18th January 2009

After a quick bus journey from Bangkok we arrived in Kanchanaburi. We had already booked our accommodation at Ploy Guest House (http://www.ploygh.com/) and they kindly collected us from outside the 7-11 next to the bus terminal. As always, it was a three wheeled form of transport and not four! So, on we piled, with Adam riding pillion again, but mind you he's getting a bit of an Evel Knievel on them now!

Nervously we pulled into our guest house and as always had our check list at the ready and asked to see the room first. Wow! Finally luxury met our eyes. The room was absolutely amazing, teak furniture and a very comfortable bed with 2 pillows each! We also had floor to ceiling windows which revealed our very own miniature jungle and an outside shower as well. After a well earned rest we decided to explore the grounds, each bungalow was in a garden setting and we also had a shared roof top terrace with amazing views over the river Kwai. Back to reality, due to the wonderful aroma of our Bangkok hotel, laundry was top of our priority list, so we dropped our laundry off at reception.

We knew we were within walking distance of the famous bridge over the river Kwai, so we thought it would be a great idea to visit the local museum to gain some history of the bridge. So we spent our first afternoon in the museum learning the very sad history that built the famous bridge, which was a very moving and poignant story. We then finished off with a visit to the Allied War Cemetery which showed the massive loss to many nations. We made it back to our guest house just in time to enjoy the sunset over the river Kwai, with a cold beer in our hands.

After enjoying our shower in the outdoors we decided to get exploring and find the local night market. We enjoyed ourselves here, with many things to look at and lots of good food to enjoy. Our first meal here cost us only 50 Baht for the both of us, including a delicious platter of fruit.

After a good nights sleep was enjoyed by both, we headed off to the famous bridge. We arrived in possibly one of the hottest days so far and enjoyed great views of the bridge, amazed that we were actually there. The great part being that you can actually walk across the bridge, but as the railway line is still in use this did entail walking on the actual rails, considering our new found knowledge of the construction and previous bombings, this left us feeling a little nervous! After talking our many photo's (which will be in Volume V of our travel log upon return!) we were lucky to find we had timed our visit perfectly to see a working train cross the bridge.

The following day we went to collect our laundry from reception, to be surprised that there was only one of the two bags that we had given them. After the usual sign language and pigeon English we git our point across, so we were invited to go to the Mother of the owners house to search for the missing items. Adam hopped on the back of the girls moped and was taken to the family home. After saying hello to the whole family he managed to identify Clares PJ's, then all was good as they realised we had given them two bags! So no troops will be parachuting over the river Kwai using Clares knickers!

The afternoon was spent blogging and beautifying ourselves with a haircut for Adam and a pedicure for Clare.

For our last day in Kanchanaburi we head a treat planned for ourselves, a journey to the seven tiered waterfall called Erawan (http://www.dnp.go.th/parkreserve/asp/style1/default.asp?npid=107&lg=2). Of course, this can be organised for you, but us being independent travelers hopped on the local bus for our one and a half hour journey. Being a local bus there were no luxuries such as A/C or comfy seats, instead they leave the doors open and the floor is made of wood. You could even watch the road passing beneath you, but hey, this only cost us 80p each! Erawan is a national park so you have to pay a 200 Baht entrance fee, unless you are Thai, then it is a mere 50 Baht! No matter how brown we get we are still never mistaken as Thai! Maybe this is due to us being three foot taller!

Erawan was in a gorgeous setting and thankfully nice and shaded for our trek that awaited us. Generally the climb was easy although at some points it was pretty rocky and steep. Every level of the falls were well worth the climb affording great views at each tier and waterfall. We had bought our swimming costumes to take a dip to cool down, but after seeing fish the size of sharks we decided to stay on dry land! We made it to five out of the seven tiers which we were very proud of as it was extremely hot and each level got a progressively steeper climb. Going down the falls was much easier and we rewarded ourselves with an ice lolly before catching the 4pm bus.

Kanchanaburi is a fantastic place, not only is it full of history, it was a very relaxing place to spend a few days. We would and maybe will return here one day.

As we have lots still to see in Thailand and have constraints on our visa we had to move on to our next destination - Ayutthaya.