Sat 21st Jan
Time to pack and move on . Breakfast in the guesthouse again then headed out to find a taxi to Sai Tai Bus Terminal. First few taxis didn't want to use their meters or go that far (25 mins) but we flagged down one obliging fellow who took us, with the meter ticking away! Only 100BHT - amazing! He dropped us at the gas station next to the bus terminal as think he was about to run out. Was only a couple of yards so out we went and into a large bus terminal, following the ticket signs. Had already done some research and knew we had to find ticket counter # 79/80 for Kanchanaburi! Went up 3 moving walkways to the 3rd floor where there were about 100 ticket booths. Sure enough #79 had Kanchanaburi written up on it - very sulky lady told us BHT110 each - so purchased and then went all the way down to the ground floor (efficient system!) to Platform 10 where the conductor was selling tickets anyway - I think for 100 BHT! Climbed aboard for the 10 am departure - pretty old bus but air conditioned! Left about 10 mins late and bus packed - some standing! Traffic was pretty solid and continued to get worse! Our 3 hour bus trip took about 4, stopping to pick up/drop off along the way! Was again very surprised at how built up and busy the road was - I had imagined that once we left the outskirts of Bangkok it would be pretty rural, but only passed a few fields, the rest all developed! The small town of Kanchanaburi was in fact a town of about 64,000! On arrival we grabbed a Sorng-taa-ou (pick up truck with 2 rows of seats facing each other) to take us to Apple's Retreat & Guesthouse on the River Khwae - paid 140 BHT (double what we should have apparently!) . As we bailed and paid the driver we heard screeches from the gates saying - "we are full - no room" but Alan gladly said we have a confirmed reservation, and we carried off unloading while she disappeared. I waited with the bags and Alan went to find out where the lady had disappeared too! Well it appeared that their website had been hacked and crashed and we had been confirmed whilst she was full with a Chinese Group attending her infamous cooking school! Much noise and commotion with heart felt apologies and we were introduced to Noi who sat us down with a tasty herbal tea, explained the situation and meantime Apple had been organising a room for us on the neighbouring property for the first night as the group would be departing in the morning. They made us a delicious lunch, on the house, as they felt so bad - best food we have had in Thailand! Gorgeous view over the River! Noi drove us in her car - the whole 200m to the neighbouring guesthouse and instructed us not to pay, made sure the aircon was on and had cooled the room on our arrival . Very sweet of them and we said we would be back tomorrow morning. The Sad Jai guesthouse was also on the river and owns the little store opposite, a corner store renting bikes too. We garnered a 2 day deal on 2 rickety bikes for 200 BHT and set of to explore and find the famous Bridge over the River Kwai! About 10 mins from accommodation and surrounded by market stalls as is one of the major attractions in town - the Death Railway Bridge. The Bridge is 300m and only the outside spans are original as the centre was bombed during WW2. Many tourists on the bridge and a train came over whilst we were on it - we all squished into overhang areas for the train to pass but of course it was travelling very slowly and had to stop for a group of kids who were too close! This bridge was made famous in movie "Bridge over the River Kwai" but the relevance to the area is huge as soo many atrocities were performed and deaths at the hands of the Japanese who were using the POWs (Brits, Aussies, Dutch and some Americans) as well as Burmese and Malayian indentured labour to build a railway route between Thailand and Burma due to sea routes not being safe! As many as 12,000 POWs and 90,000 labourers died building this railway line in appalling conditions with little food and succumbing to disease or malnutrition . Very moving and poignant scene! We walked over the bridge to the other side and wandered around a very gaudy Chinese Temple on the opposite bank of the river but giving great views of the Bridge. Crossed back over and took the bikes on a long circular ride over another bridge and through a very rural part of town. Got a little lost at one stage but thank goodness for google maps and also being sited and helped along by one of Apple & Nois workers who recognised the large lady! We soon got back to the Sud Jai guesthouse, terrible internet so couldn’t do any blog or internet. Had a well deserved drink at the neighbouring restaurant on the water. Showered and walked over the bridge into town to see where we could eat. Most cafes pretty empty until we came to