We Are Just Being Thai

It is our last few days in the Land of Thai and it has been an amazing trip! We left Phuket a few days ago and have to admit we were not too impressed with this place. Our resort was VERY nice, which was great because we relaxed a lot, swam everyday and watched beautiful sunsets on the beach. But Phuket itself is full of lady boys (Thai transvestites) and lady bars (where Thai prostitutes serve you your drinks) and is filled with tourists. We decided to head back to central Thailand after spending so much time seaside, which was awesome because we got to visit Kanchanaburi, a little historic WWII town just northwest of Bangkok. We were happy to see that this place was not overrun by tourism. Our first night we stayed in a nice place on the River Kwai called Pong Phen. That night we walked to the famous Bridge over the River Kwai (you may know it from the movie/book), which was the famous bridge that linked the Burma-Thai Death Railway built by WWII POW's (mostly British, Malaysians and Dutch), which was forced by the Japanese. It is a tragic story because the conditions were awful for the POWs (they were basically slaves) and over 100,000 POWs died building the railway. That night we got caught in a monsoon (after a mediocre dinner on a floating restaurant) and for the first time since being in Thailand could not find a taxi or tuk tuk! We stood helplessly under a tree until a nice Thai man came over and gave us an umbrella. We took a soaking ride on the back of a moto and were drenched by the time we got back to our hotel. Lesson: don't forget to bring an umbrella in monsoon season even if the sky looks clear.

The next day we visited Erawan National Park, which is famous for a beautiful 7-tiered waterfall that flows through the jungle. We climbed all the way to the top (about 2200 meters) and swam in 3 of the 7 pools at the base of the waterfalls. One pool even had a mossy rock slide that you could slide down into the nice clear blue water. It was very refreshing, but the fish were nibbling on my toes and legs the whole time! Yikes! At the top of the waterfall there were monkeys (macaques) hanging out waiting for unsuspecting humans to let down their guard so they could snatch belongings. We were warned ahead of time that they were quite agressive so we had sticks in hand in case they tried to get near us (they even bit someone earlier that day!). That afternoon we switched to a new hotel called Bamboo House, and stayed in a rafthouse made of bamboo that was literally floating on the river. It was so cool! Again very simple and rustic with only a shared cold shower, but we loved it! And I slept so well on the gently rocking river.

The next day we visited the Death Railway Museum, which talked more about the tragic story about the construction of the railway and then we rode the train down the railway to the Bridge. It was great to learn more about this part of history that I had no previous knowledge of. I am excited to read the book/watch the movie when I get back. Then we headed back to Bangkok on a very very long bus ride (was supposed to take 2 hours and took 4.5 hrs instead) and got back to our first little place, LubD Hostel. Last night we went to the Thai nightclubs, which is definitely a different experience! Today we will get one last cheap Thai massage and maybe do some shopping. When Gabriela commented on how much rice we have been eating the past few days, I responded "We are just being Thai."