saved the infamous Thai trait of never rushing or keeping to any kind of timetable. We departed around 20 to 1, fully laden with passengers and cargo and arrived in Kanchanaburi mid afternoon. Having splashed out on a hotel room in Bangkok, I was looking to stay somewhere cheap, however, I hadn't done any research beforehand and quickly realised that hunting ... read more

So, back to Thailand again, we feel like experts on this place now after so many visits and spending quite a lot of time in its cities, checking out its culture and basking on its glorious beaches, but this visit is a bit different for us as we’ve decided to upgrade from our usual backpacker accommodation to opt for some nicer hotels. We flew into Thailand on Christmas day, and it was so nice to leave the tinsel and turkey along with the cold weather behind, the fact that we had airplane food for our Christmas lunch didn’t bother us in the slightest; we were just looking forward to our first “yellow curry” washed down with a nice Singha beer!! First port of call as always was Bangkok, but this time we were staying away from ... read more

A couple of months ago Tyler told me that most of Asia doesn't celebrate Christmas. Of course, this makes sense because the majority of the population are Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim. The fact that they didn't celebrate Christmas was still extremely hard for me to comprehend. Christmas is one of my favourite times of year. When I was little, I was obviously excited for Santa to come but as I grew older I came to cherish the times I spent with my family. My amazing family. This Christmas is very different. I'm on the other side of the world for the first time in my life and being away from my family and friends is really hard. Normally I would wake up at my parents house on Christmas morning (because even after I moved out last ... read more

Day 1 After settling in to our new abode, Dean was a little nervous that I wasn't going to be entirely happy with the accommodation. But it is such an amazingly calm place that you can't help but be sucked into its relaxing atmosphere. An amazing BBQ meal whipped up by our host was eagerly eaten. Absolutely delicious. Not a big chicken fan, but this bird had been cooked to perfection. Best ever! Over the course of the evening we gorged ourselves silly, met some other interesting characters and enjoyed a few cold beverages sitting amongst the tropical setting. Day 2 Today was pretty slack really, although we set out with the best intentions. First stop was brunch. As ever, our lives revolve around finding and consuming various local delicacies. A Kanchanaburi soup provided us with ... read more