I'm in Koh Lanta now, nice island. Also a place where I'm realizing how little time I have left, before I need to be back in Bangkok. I planned a little on this rainy day. I'm going to Koh Lipe (snorkling/diving) next, on the 27th. Then back to Krabi (Ao Nang) and arrange some climbing on 'climbing paradise' Railay beach and Ton Sai. It's a bit more expensive, on the islands. A lot of items and food, are about twice the price it was back in the north. Probably just the price for supplying an island.. Slacklines hostel is nice. I prepared this review for later: "Good place! There's a dorm for about 8 people and a couple of bungalow huts. I stayed at the dorm, which is spacious, has fans and mosquito nets. Relaxed atmosphere,small ... read more

Taking the night train again, I went south, to Khao Sok national park, with Yurena. I booked the tickets for the train, bus and hostel, and around 23:40, we left the hostel, with the three of us: Brian was headed back to Bangkok, to find a hostel there and cross the Cambodian border the next day. Yurena and me, we had a second class ticket for the 'sleep train', to Surat thani, about six hours to the south. It just turned out that the tickets I bought, however, were 'seated', meaning, we would not be in the comfortable cocoon of a sleeping berth, but in a 'reclining seat'. Also: the train was delayed a bit. When I asked 10m before it was supposed to arrive, if it would be on time, the clerk answered '15 or ... read more

Last night in kanchanaburi, there was a cooking class, by mimi. Kow yum. So gonna make that at home :) Anyway prachuap Khiri khan. Stayed here for two nights. To get here, I got up early (6:30), got on a train heading east. Got out at Ban Pong, walked 800m to the other train station and went on an special express train headed south. I planned everything out and had the tickets. Everything went according to plan and I arrived at around 12:40. Just when I came into the hostel, a small group was leaving. I saw Yurena (Spain) again, from the kanchanaburi hostel. There was also jussi, if I spell it correctly, from Finland, and Simone and Evelyn from Austria. I spur-of-the-momented it and did an ultra fast check-in, water refill and was off, to ... read more

During the second world war, the Japanese forces in Rangoon needed constant supplies. At first, the were supplied by ships, going around the Thailand/myanmar/singapore/Birma landmass, But that system just didn't hold, when the allies got their ships, aircraft carriers and troops in. The alternative, that the brits had worked out earlier, was to build a railroad, connecting Thailand to Birma. Due to huge costs, number of people involved, the difficulty getting material to the places they need to be and some infrastructural problems, the Brits rightly tossed the plans. Then, the Japanese captured Singapore and got 85.000 British prisoners of war, and some thousands ofother nationalities (about 5000 dutch). High command didn't like to be responsible for so many pow's. It would be good if there were less. Apart from that, they needed the railway. So, ... read more

Hi! Time to tell you about Kanchanaburi. K is a largish city west of Bangkok. Highlights here, are the Erewan falls, The bridge over the river Kwai (including relevant sites and museums) and a few temples and other musea. As I had some time to kill, waiting for you passport to arrive, I did them all. Let's start with that final thing, my passport.. It arrived in the mail, today! That was a relief :) Still, one can do a lot without a passport :) I was even able to rent a scooter with my passport copy, after trying a few shops. Met some cool people as well - Thanks for the good times, Claire, Florance, Rebecca, Judith, Simon, Yurena and British-guy-who-has-been-here-before-and-knows-about-tigers-and-languages. Our hostel is very close to the night market,so it was easy to get ... read more