an open area with 2 restaurants, one packed with locals, these types just have the kitchen under a canopy – looked fun but not one table or spot we could sit so carried on to the one next door which was also busy. This one had little round BBQ bowls and steaming bowls on the tables and was a seafood buffet – all you could eat for BHT219 each . Oh sounded good to us but in hindsight a little crazy. Loads of prawns and crabs but we managed to burn the first few as wanted to make sure we cooked them properly and then they were a little grey and mushy so decided to pass on those and eat a lot of the food that some ladies were cooking on huge BBQ’s – like chicken satays and pork bites….many interesting looking jellied salads and things we had no idea about so didn’t touch! Many sauces but unsure which were going to blow our heads off! Played safe – steamed mussels in broth steamer bowl (battered old metal kettle full of water next to it to top up) and threw in some morning glory (delish green stalks and leaves) and green onions (whole) and other recognizable veg and had a plate of healthy veg! By now we were red in the face and sweating from the heat on the table – plus they had no 7up so was drinking beer and soda! Not great! Saw some kids scooping ice cream so joined their queue and had pineapple, watermelon and ice-cream! Idea was great and looked fun but wasn’t worth the sweat and hard work to figure things out! Lesson learnt – no more Thai BBQ and buffets! Walked back to Sud Jai and put our feet up.

Sun 22nd Jan
8.00 rise and shine – temperature much cooler and more comfortable in Kanchanaburi, more of a breeze and less humid, also lovely being on the river. Breakfast included so ate on the deck of the guesthouse’s Tabasco restaurant. The ladies from the bike shop/corner store were making breakfast -set menu! Staring with a tasty bowl of rice broth with mini “meatballs” (??!) and herbs and a little spice to it…good, just unusual for us to have for breakie- (a Thai custom!) followed by fried egg, toast with salad decoration and they love the instant coffee for us “farangs”! Lovely sitting overlooking the water again! Packed up and wheeled our cases next door (haven’t opened up the backpacking strap panels once yet!) and left our bags with Noi (2 Noi’s here - one male who is a guide from Chiang Mai about to start up tours to Myanmar from Apple & Noi’s… .and the female Noi is the owner). Noi is a nickname and means the youngest in the family – Tim if you are looking for a new name we can call you Noi! We picked up the bikes again and set out on the 5km ride through the rural countryside to find Wat Tham Khao Pun which is a Buddhist temple set in a cave and also served as a Japanese hospital during WW2. A little uphill ride and we made it to pay the BHT30 entrance and went underground, viewing the reclining Buddha and many shrines in the series of about 6 different caves. Stalagmites and tites abound and a few little squeezes to get through but happy to see sunlight again as actually a tunnel through the mountain. A little bamboo hut (replica of POW camp building) on the outside housed a small photo gallery of the building of the railway line and life in the POW camp! A narrow road led up the rest of the mountain to a stupa with a gorgeous 360’ view of the whole of Kanchanaburi. Sundays thing seems to be these floating restaurants being pulled up and down the river by barges, with music blaring – we counted 8 up there with music full blast! Walked down to the temple buildings and looked around – nothing too exciting just the usual dogs lying around in the shade escaping the heat! Many dogs in Thailand! On our bikes and headed to the Chung Kai War Cemetery where 1400 Commonwealth and 300 Dutch POW lie in their marked graves . A beautifully maintained and landscaped tribute to those who had suffered so much when building the railway line! Some stunning umbrella shaped trees providing shade between the river and cemetery. Very moving reading some of the headstones inscribed by families, and some with no messages, very sad! Continued on our ambling bike ride back into town, looking for a Lonely Planet café which we found but was closed up, bar some kids watching videos on their phones! Went back to a little roadside café and ordered shandy and papaya salad (btw papaya salad is made from very green papaya which is shredded and main ingredient of the salad – add shrimp, chicken or pork, grated carrot or other veg and traditionally very spicy so you have to ask for medium spice!) and briefly chatted to a group of about 6 kids who were over for a couple of months, volunteering to help teach English to kids in a nearby town. This pleasant and cool lunch spot was right across from the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, also well