We were originally dropped at a guesthouse we had pre-booked but they were buggering us about on price and room so we decided to have a wander. We found a little place with River Raft rooms (Floating raft rooms just out on the river) at just 300B per night we thought we would go for it. In hindsight you get what you pay for! But it did us for the night!
That afternoon we had a bit of a pamper session. I had my hair done (for a fiver, Colour and blow dry) and then we both invested a couple of quid into a lovely oil massage. I think Dave enjoyed this one much more than the other crazy Thai lady he had on him the previous week. This one was very gentle on him and i think he actually fell asleep. We had an early night as we had booked onto a tour for the next day.
We were picked up at 8am and headed straight out to Erawan National Park falls. It was absolutely chucking it down and we were a bit gutted but hoped that it would just increase the flow of the waterfalls and make them even more spectacular. The mini bus that we were all was unfortunately full of 'Mummy and Daddy are paying for my travel idiots' we immediately knew that it was not going to be a peaceful day!
We arrived at the falls and the rain was just not letting up. Luckily we had brought our rain coats, umbrellas and even added a poncho to the mix. There were hoards and hoards of people at the entrance but we hoped it wouldn't spoil the scenery.
The waterfall was 7 tiers high and with pouring rain and sweaty rain forest heat and humidity we only managed it to tier 6. We were dripping with sweat and everything was so damp so we decided to head back down through the hoards of people jumping off rocks into the pools and graffiti on tree's and sign posts. Unfortunately us humans do ruin beautiful spots.
I kinda wish we would have visited these before visiting Lichfield in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Nothing has yet come close to those.
After lunch we then headed to the Death Railway. This was a construction that killed many a man whilst building. It looked unsteady from the platform and we could see the track winding along the edge of a very high cliff face. I suppose Adrenaline is good for you at least once a day! We boarded the rickety old wooden train with hoards of other Tourists and took a scenic ride along the track for about 4 stops before our guide met us.
We then went to The Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum where we took an Audio Tour around the cliffs and into the pass. For those of you who don't know (i didn't until Dave told me) this pass was made through a sheer cliff face by mans bear hands to make a train track. POW's in Thailand during the Japanese occupation were forced to build a railway day and night linking Burma with Thailand for importation of goods during the war. Many of the men (pow) were Australian and all of them were subjected to the unimaginable. The were rationed to 2 spoons of rice per day and were forced to work in the blazing sun with Malaria, Cholera and Dysentery. The only thing that would prevent you from being forced to work was death. It was horrific to see some of the photos and listen to the real life accounts of old Aussies who survived the ordeal. Thousands of men died during this time and the museum is well set up as a memorial to all of those who suffered. It was an interesting walk down into the pass.
Finally we arrived at the 'Bridge over the River Kwai' This was what Dave had been waiting for. It has been reconstructed lots overtime and still actively has trains running across it. A bit of a metal monstrosity however. We had a walk across it and took some photos.
We were returned to town and we only had around an hour before our bus back to Bangkok. 3 hours later we arrived and absolutely knackered we checked into out favorite little cafe/guesthouse which we had loved when we were in Bangkok before.
We have to be up at 4.30 am to Catch our train to Cambodia....its never ending!
To see our pictures from Kanchanaburi please click on the link below;
https://picasaweb.google.com/112941139607408893724/KanchanaburiThailand30thTo31stJuly2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJncoKCOnMXboQE#
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