Kanchanaburi ("The Golden City")

Just looked at my calendar - Happy Labor Day!

So, we found a VERY fast Internet cafe this morning (and the space bar works on this computer unlike my last one!)...so I am going to try and maximize with some good updates.

We arrived in Kanchanaburi around 10am on Saturday morning after taking a 3hr minibus from Bangkok. I really like it here - it is a nice, more tranquil little town compared to bustling, hectic Bangkok.

Some history:
The town is mostly known for its role in WW2, and it is located on the River Kwai. Many POWs were forced to work here during the war to help build the "Death Railway," which was being made to connect Burma and Thailand for the Japanese forces. The soldiers/POWs (many Australians, Indians, Indonesians) were forced to work 18 hr. days on little food and rest to build the tracks, and the number that died doing so is unimaginable. One of our first stops after getting off our bus was to the WW2 cemetery, where many of these POWs are buried, and it was really moving and sobering - definitley a first-hand history lesson.

In Kanchanaburi, we are staying at a hostel called the Jolly Frog :) It is a little rough around the edges...there are some ants that love to get into every crevice of everything, and there were definitely some rats in the ceiling (but Arati and I decided to pretend they were something else...), but it's a really cheap (only 200 baht = $6 a night) for both of us, and there are great hammocks and chairs outside overlooking the river to sit in and get fresh air. So, we are just not spending much time in the room, and all is great!

Some other highlights of this town:

- went on a few good runs while here which my body really appreciated (you get pretty cramped up with all the traveling and sub par mattresses...), totally got the "I love running!" endorphins flowing, which had been missing for a while - woohoo!

- Saturday I took an open-air/pick up truck taxi and went to visit the Tiger Temple, where monks live and take care of tigers in a sanctuary of sorts. The best part though is, if you go, there are Thai guides who grab your hand, lead you around to pose (and pet!) a whole bunch of tigers of all ages and sizes and they take your picture (it was pretty much complete and absurd hilarity). There were also lots of buffalo, horses, peacocks, and other creatures just wandering around all the people (I was a LITTLE nervous that they were going to suddenly charge). Such a tourist attraction, but also so worth it!

- Yesterday was a wonderfully packed day. Arati and I took a day trip set up from our hostel with some other travellers and a Thai guide, "Eileen" (side note: ladyboys are REALLY prevalent here...) who gave us some history and took us to:

1) ride elephants! in the rain (our guide was definitely a complete clown and loved to sing and take tons of pictures for us of other elephants "underbellies," (i.e. I will be deleting many of his x-rated elephant part photos...)

2) take a peaceful ride on a bamboo raft down a river with an adorable old Thai man as our guide

3) hike around Erawan Falls, which has 7 levels of waterfalls and is completely gorgeous
(If you go...NOTE: there are wild (the warning sign called them "fierce") monkeys all over in the park who take people's food and belongings if you leave them unattended AND there are HUGE fish in the water that nibble at you while you swim!)

4) have lunch at a local restaurant by the falls (when you are famished it's amazing how much better things taste...)

5) go see the Death Railway and ride on the actual train for a short time, and

6) walk over the Bridge on the River Kwai.

A full day to say the least, with several "wow, this is Thailand" moments.

All in all, Kanchanaburi has been characterized by some good, clean air with beautiful views of the water, some big doses of nature and views of limestone cliffs, floating restaurants and rafthouses, longtail boats, cows and tons of stray dogs and cats, and some really somber history lessons.

Health is good, spirits are good, and energy is getting better as the jet lag finally is beginning to wear off. Also, clean laundry is in our future as we pick it up from a little Thai woman today at noon, yes!

We are also starting to calm down a little as the "what is next?" hyper-ness is dissipating and I remind myself that the cheap, long-term travelling/vagabonding (sorry, I bought a book with "Vagabond" as the title, so I can't help but throw it in there...) lifestyle is not the same as the tourist "you must cram in everything" mentality - and I'm trying to remember that we'll burn out if we try to keep up that kind of a pace...BUT, all in all, lots of appreciating, absorbing, and learning is taking place...and the little successes (i.e. catching a local bus on time and saving the taxi fare or finding the laundry lady who has a dryer!) give quite the morale boost. Definitely feeling like a very active participant in life.

NEXT UP:
We are taking a sleeper train overnight to get down south to the town of Surat Thani, where we will arrive around 6am tomorrow (Tuesday). From there, we are going to explore Southern Thailand until we leave the country on the 15th for Malaysia... to be continued.