Arrived Kanchanaburi around 11am after a weary nights travelling. Thankfully our guest house had agreed to collect us from the bus station & took us straight to where we were staying which was a brand new guest on the far side of the river from town, & only about 1/4 mile from the Bridge over the River Kwai. This is their 2nd guest house as they are recommended in every guide book & the food has been fantastic, so if anyone else comes here stay at one of the Apple & Noi Guest houses (highly recommended).
In the afternoon we wandered around town & visited the main cemetary for those POWS who died building the death railway - the Japanese railway linking Thailand in to Burma. Took about 2 years to build through very difficult terrain & over 10,000 people died buiding it. They say one death for every railway sleeper lain. Most of the deaths were local labour recruited or conscripted from other Asian countries. Next to the cemetary is the Burma-Thai Railway museum, which we both fascnating but also very emotional & disturbing, in the things one man can do to another. Late afternoon we went to visit the Bridge over the River Kwai (the metal one, as there used to be two, the other being a wooden bridge which I think is the one in the movie). There were loads of people walking across the bridge as one of the tourist trains on the Death Railway went over.
Day two: we took a minbus tour for the day, which included a visit to a local waterfall, the Hellfire Pass & Museum (a particularly difficult spot on the buidlding of the Death Railway). Had an early lunch (11.30am!). Then dropped of some of the party to do an elephant ride in the jungle, whilst we opted for the swim in the Hot Springs. These were next to a river, & there were 4 pools in all - one 30degree, one 35, one 40 & a boys only pool. You swam in cold water in the river before immersing oneself in the hot pools. Very refreshing. The collected the others after their elephant ride & we all went for an hour ride on the Death Railway. Last drop wass to be atken back to the Bridge over the River Kwai, so Gill used the time to shop in the market.
Day three: took out 2 bikes for the day & cycled out of town. On the way went past a big school childrens petanque contest (so pictures included for our 'French' followers. Bize play Kanchanaburi next June - Gill's captain. Cycled on to the other POW cemetary & then on to a Cave Temple. I went & Gill stayed outside. Went through aseries of caves with Budhhas and other objects in & lost of children running about wanting something. I assume money. Got very hot cycling. Going back into town Gill got lost & we ended up losing contact with each other for an hour. I explored Chinatown & the bars down on the front. Think Gill really went off to do secret shoe shopping in the downtown markets.
Up date on baggage: have decided to do with out the little backpack which is part of my main pack, as the washing line tying it on is distictly not 'backpacker cool'. This has meant reducing my clothes somewhat, and now all I have one spare of undies, one spare T shirt & a tootbrush. Also update on sandals. My 10 euro French purchase off the market at st Pierre sur mer, have last from India to here so far. They took a right hammering in the mud in the jungle & were definitely dieing, but have continued to patch them up. To date they have had one large of UHU & 13 tubes of super glue to keep them on the road. Determined they will make it all the way RTW with me as can't afford new ones! (Gill's horrified but have to remind her this is now the unemployed lifestyle we are leaving & can't buy 3 new pairs of shoes like the old days anymore)
Day four we just had the morning so spent it blogging & catching up on emails, before getting a minibus to Ayuttuya (an old city heading north). We had to change our plans as couldn't get to Sukhothai, our original plan. We had already lost one day when we returned to Krabi & we couldn't get to Sukhothai in one day from where we were. too many bus changes required & no direct train link. So the plan is to spend one night in Ayutthaya & then take the overnight train direct to Chang Mai, as we have to do a visa on the 1st Feb, as our visa expire on that day. We intent to spend sometime in Chang Mai as Gill plans to do her elephants there, & I plan to do a cooking course. We also plan to meet up with Thomas & some other fellow travellers for the flower festival on the 6th.
We arrived in Ayutthaya late afternoon & staying at Tony's Place, a strange wooden building in the centre of town. Having missed any Chinese New Year celebrations in Kanchanaburi, we found there is a big street party going on, with loads of foodstalls & other stalls. Went out a restaurant, bumped into Wendy & Steve who we did the jungle walk in the Cameron Highlands. They were just leaving for the night train to Chang Mai so are 24 hours a head of us. Later came back to the Chinese New Year festival (New Year was actually the 26th Jan)& watched the pranicig dragon dancers, the fireworks, the Chinese theatre & then enjoyed a large jug of Singha watching Chinese Cold Play. Back to bed at midnight but it was still very hot & noisy.
Day 2 in Ayutthaya we hired bikes and cycled around all the various Wats(temples). They are all over the place (reminds of some of the places we visited in India). saw what is claimed to be the world's biggest Buddha Leave for Chang Mai at 9.00pm to night (13 hour train journey)
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