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Published: March 17th 2007
C & C's guesthouse
Whilst waiting for Gav to check other accomm in KanchanauriHi all,
(Excuse the spelling below - hard keyboards to use, and too hard too spell check!)
Just a few things before we keep going - after reading heaps of other travelblogs over the last 12 months, we always found that there was not enough information given in relation to names of places, prices etc being that we were heading overseas soon and wanted details, details, details. Therefore, in case other traveller's are reading this and are lookling for information like we were, we will include names of places, prices etc where ever possible. For those back home not travelling, I know this may be boring, useless info to you, but, oh well!! Also, there will be a lot of talk about food as those who know me will need no explaining as to why!
Thursday 15th March
Have settled in nicely to Phon-Phen Guesthouse - 500 baht for a large double room. Gorgeous staff - Gun & Pum - 2 girls who are just great with Mia - colouring in with her, playing with her (they are 23 and 25!) so once again, she is having a ball! Great room - very clean, big and
Hello Kitty
Mia and the bike she wants when she's 10 comfortable - outside sitting area overlooking the River Kwai - hardly any mossies either.
After breakfast, Shell went for an hours massage (200 baht - $8) to try and fix her sore neck/headache. Was very nice but unfortunately it didn't do any good (It was only late the next day that Gav was magically able to fix it with a few tweaks! - thanks Gav!!) Whilst being pampered, Gav & Mia went for a walk over THE bridge (Me still yet to see) and saw another elephant. After, we all took a song-thaew - 150 baht return (like a ute with bench seats along the two sides and a roof) to the Monkey School about 10 minutes away. Once their we realised that it was too much to go in for what we would have been getting (200 baht each - approx $24 for the 3 of us) considering that we got to meet some of the monkeys anyway and it didn't look too exciting. The monkey school was set up to look after monkeys that had been found in poor condition - whether that is true or not, who knows.
Our song-thaew driver took us to look
Pong-Phen
Mia with Gun & Pum at the Khoa Poon Cave just around the corner. Khao Poon cave is an old temple. It is believed that back in 1870, King Rama V visited the cave by waterway to worship the reclining buddha in the cave. It had nine rooms that we explored and was not too bad as far as caves go. Mia was a little concerned that bears might be in there!
We had lunch at 'Apples' guesthouse, which we had read about back home and I highly recommend to anyone travelling to Kanchanaburi who loves authentic thai food. We had spicy banana flower salad with chicken and prawns and chicken mussaman curry. I would have to say that both were as good as the food we had eaten at 'Spirit House' in QLD, both absolutely devine and at 65 baht per dish ($2.50) oh so much cheaper!
By this stage, I was feeling very average with my raging headache, so we all headed back to our room for a nap. Mia coloured in whilst we tried to nap, so 1/2 an hour later Gav took her out for a beer (Gav that is...) and more wandering around whilst I tried to get
some sleep and get better.
We had dinner at Pong-Phen (also great food - the tofu dishes are so, so yum) then hit the sack reasonably early, as we had a big day planned tomorrow.
Friday 16th March
Today we set off at 8am on a minibus with 5 others to do a day trip to ride elephants, go bamboo rafting down the river, climb up Erawan falls, ride the 'Death Railway' train and see 'The' bridge.
First stop was the elephants which Mia had a ball on. She was a bit scared at first, but soon relaxed and enjoyed being so high up! The elephant took us through the 'jungle' - if you can call crossing the road and walking into the bush 20 metres. turning around and coming back, the jungle (what the?) - then through the elephant camp and down to the river. Mia looked a bit panicked when the elephant took us into the water up to the top of his head, but soon relaxed again and thought it was all quite funny!
I wouldn't call it a true elephant experience, but was a great start for Mia to get used
Khoa Poon Cave
Bang Bang Bang! to them.
After that, we were taken down to the river and put on bamboo rafts. It wasn't long before Gav was in the water swimming along side as we cruised along. We all had a swim (yes - even Mia - she wanted to go in - life jacket on of course) and did not want to get out.) Who would have thought our Mia would happily float down the middle of a large river alongside a raft? This was the highlight of our day, and leaves us looking forward to more rafting journeys in our trip to come.