landscaped and maintained but as this one was near the main road there were bus loads of tourists looking around. Our next stop was to be the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre opposite, this had a good write up and was well worth stopping at. A very informative museum explaining the role of Kanchanaburi during WW2 and how prisoners were treated – exceptionally well researched and presented by the Australian war commission and in particular one man. There was even a short video briefly showing interview from 3 survivors. Definitely worth the BHT40 admission fee and a free instant coffee after. Briefly chatted to a couple of Aussie artists who are making stained glass windows depicting this history and already 3 panels installed in museum. Ice-cream time and quick wander around the cemetery – found a record of Private Stanley Hargreaves from North Lancashire who died aged 24 and Gunner Herbert Greenhough aged 24 – wonder if any relations? Rode back to Apple’s Guesthouse, stopping at 7-11 first to get Beer and 7-Up as their restaurant would be closed as staff had a day off to recover from their big group. Returned bikes and then sat on the patio drinking our Shandys and chatting to Noi who was such an interesting guy and being a Liverpool supporter had much to chat about with Alan. He was supposed to be heading up to Myanmar to do a recce for a tour but 26 Thai tourists had just been held hostage at the nearby 3 pagodas pass entrance into Myanmar so he was holding off. He was originally from Chiang Mai and has a gorgeous little 4 year old that he showed us pics of – now divorced. He was a monk for 12 years – many years spent in Bangkok. Decided to leave and then became a tour guide for an Aussie company that he has recently left! Lovely spending the time to chat to him. By the time we showered we just walked back to one of the nearby places that was pretty empty and had a quick bite to eat as quite a few Mosquito’s around and then back to make use of the super fast internet – managed to upload one pic to blog….oh dear I’m not doing well with that! 

Mon 23rd Jan
Up early and had scrambled egg/ham/toast/coffee on the patio. Set off to find a tuk tuk to take us to the bus station for a bus to Erawan National Park and the Falls. Tuk Tuk only 60 BHT from here!!! Dropped us and showed us where to catch the Erawan Falls bus. 30 BHT each for ride in bright blue, pretty ancient bus – all doors and windows wide open so no need for aircon! Mix of tourists and locals – some standing. 1 ½ hr trip – lovely drive – very rural and good to see lots of green space. Very flat with a few hills on the horizon. Some lovely stretches driving through canopies of trees, passed many huge limestone/granite carvings that had been polished up - more for garden décor or large buildings as many of them as big as 6 - 10 ft tall. Obviously this is the area for the stone as so many places making them. Chatted to a Dutch couple who were travelling around for 3 weeks - come over twice a year and travel in SE Asia as they love it so much! On arrival we read a bit about the park and then started the walk. It supposedly has 7 levels spread over a few km’s but the levels seemed to go on for ever! A very pretty waterfall with lovely opaque blue water, there are so many minerals in the water that the deposits cause the flat edges to bulge with build up. You can swim in the pools and most of them have fish in them that suck onto your skin fluffing off the dead cells – must be related to the ones they have in the feet places in Mexico! You climb up pretty steeply but well maintained so steps and rails along the way. Apparently its called Erawan as the top resembles the 3 headed elephant of Hindu mythology, Erawan! Didn’t see it myself but was a lovely place to swim and cool down. At some of the falls you could slide down the rocks but left that to the crazy Chinese guys! Beautiful place and certainly worth the trip there, you could stay in Park Bungalows there if you want to explore the Park more. Headed back on the 3pm bus and with the help of google maps managed to work out where we could be dropped so we could walk back to Apples. We weren’t too hungry so just ate peanuts (always make sure we have a stash) and an ice-cream! Had a shandy on the patio, chatting a bit to Noi and then showered and caught up on things and ate at the Blue Rice Restaurant (Apples restaurant at guesthouse) – admired photos of Apple and Noi getting an award from one of the Princess Royals for their work in the area of healthy food education! Saw a Swiss couple we had bumped into a few times at the Falls and the bus home. They were staying next door and were continuing on in the morning, following our same route through Thailand but only spending a day in each place – that’s got to be tiring!