Elephants, Trains, and Monkeys. . .OH MY!

This past weekend, Julia and I planned a getaway trip to Kanchanaburi.

Or wait. . .really we just waited on the side of the road in Pakkred for a bus to come whisk us away. "Planned" might be stretching it.

Regardless of travelling on a whim, with no set plan, we had a blast!

Things I Have Learned About Travelling in Thailand
1. Speak Thai. Even though most Thai people selling something, or offering a service, can communicate in simple English, they often enjoy speaking Thai with westerners. It shows that you've put a bit of effort into learning a part of their culture. All you have to know is a couple phrases, and they think you're pro!

2. If you can speak Thai, ask for prices based on what you think it should be. Example- Instead of asking how much a piece of watermelon is by saying, "How much is this?" say "This is 10 baht, right?" You are less likely to get ripped off this way, and you don't have to barter as often.

3. Thai people will rarely admit they don't know where something is, or how to get there, or if they understand you. So if you ask to go to some mall somewhere 20 minutes away, don't be surprised when you're going in circles for an hour even though the taxi driver nodded at your request.

4. In reference to food, if your Thai is no good, they assume what you want. If you ask for fried rice with egg (Kai) they will often give you chicken (Gai) because it's more common for westerners to order.

5. Don't get into a taxi without a meter. You WILL be ripped off.

6. Your insurance probably doesn't cover moterbike transportation, with good reason.

7. If you only want to spend a certain amount of money, bring only that amount. Otherwise, you'll probably spend more. Bargains are everywhere.

8. Don't wear your hair down. Maybe it looks good now, but in 10 minutes, the sweat really changes that.

9. Thai people can eat fried food 24/7 and not get fat. You're not Thai, don't try it.

Whew. . . these are just a few.

Anyways, Kanchanaburi. How about a photo journal?

We arrived in Kanchanaburi at around 10am Saturday morning. It was about a 2.5 hour drive from where we live. From the bus station in Kanchanaburi we got a truck taxi to our accomadation.

The view from our raft house room window. This is the River Kwai, and that bridge, in the distance, that's the bridge built during WW II. I made the mistake of saying "Kwai" which means "buffalo" and should be pronounced "Kwae".

This is Julia looking out at the River from our window. Our rafthouse cost 300 baht (or 10 dollars total, 5 dollars each) for a room with two beds for the night.What a bargain!

 

This is one of several cemetarys in the area that commemorates the POW's that died during the construction of the Burma-Siam railway. It was a sobering visit as we stood among 7000 graves. Only a few days after rebembrance day, it really hit Julia and I. The bravery of these men is incredible.

After the cemetary, Julia and I devoured some rice with veggies and then followed a map until we reached the JEATH war museum. The following a map thing didn't work out so well, and we spend close to three hours wandering Kanchanburi with a lonely planet guide open to page 212. The museum itself was excellent. Simple, but interesting. It was about the lifestyle that the POW's lived as they built the Burma-Siam railway and the horrors they faced under the Japanese. "JEATH" stands for the five main nationalities involved during the contruction of the railway. These are Japanese, English, American, Thai, and Holland. It was in a replica of a hut that would have housed the Allied POW's during the war. An estimated 16000 POW's died during the contruction, as well as another 49000 local Thai, Burmese, and Malaysian labourers.

The Allied forces bombed the bridge over the river in 1944. This is one of the bombs.

The view of the river from the museum.

In front of the museum

Julia and I spent our evening at the local night market and then met some tourists at a restaurant later that night.A group of 5, a Canadian, an American, an English man, and two Aussies. The Canadian works for McAfee in Toronto. I had to bite my tongue from blurting out that I had uninstalled it because it seemed to create problems rather than fix them. All of them were older, with interesting stories! It was a good time.

In the morning we took a train to an elephant camp, it was a two hour train ride, filled with beautiful scenery! Too bad I fell asleep and only got to see about 30 minutes of it. . .

 

 

We got off our train, took a walk, and BAM. Elephants. We got our trek for halfprice by displaying our volunteer cards. A half hour elephant trek changed from 200 baht, to 100 baht (or just over 3 dollars)! The ride was amazing! Elephants are so powerful, you can just feel it riding one. All I could think was "I've only ever seen one of these behind bars, and now I'm sitting on one!" It was a lot of fun, totally worth the three dollars!

 

This was an absolutely amazing time! After the elephant trek, we took a taxi/truck to the erawan waterfalls! There were 7 main waterfalls, all of them were absolutely amazing. Julia and I spent hours swimming, going behind them, diving next to them, hiking up the mountain, and just taking it all in. At one point, we saw a whole clan of wild monkeys! Just hanging out, swinging on trees, and running past us; it was crazy.  The admission price was 200 baht, but we pulled out our volunteer cards once again and got Thai price, 40 baht! That's $1.30! It was an good time, full of adventure.

And now I'm back home, sitting in Sirin house, making plans for Rainbow House for the week. For not planning a thing, Julia and I had a great time, and the carefree attitude towards it probably made it more enjoyable.

My grand total for the weekend which includes accomadation, food, transport, waterfalls, elephant trek, museums etc. came to. . .

40 dollars!

A fun weekend that fits into my tiny budget!

Anyone want to come visit?