After work on Friday evening Jess, Jenny and I travelled to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok and met Hanisha and Lindsey. The hostel we had booked was rather interesting down a dark lane and looked like it had not seen a cleaner since it had opened many years ago. We were use to staying in pretty average places but we couldn't quite lower our standards to this place therefore we found another hostel to stay in near by. We then headed out for some dinner before having an early night.
On the Saturday we hired a Songtaew (the most common mode of transport for us recently - a pick up truck with seats in the back) to drive us to Erawan waterfalls. I've seen some beautiful waterfalls since being here but nothing can compare to how spectacular and majestic these falls were. We climbed up the 7 levels stopping to take photos along the way. From the 6th to the 7th level Jess, Lindsey and I took off our shoes and made a treacherous climb in the waterfall up to the top. They were beautiful all the way up and back down again. On the way down we stopped at one of the levels for a dip in the pool to cool off and climb underneath the falls (Lindsey has these photos so you will have to wait till they appear on Facebook)
It was now late in the afternoon so we rushed off to Hell Fire Pass and got there 5 mins before the museum closed so only had a quick look round, but then we walked along the pass too. For those of you who don't know what involvement Thailand had in WW2 I highly recommend you research it or watch the film Bridge over the River Kwai. I had no idea about the history because in school we were just taught about Europe. Japan pretty much had control over the whole of Asia and the POW from all counties they had captured along the way were made to build a railway to Burma to transport military equipment. The conditions these men and women had to work in were awful many dying from malaria, cholera, exhaustion and much more. Below is Hell Fire Pass which they had to dig through the rocks in the burning heat working for 18 hours a day with little food and water.
In the evening we headed out for a yummy dinner followed by a relaxing massage. Our bodies were aching after the trek up the waterfall. Jenny had been feeling ill all day so skipped the massage to hit the sack. We then returned to the hostel after the massage due to a call from Jenny saying our room had been invaded by giant killer ants. She had got the staff to come help her with the problem, but he just bum gunned them down in the bathroom and said Mai Pen Rai (the famous Thai saying of not a problem, its ok, don't worry) but they kept coming back. Now us girls are not that bad with creepy crawlies (apart from cockroaches) but the thought of ants the size of wasps crawling on us and biting us in our sleep was not great, especially as one of us was on an air bed on the floor! So after a massive language barrier and resistance we managed to get a new room to sleep in for the night.
After a not so peaceful night due to the noise from the party street our hostel was on, we got up and went for breakfast before walking to see "The Bridge" Although the train goes across the bridge you can still walk along the tracks over it. The day was filled with a lot of history and museums, which I loved being a history geek at heart and found it all fascinating.
We also went to the Thai-Burma Railway Centre which had even more information about what happened during the building of the railway. This was also next to the war cemetery where over 6000 victims are buried.
In the cemetery I found several Watts' and Warner's along with other friends names however I don't think any are related to me, maybe way back along the line somewhere.
With Love from Thailand xxx
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