Thailand (Kanchanaburi)

We headed straight to Kanchanaburi after a pretty awful and bad experience spending one night in Bangkok. The night we spent consistsed of walking around Chinatown trying to find somewhere clean to stay within our budget that wasn't infested with cockroaches or prostitutes. We believed it would be easy to find a place to stay around the train station but it wasn't!

We boarded the train to kanchanaburi which was full to the brim and all seats taken. The train was supposed to leave by 11 but as its Thai-time and after the guards decided to remove a carriage and squash everyone up into a small space, then realising and putting the carriage back on the train we didn't leave until gone 12ish. The train ride was fun and at one point we stopped as the rain was so torrential the track was flooded. As the train bobbed along, at one point it breaked suddenly and everyone who's window was open got covered in water which was funny (people soon closed up their windows after that!).

On arrival we checked into our guesthouse, a clean old fashioned looking room with a/c private shower and bathroom, however the toilet had manual flush consisting of a large bucket of water and a jug. It sounds awful but it really wasn't that bad. We have experienced these before but not had one to ourselves before! There were also several cats & dogs which appeared to live at the guesthouse. Two of the cats would occasionally meow at our door until we would let them in, they were very friendly. 

The town is small and easy to get around, a main street runs through most of the places we will need and it seemed to be popular with backpackers as well as a few crusty old expats drinking in bars from morning until late. Compared to Bangkok it was cheap and comfortable.

We have a few things to see and do including exploring the town and visiting the bridge over the river kwai, where the classic film is based and is one of the reasons it is famous and popular to visit. On our visit to the bridge we saw a man sleeping with a leopard with another baby leopard in a very small cage. He was trying to raise money for the nearby safari park - very unethical if you ask us. The death railway was started here by Japan and built during the 2nd world war, killing hundreds of thousands of POW to get it finished. Historically very interesting and the war museum we visited was very good and provided much detail and insight into the murky and gruesome past of the death railway. Outside the museum there was a large lizard baking in the midday heat. We're not sure if he was a wild lizard or belonged to someone at their museum but he was interesting all the same. 

We had only planned to stay two nights but actually found it very pleasant and also got word of some amazing water falls nearby so decided to stay another night. Every evening we played pool and had a few beers, the bars were cheap and the beer cold.

We caught a bus to the waterfalls about an hour away, famed as the best in Thailand. The bus was packed and sweaty but manageable. The waterfalls were really nice. In total seven levels of waterfall cascaded down the mountain which was right in the middle of a national park and nature had been left alone leaving dense jungle all-around. We only went to the first 5 levels. At each level were pools you could swim in, waterfalls and hundreds of fish of varying size which would start nibbling on you as soon as you jumped in, a bit like the things in England where you put your feet in, 'happy feet', although much big fish and quite unnerving when they start chomping all over your body. The bus back was probably very dangerous and quite an experience. The bus slowly started filling up and we realised we would be standing. In total there was 25 people sitting, 27 people stood up! To say the bus was overloaded would be an under statement, at one point four people were considering getting on the roof which wisely the driver said no and further squashed them on the bus. I couldn't even stand up and the trip home was very uncomfortable, thankfully we got home safely.

We booked on a minibus to Bangkok to go meet our friends and made sure we booked somewhere nice and in a better area than our first trip.