We then made our way to Erawan National Park to climb and swim in the waterfalls. There are 7 tiers to the falls and you can swim in most of the pools at each tier. As we only had 2 1/2 hours before we needed to be back on the bus, we were told we should walk as far as we wanted to go first, and then return to swim etc, as it was 2 and 1/2 km to the top and got tougher as you went higher. 7 of us from our minibus made the way up
Khoa Poon Caves
At the entrance together - Gav, Mia & I, a korean girl, a danish guy and a swiss couple - and started the trek in the stinking heat. It starts off pretty easily, but started to get more like scrambling as we got to about the 5th tier. Mia was doing well (albeit a little complaining - but who could blame her) but we made sure she had plenty of water and she did get carried a little!)
Just before we reached the 6th tier, Gav realised we would have to turn around then to be able to make it back down in time to have a swim and make it back to the bus. The other guys had heard it was only another 10 min's to the top, so it was a hard decision (for Shell) to turn back, but we did. (only later did we find out it took them 25 minutes of very tough scrambling to reach the top, and they didn't have time to have a swim on the way back, so in the end, a very good decision!)
Once back to the 2nd tier, we got in our bathers and headed off for our well earned
Khoa Poon Caves
On the way downnnn.... dip in the natural swimming pool. But......can you imagine a natural pool, with thousands of big fish swimming in it? I (Shell) thought, no problem, they won't bother me. Two steps in, and I felt a huge nibble on my foot. That was it. OUT!
I have read so many blogs about the beauty of swimming in Erawan falls, but NOT ONE mentioned that you would become fish food! Gav had a little more courage and went straight in - swam to the other side, had a splash, la de da etc, and I'm thinking, "how come they are not eating him?". On his return I found out that actually, yes, his skin was being cleaned by the fish the whole time. This is apparently what the fish do. Eat all your dead skin cells. Lovely.
Luckily I found a little teeny weeny puddle that Mia & I could sit in to cool down with only a couple of tiny fish (5 cm) swimming nearby, so she could cool down. Love fish, but to eat, not have clean my skin.
We then headed off to ride the train on the 'Death Railway'. Very bumpy and rough, but
Khoa Poon Cave
One of the buddhas it also opened our minds a lot as to what the POWS went through, and our thoughts were with the many, many thousands who died building it.
Shell finally got to see the Bridge, walked half way over it, and on the way back, nearly fell off (seriously) as I was too busy talking to Alexi to actually concentrate on what I was doing. That is so not like me to be clumsy...
Back for showers (I have had on average 3 showers a day here. It is so bloody hot that you just sweat through everything instantly) and then back to 'Apples' for dinner. 'Fish Cakes' for starters, then 'Red Duck Curry' for Shell and 'Prawns with Peppercorms and Palm Heart' for Gav. (Mia finally ate some chicken after I literally told her that she had to eat either meat, tofu or eggs to get some protein!!). Once again, an absolutely delicious meal. Gav might not agree, as his was so hot, that he may still be suffering!
Back to our room only to discover that the air con was kaput. Luckily got 'upgraded' to a massive triple room for our last night - so not
too bad after all!
Saturday 17th March
Back to Bangkok this morning after saying our sad farewells to Gun & Pom. They both gave Mia gifts of headbands and hairtyes!!
Caught the big local bus back with no probs - Mia with her headphones on listening to her DVD player singing out loud FULL VOLUME songs from the Sound of Music. Not sure if the other passengers appreciated it, but, oh well!
Back to D & D's to find that in our room (the last one they had available) - believe it or not - the air-con was not working!!!!
After an hour or so of Shell running around trying to get things sorted, she finally had a technician come and fix it!
Dinner was street food - 'meat' sticks and some type of other dish for Shell & Gav, and a banana pancake for Mia.
Had some drinks in Soi Rambuttri ( the street just down from Khao San Rd) until around 10pm tonight and all had a ball. Street musicians kept Mia happy - sort of buskers I suppose and we also met a guy from Nepal so ended up spending
time with him chatting away.
Anyway, a brilliant night tonight. We are all having a great time - especially Mia, who is treated like a rock star here - and are heading off tomorrow morning to Ko Chang - an island down near the border of Cambodia. Until then, hope you are all well,
Love Shell, Gav & Mia
xxx
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tashia
non-member comment
elphants
that elephant ride looked pretty great! too bad it was so short. Who wouldn't love the raft ride! It reminded me of Tom Sawyer Thai style.