Something About Thailand

Note: I asked Alexa to come up with a title for this post - you can see above what she decided on.

After a couple days exploring Bangkok, Alexa and I decided to get out of the big city and head west, to Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi has its place in history for being the location of the "Bridge Over the River Kwai" and a city along the Thai/Burma Railway - AKA the "Death Railway" built by POWs during WWII, but it's also an incredibly charming little town and has some beautiful surrounding scenery.

We caught an early afternoon train from Bangkok. While we were waiting for the train, we met Patt and Ady, also traveling to Kanchanaburi. Patt is a young Thai woman who has lived all over the world, and Ady is a young English guy who is traveling with her. In a style we would soon get used to, Patt asked if we had booked accommodation, and when I said that we hadn't, she informed me that we would all team up to look for a place to stay.

The train ride was mostly uneventful. We chatted briefly with an older Thai man, mostly about how large the United States is, and how we are lucky not to be Indian. When we arrived in Kanchanaburi, we quickly found a nice place to stay - our bungalow right next to Ady and Patt's.

In the evening, Alexa and I went out looking for a place to eat dinner. We ran into Ady and Patt. Patt informed us where we should eat dinner, dragged us there, and then instructed us what to order. (She may sound bossy - she is - but she was quite endearing and the fact that she is about 4 feet tall made the whole thing more hilarious.)

We ate at a restaurant called "Mangosteen", which also doubles as a book shop. Alexa enjoyed her iced Thai tea while we read a travel book:

After dinner, we met up with Ady and Patt for some pool at a nearby bar and soon met Roman, a Russian guy who was also traveling in Thailand. We all went out to a "club" afterwards - although really it was just a tiny little bar with loud music playing and flashing lights. We stayed out quite late and enjoyed all sorts of quality music, and decided that the next day, we would rent motor bikes and explore the surrounding countryside.

The next morning (okay, afternoon), we rented our bikes and set out for a national park with some of the most gorgeous waterfalls in Thailand. We stopped for lunch at a tiny roadside restaurant along the way - having Patt with us opened a lot of doors since she speaks Thai. The scenery along the road was beautiful but I was too busy hanging on to take any pictures.

The waterfalls have several "tiers", so visitors climb up and up to see each level. This is the first level:

The second level had a lot of people and a sign that said, "BEWARE OF FIERCE MONKEYS" so we didn't pause there long and continued to the third level:

The pool at the base of the waterfall was perfect for swimming. A little cold, but fine once you got in, and a little more than five feet deep - I could stand with my head out of the water if I was on tiptoe in most parts of the pool. The fish were very friendly and nibbly - a sensation Alexa and I were used to from our time at the fish spa, but Ady nearly had a heart attack about the whole thing.

We swam at this pool for quite a while, and then attempted to head further up. Unfortunately, we were soon turned back by a park ranger type person, who said that it was going to rain and the park would be shutting soon. We got sent back down, where Roman decided to go for one last swim and play behind the level two waterfall. Alexa and I kept watch against FIERCE MONKEYS.

It was a long day of swimming, hiking and motorbiking, and by the time we got home, we were all quite tired. We went to a night market for dinner, and then everyone was happy to make it an early night.

The next day, Alexa and I got up and went to go see the famous Bridge Over the River Kwai. It's not that great, and the movie that makes it famous wasn't even filmed in Thailand. (It was filmed in Sri Lanka.) Still, here's the bridge:

Near the bridge is a museum which has exhibits both on Thai history and the history of the railway. The museum was interesting - the exhibits weren't really that good or well maintained, but there was a wealth of information written on the walls which made for some interesting reading, both to learn about the actual history and to try to understand the Thai perspective on WWII.

The day was the hottest one we have had recently, so we laid low during the afternoon - reading, resting, and getting laundry done.

In the evening, we met up with our usual gang (Patt, Ady, Roman) and went out for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called "The Jolly Frog" and learned all about high quality Thai customer service (NOT). By the end of the meal we were carefully rationing our water because we had given up hope of ever getting more. After eating, we went back down to the bridge to see it lit up at night, and to have a drink on a floating bar!

Standing on the bridge at night:

The next day, it was time to head back to Bangkok. We were sitting in the reception area of our guest house when the skies opened and soaked everything with a torrential downpour:

The train was running on "Thai time" - although the timetable said it would be arriving at 2:44 PM, it did not arrive until nearly 5:00. We played poker for bahts on the train platform until Patt ran out of money and announced the game was over. We sat in the very last car so we had a great view out the back:

We didn't arrive in Bangkok until nearly 9:00, and hurried to our hostel. Or tried to - as we were driving along, our cab driver suddenly announced that he had to pull over, and then proceeded to get out and tighten the lug nuts on the back two wheels of the car. He turned off the meter while he did this, so it didn't seem to be a scam but was just kind of confusing.

We checked into the hostel and then decided that we should go out for Saturday night drinks. We had explored the Khao San Road and Patpong areas of Bangkok earlier in the week, so decided to go to Sukhumvit, the swankiest part of town. Stupidly, I didn't bring my guidebook, so once we got off the metro, we wandered around, hoping a nice bar would just sort of appear. It didn't. We found out later that we were one street away from the happenin' night life, but we gave up too soon.

Enticed by what looked like a rooftop bar, we wandered into a really nice Sheraton, but were soon thwarted by a bellhop and realized there was no rooftop bar. Determined to find somewhere good, we got off the elevator and walked down the stairs, and went to the concierge to ask where we could go for a drink, neglecting to mention that we were not guests of the hotel. He recommended a bar called "LongTable", and sent us on our way with directions - the 25th floor of a nearby building.

We got our wish for swankiness at this place! I tried to take a picture but it didn't really work out:

The bar is a trendy place which has a great view over Bangkok. Here is a much better picture of the view, and the inside of the bar. We got some expensive drinks and sipped them while people-watching and gazing out over Bangkok. We stole the coasters.

Leaving LongTable, we went to one more bar in the nearby area, and then headed home. We got up early today (or tried to - I am still in my pajamas - oops!) to go to the weekend market! More pictures to come!