Thailand revisited

When we first visited Thailand back at the beginning of May we only had a 15 day visa as we entered overland from Malaysia.  Because of that we didn't have time to visit the Bridge over the River Kwai so had planned to visit that at the end of our trip.
Arriving overland again (this time from Cambodia) we got another 15 day visa.  The bus dropped us in Bangkok near the 'infamous' Khao San Road from where we got a taxi to the southern bus station and a bus to Kanchanaburi.  We were able to do the whole trip from Battambang in Cambodia to Kanchanaburi in Thailand in one day and so avoid having to stay overnight in Bangkok.
We found a lovely guesthouse in Kanchanaburi which had a swimming pool right outside our room.
Although breakfast wasn't included they had a good restaurant with cheap food so we ate all our meals there (we would have looked elsewhere for an evening meal but each evening it was pouring with rain so we couldn't be bothered to get wet!)

 We spent a day looking around the war cemetry, the Death Railway Museum and the JEATH war museum.  Like Phnom Penh it was all quite sad, but a part of history that you feel you ought to find out about.  The next day (30 June) we booked a day tour which took us to Soi Yok waterfall (on the Death Railway) and to Hellfire Pass and its museum.  This place was very interesting and as it's administered by the Australian government it's all well laid out and explained.  A walking track takes you along the Death Railway and through Hellfire Pass.



After lunch (included) we went elephant riding and bamboo rafting (very tame).  The elephant 'driver' got off half way round and we had the chance to 'drive' the elephant in turn!  A free audio guide explained everything as you went.

 Following this we went to the part of the Death Railway where they've reconstructed the wooden viaducts - the excavations and constructions are unbelievable, particularly when you realise that the vast majority was done by hand and the whole 415 kms of the railway was constructed in little over a year from 1942-3.  We caught the train and travelled over the wooden viaducts and travelled along the Death Railway for about 30 minutes.





The final part of the trip was the Bridge over the River Kwai.  A very interesting day.

Our final day in Kanchanaburi was spent at the 7 tiered Erawan waterfalls.  We travelled by local bus.  We swam at levels 2 and 3 and then decided to walk to the top.  Unfortunately it began to rain at about level 4 - it is the rainy season after all.  We walked as far as level 6 before turning back and having a final swim in level 2 again before catching the last bus back to Kanchanaburi.On Saturday 2 July we returned to Bangkok for our final 2 nights in south east Asia.  We decided to travel by (3rd class) train!  It was OK except the train was 1.5 hours late so instead of catching the river ferry in Bangkok and then walking to the hotel we had to get a taxi.  We'd booked the same hotel in Bangkok we'd stayed in 8 weeks previously.  At the time we said how fantastic the hotel was - we'd stayed in various backpacker hostels before that.  When we returned the hotel was still good but not as good as we'd remembered as we'd managed to find some really good places to stay in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
On our final sightseeing day (Thailand election day) we caught the river ferry and visited Wat Po.  This temple is the biggest in Bangkok and housed the largest reclining Buddha in the country.
We'd lost count of the number of temples we'd visited during our 11 weeks in south east Asia and the number of Buddhas we'd seen, so were pleased to return to the hotel and make use of the swimming pool!





On Monday 4 July having had a final swim and checked out at midday, we caught the airport shuttle at 1pm to the airport.  Our flight wasn't until 9pm but at least the airport was air conditioned!
The flight at 9pm took us to Singapore and then a quick change and we were on our way to Dubai where we were meeting Andrew and spending 4 days before finishing our Big Adventure.