Kanchanaburi
Kanchanaburi... what a blast! I loved it so much! Stef and I decided quite awhile ago that we would go together during the holidays, but we did have to postpone a week or two due to lack of money (as always with gappies!). But eventually we made our way up there! Kanchanaburi is about 120km from Bangkok, about 2 hours bus trip towards the north east. It is only about 60km from the Burman border. Our bus trip itself was fun because they were playing some really old english songs on the radio! When we arrived we got hassled by a rickshaw driver trying to convince us to go to the guest house that we were already planning to stay at! We went with him the four kilometres from the bus station to the guest house tightly squished in the back of his rickshaw! I think Stef and I nearly killed the poor guy - two farang girls and two big rucksacks! Although, I think Stef and I would have come off worse if we'd crashed, because we were very tightly wedged in out seat! The guest house was a little out of the main town, but close to the River Kwae bridge and also in a very tourist orientated area where a lot of tours were run from. Our guest house only cost 120 baht per night for a room with a double bed, fan and bathroom and it was really nice. The guest house was situated right on the river, which was beautiful!
The next day, we headed off on a tour that had cost us 550 baht each and included quite a lot of stuff. First we went to Hellfire Pass, although we got a little delayed when our minibus broke down on the side of the highway! Hellfire Pass was really interesting, as there was a great museum, built with funding from the Australian government! The actual pass where you can see a cutting from the making of the railway was also really cool, with little Aussie flags stuck everywhere in the wall! Stef and I were both so proud to be Australians and to be visiting an area where so many Aussies had risked their lives. Next we visited Sai Yok Noi waterfall, which was really pretty. We climbed up the rocks to have a 'shower' under the fall, and surprisingly the rocks weren't slippery! After that we went on an elephant ride!!! It was so cool! Although, a little uncomfortable. Stef got to sit on the elephants head! Our elephant guide was really cool and pointed out quite a lot of the different fruit trees. From the elephant park we went on a bamboo raft down the River Kwae, which was pretty cool, but it was raining which was crap. From there we drove about five minutes to the railway station and caught the train back to the River Kwae bridge. We were on the train for about 1 1/2 hours along the Death Railway, which was originally built by prisoners of war during WWII. After we crossed over the famous bridge, we got off the train and went back to our guest house. It was such a great day!!!
The following day we had planned to catch the local bus to Erawan Falls, which are supposedly the most beautiful waterfalls in Thailand. This didn't happen though because we were actually on the wrong road to catch the bus! So instead we walked back to the River Kwae bridge and visited the JEATH war museum. Later in the afternoon we visited the war cemetery, before catching a songtheiw to a tiger temple! It is actually a monk's temple but they have an animal shelter there, with quite a few tigers. You are able to pat the tigers, one person at a time, which Stef did. However, I was too scared, because right before the monk brought the tiger over it was fighting with another!!! I did hold a cub though, which was really cute. There was also a cool monkey there which held your hand and didn't want to let go!
On Thursday, we finally made it to Erawan Falls! We went to the bus station, rather than trying to catch the bus on the road and got on for our 2 hours ride for only 26 baht! It was a really hot day, and unfortunatly we arrived near lunch, but they won't let you take any food up the track to most of the falls, as it is a national park area. We walked from teir three to seven, about 3km, in the heat and got to the top so buggered! We had a quick dip in the seventh falls, but then went all the way back down to the second teir, where our food was, because we were both starving. Later Stef swam in the second teir, but I just watched. We then went back Kanchanaburi and crashed in our room! The walk would have been quite easy except that it was so hot and humid, which was very draining. Although, the falls were quite pretty.
Friday we were really lazy and got up late then just went back to Bangkok. I really liked Kanchanaburi! It reminded me so much of Australia, as there was a lot of natural areas and even gum trees!!! It also made me so proud of my home because of all the history that Australia has with the area and the amazing circumstances those Australian men had to live in. Go Aussie go!!!