bridge over the river Kwai

Had an uneventful bust trip from khao yai to Kanchanaburi. Except that unfortunately I had to make a stopover in bangkok. Back to the city where they are always trying to rip you off, get your money, and scam you. From khao yai I had taken the bus that would take me to the ne station in bangkok (there are 4) b/c the people in my guesthouse said I wouldn't have to transfer from there to another station and pay the 3 bucks to get there. Well when I got in there's the typical horde of taxi and tuk tuk drivers "where are you going" trying to take you somewhere. In these situations if you're connecting to another bus it's always nice b/c you just say the town you're going to and they stop bothering you and usually even point you in the right direction for it. but not bangkok. about 4 of them told me I needed to go to the south station to catch the bus to kancahnaburi and they'd be happy to take me there. I was getting a little worried b/c I didn't think I had to transfer (the lp said I didn't either). But I decided to go check just to see if there was a bus, and sure enough...there was. They were just trying to scam me of course. I'll be back in bangkok tomorrow. The first time I was there was kind of tiring and difficult. Partly b/c I had so many errands to run with all the passport and visa stuff. I actually did a good job avoiding the scams and haggling with tuk tuk and taxi drivers to get fair prices. But I could have done better. Before this trip I had done a lot of looking into places I wanted to go by reading up on guidebooks and the internet, but hadn't looked specifically into places. I wanted to read the huge chapter on bangkok before I came in, but I was in belgium and then morocco right before I ended my job. So I got back and had 4 days to finish up work stuff, pack up all my junk, say goodbye to friends, have thanksgiving, etc. Then I drove home, had to unpack the trailer, go shopping in boulder for the necessary stuff, hang with friends and family at home, and pack up. It was just crazy the last two weeks, so I never got a chance...and the movies were too good on the plane. But now I have read up on my guidebook. I know the public transport better (still a ripoff to get to the airport though), the neighborhoods better, etc...so I'm looking forward to getting back to bangkok and dominating.

Have had a great time in Kanchanaburi. Wish I could stay longer, but I've got to get back to bangkok to catch my plane, pick up some stuff, and change baht for us dollars. Kanchanaburi is home to the famous death railway bridge over the river kwai (actually Mae Nam Khwae Yai) from the movie. It's been kind of nice to get back to more civilization. I've been sure to partake in getting some icecream and fruit smoothies. Fruit smoothies the size of jamba juice, but with fresher fruit are only 30 cents!! So I've been having quite a lot. As well as some cheap icecream and lots of fruit.

Today I went up to Erawan falls. Completely amazing! Might almost rival the biggest one in thailand that I saw up my umphang. The one in umphang was about 5 tiered, but much bigger drops and you could see all the tiers from one place. This one they say is 7 tiered, but it's more like 100. It's in the jungle and you just keep hiking up and hiking up to more and more falls full of the beautiful emerald water. It reminded me of the 1000 falls hike in rocky (minus all the raspberries and this water is warm and swimmable and the amazing emerald blue green as opposed to the transparent clear that colorado streams are). Just falls upon falls with cool little pools you can swim in and rocks you can slide down. After the 1st two falls I was wondering why they didn't film the beach waterfall jump here (probably b/c they're not high enough to be so dramatic) but sure enough when I got to the 3rd tier, they were filming some sort of movie. Don't know what it was but the actress looked western and all the film crew and guy in charge were speaking english. I had thought the falls were small and just in one place, so I had only allotted 3 hours for them which typically would be enough for one falls and pool, so unfortunately I had to leave before I wanted b/c I had booked a tour for the afternoon. But still, I really loved them and might go back if I ever have 2 or 3 days in bangkok that I need to sit around for for some reason.

In the afternoon I went to this tiger temple where some monks raise and protect orphaned tigers who had their mothers poached. Definitely a big tourist thing, but I felt like going b/c tigers are one of my favorite animals and I always feel like supporting organizations helping endangered species. I guess partly b/c they're hand reared and partly through meditation and buddhism, the tigers are quite tame to people, so they let you pet them and get your photo taken with a few. The monks will even snuggle right up to them.

Dad would really love it here. The town is full of history and nature just in the hills nearby. They have lots of world war II museums and cemeteries. I would have liked to check out a couple of the museums, but just didn't have a chance. And of course the big star is town is the bridge over the river kwai and some museums on the building of the death railway from thailand to burma by the japanese, and on trains in general. I guess, about 100,000 asians died building it, and 5,000-7000 allied POWs. 356 of which were americans, but mostly dutch, british, and australian. Walked across the bridge this evening and whistled the tune from the movie. haha. Also managed to walk the entire bridge on just one track that I was very proud of...and maybe nastia leukin too! Rather scary to do so, b/c unlike a bridge in the US (that probably wouldn't even let you on it), there are huge holes to fall through , no railing or fence to keep you from falling or jumping, so if you overcompensate too much, you may go tumbling 50 feet into the water. If a train comes (which it did) you have two choice, run to one of the safety points (areas that are wide enough the train won't hit you, or jump the bridge)...I opted for the safety point not knowing how deep the river was. It's very cheap here, I'm staying at a place that's only 3 bucks a night, there was one for 2, but it was full, but for 7 you can get a nice ACed one that either overlooks the river or is actually floating on the river. Mom would also like it here b/c the there are lots of nice bars with 80's music and karaoke and cheap drinks. 25 cents for a shot or 70 cents for a whole fifth of whiskey or rum. A can of beer for 50 cents or a liter for a 1.10. And the river is very peaceful and I saw my first catholic church of the trip (a memorial to the fallen soldiers), but they only have mass on sundays (3rd christiand church of the trip).

Met a couple of middle aged french guys, one of which works in seattle now. When I told one of the guys I was travelling for a year, he said, "is something wrong with you, why aren't you trying to work, to make money" He was joking of course, but americans aren't known for travelling, especially to foreign countries and for long periods of times. Usually you tend to see the 6mo or more people from NZ, australia, or germany. They had been going for 8 months and they said the longest people travelling they had met were americans though and they had been going for an incredible 2 years and 3 months!

I'm off to bangkok tomorrow (friday) and have to catch a plane to rangoon (yangon) at 7am, so due to the nasty traffic in bangkok at all hours I would have to leave at like 4am by expensive taxi, so I'm going to try and take the friday 11pm bus which is much cheaper and then just sleep in the airpot. slept in airports before, no biggie.

the above pics are from my trek in chiang mai that Guy sent me. I haven't downloaded any photos myself here yet.