On Friday, we packed as quickly as we could the last of the things we thought we might need for the trip to the city described as paradise by a number of people that we had talked to. We caught the 81 heading out of town in front of the 7-11 just down the block. Once we were on we were asking if we had the right bus, just to confirm since we had been told that this was the bus to take. The woman did not speak a word of English so I made my way to the bus driver. He tells me we are not on the right bus and he points at the bus in front of us (an 88) - which looks like the bus described to me by Tiffany.
So we get off and run onto this other bus and ask if it's going to Kanchanaburi. The one guy says yes but then this woman on the bus comes up to us and tells us that it is not the right bus. They will tell us when to get off so we ride the 88 for a bit and then get off in the middle of nowhere. What you have to understand about the middle of nowhere in Thailand is that it still looks like you are somewhere if you are on a main highway because there are stands and bus stops and pedestrian overpasses.
Now we are at this bus stop and we see an 81 coming so we figure that we are going to catch this one and it will all be ok. As we're getting on the person on the bus says that it is the right bus but there is a girl at the stop that says that it is not. We get on and ride for quite a while. In the end we do not take the right exit and I realize we are now in the city of Nakhom Pathom. I ask the lady again about Kanchanaburi and she tells us to get off at the next stop.
We get off and there is no sign of another bus. In addition to this, there is no sign of a taxi to fit the 5 of us - just motor taxis. We ended up wandering this town for around 45 minutes. Some people didn't understand any English so they could not help, but I cannot say enough about the people who could understand our English and sign language. They tried so hard to help us and in the end we made it to the edge of town and caught a minibus to Kanch. that agreed to take us directly where we were hoping to stay.
The Jolly Frog Restaurant was pretty much empty by the time we got there but they made us some sandwiches that were really good - either because we were that hungry or because they were that good... perhaps a little bit of both. We got rooms here as well - cheap cheap. Granted, the sheets had cigarette burn marks in them and the bathroom was an afterthought whose drain was a hole at the bottom of the wall, but it was quaint and served the purpose. As it was we didn't spend much time there.
The next morning we had to be up for a tour we had booked via phone the evening before so we ate breakfast at the Jolly Frog. At 8am our van picked us up, followed by a few other stops - adding more people to our tour. The first stop of the tour itself was at Erawan National Park, approaching the Myanmar boarder. It was absolutely beautiful.
The hike to the top of the 7 levels was way easier than the hike we went on in Hua Hin and we had been ready for a hike like that so it was kind of a nice surprise.
We ate lunch at the park then left for the elephant ride and bamboo rafting. Both were pretty cool
Finally we went to Death Railway. I didn't really know that Thailand had been touched by World War II but in fact the Japanese had occupied it in order to make a connection through Burma to India. In building this railway, several prisoners of war as well as Thai's who were enslaved lost their lives.
We rode the train back toward Kanch then got back in our minibus to go to the Bridge Over the River Kwai. You may have heard of it?
At the end of this day we were pretty beat, and very hungry so Lynne, Sam and I were heading straight to dinner. As we turn to go to dinner we spot this massage parlor that has Thai massages for 150B (1 hour). This has been a topic of conversation for the passed few weeks, and I was really iffy on it because apparently they crack every part of you. (Yes - I realize that I do this to myself but it is different). Because the day kicked our butts, it was the perfect opportunity. In fact, it was amazing.
After being pressed on and moved like a marionette - and walked on in Sam's case - we set off to find dinner and ended up at an Italian restaurant because it just smelt soo good.
The next day was pretty chill. We woke up late and made our way to the Allied War Cemetery a few blocks away from where we were staying. I always find that going to these commemorative places is a humbling experience and this was definitely not an exception. It was so heartbreaking to see the graves of all of these people who died so very far away from home. Furthermore, I was surprised to see that in addition to the number of Christian graves, there were also a number of Jewish graves.
So as you can see, it was quite the adventure. Getting home was a lot easier than getting there - walk to the bus station, get on the bus, take it to the Bangkok bus station then take a cab to the apartment. I will keep you posted about this week!
In the mean time, I luv ya:) ~ Amanda
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