Kanchanaburi

We'd planned an early start as we were only going to stay down in Kanchanaburi for a couple of nights. In the end we didn't leave until almost 11am after a good breakfast and Cliff & Liam had a final swim in the beautiful pool (well, I say final, but we'll be back in a couple of days). Our taxi driver took us first to the Eastern bus terminal, where I suppose you can catch a bus to Cambodia and beyond. After Cliff sorted out our GPS coordinates we were able to direct him properly (in fluent Thai of course!) to the southern bus staton (actually to the east of the city by my reckoning). The trip took about 45 mins and cost B250. The bus tickets were easy to get, B204 for all three of us to Kanachanaburi. The buses are pretty frequent and there was one going in 15 mins; there was a bit of kerfuffle when a helpful driver put our bags on his bus but it happened to be the wrong bus, but we managed to get to the right one just as it was about to leave. A bit bumpy but we sat at the back and there were plenty of seats to spread out and it had AC. We passed lots of temples and outside restaurants, which seem quite popular here and usually have a space for entertainment; there's one next to our Bangkok hotel that has bands doing rock covers every night . Did I mention the bus is really bumpy?

We reached Kanchanaburi in about two hours and took a taxi van to the Ploy guest house, another oasis in a pretty busy road filled with Internet cafes, bars and places to have massage. The shower room looks out through netting (no glass) onto a little tropical garden. I keep meaning to take some pics of the rooms of the places we stay, but then our bags seem to explode all over them and I can't let you see that. The hotel restaurant (which is only open for breakfast) has great views of the river.

Kanchanaburi is predominantly known for the bridge (over the River Kwai) and the Death Railway. During WW2 POWs were forced to build the Thai-Burma railway. We took a walk along to the cemetary at Don Rak., it was a moving experience. There are 6,982 buried there in mostly individual graves, men from Britain, Australia and the Netherlands. The place is immaculately maintained, the land having been given by the people of Thailand to recognise the sacrifce.

We took a walk to the bridge and then over it. It's much smaller than I imagined but not at all disappointing. We had dinner at the Jolly Frog which seems to be a backpacker haunt (there's a sign on the gate forbidding the riding of motorcycles in the restaurant) - we ordered far too much (but cheap) food. Early night as we have really full day planned for tomorrow.