Nov 28, 2012 - Cycle trip - days 2 & 3

We have had to most excellent cycle trip over the last 2 days, after spending the first night at the Pung Waan Resort on the banks of the River Kwai Noi. This is a lovely activity centre resort where you can canoe on the river or complete an assault course. We started the day by cycling round the grounds and then toured the area cycling on tracks among the fields. They grow many crops and fruits in this region including tapioca, which is a root crop which they make into cakes and biscuits.The scenery was fantastic and we were never far from...

Nov 26, 2012 - Kanchanaburi

We have left the massage parlours of Bangkok behind now and started our first cycle trip with Spice Roads. We were picked up at 8am for the drive to Kanchanaburi to view a war cemetery for those that died building the railway to Burma and then the Bridge over the River Kwai. We are cycling on this trip with 3 other people; Stephan and Christina from Germany and Christie who is an Australian living in Switzerland. Of course there is our tour guide Tao and a driver (also called Tao) to take all of our luggage. We just made the 11am train from...

May 19, 2012 - Kanchanaburi and the river Kwai bridge

Kanchanaburi is most famous for the location of the bridge over the river kwai and for being a laid back outpost with nice people and food. It would be a change from Bangkok where there is so much traffic and stuff going on. We went to the station a couple of days prior to leaving to get the tickets so we would not be trying to get them on the day. We got a cab from the hotel and he managed to get us there just on time and then we climbed on board our train. The journey took about 3 and a half hours going through some really nice scenery...

Feb 26, 2012 - TheBridge over the river Kwai

20th February Yesterday we hired yet another motorbike ( I have even truly frustrated by the lack of push bikes!) and went along the coast to the next bay. The thing is this is a beutiful coast line but there is absolutely no planning so it's getting spoilt in the same way as Spain with huge condo blocks springing up everywhere. They seem to be aimed at the Russian/European market but are not cheap, around £350000 for a beach side apartment. We did find a nice patch of sand though and enjoyed being with the local families who were all...

Jan 24, 2012 - Last day in Kanchanaburi

Well we woke up kinda later today and did our own things. Roslyn and Talya walked to the War cemmetary to take pictures. Ella got our stuffed packed up and weaited for them to get back so we could get breakfast but they were late and it was near checkout so we got all of our stuff and headed to eat breakfast and left a note on their door. At the end of the driveway they were walking back in and after a little frustration we talked over the plan and Ella and I went out to find breakfast because it was already noon. We ate and talked about an...

Jan 23, 2012 - Erawan Falls

Today we woke up early and ate breakfast so we could head to the waterfalls. We took a tuk tuk (someone that drives a motorbike with an attached sidecar for us to sit in) to the bus station so we could catch a city bus that headed to the falls. it was the cheapest way of travel out there. After close to 2 hours we arrived and started our hike. It was such a beautiful hike I wish it was closer to home. It's a 7 tier 1,500 meter hike. Erawan is the 3 headed white elephant of Hindu mythology. We decided to climb straight to the top tier first...

Jan 23, 2012 - Kanchanaburi Day 2

On our second day in Kanchanaburi we decided to go to the Erawan waterfall. We took a bus from the city's main bus terminal to the waterfall, which was about an hour and forty five minute drive. When we got here we were a bit surprised to see how many people were there, both locals and tourists. We were also amused that we saw the same Israeli group at the falls that we had seen the day before at the zoo. The falls are actually made up of 7 different levels of separate little waterfalls, each ending in a large pool where both locals and...

Jan 22, 2012 - Kanchanaburi- Day 1

When we arrived in Kanchanaburi after spending the last day and a half getting ripped off we weren't happy to find that the hostel wasn't exactly what we paid for. The pictures online showed that we had reserved nice bungalows near the river Kwai but in fact we were given the cheapest bungalows in the guesthouse (not really near the river at all). We didn't want to pay the extra money to get the nice bungalows so we decided to just keep stay in whatever we were given. We didn't feel like fighting anymore. We had two bungalows, each was just...

Jan 22, 2012 - Safari Zoo

We woke up and ate breakfast at The Hut. Its really a nice cute bar/restaurant and so far the cheapest and most for your money place we have found in walking distance. After our breakfast we went back for your clothes and dropped them off at this book store that does laundry for 20 baht/kg. Let me say how desperately we needed to do it. The first time in about 2 weeks and I didn't pack many clothes. After we dropped them off we went in search for a good price to visit the Safari Zoo and found one for not too much. A mini bus took us to the...

Jan 21, 2012 - Kanchanaburi

Well we made it here and we seem to be staying in a good location. As we were driving up the person on the phone said they were located behind the war cemetery so that kind of freaked us out but once we got here we noticed all the tourists and the bars and music so we were a little more comfortable. We checked in to our hostel and set our things down and went in search of food. We found this westernized bar/restaurant that had Frogs and a pond. There was one frog that kept hopping on my foot and 2 more that were mating and hopping around...

Jan 8, 2012 - Nong Nooch and River Kwai

Hallo Ihr Lieben, Gestern war mein letzter Tag in Pattaya. Ich habe zusammen mit einem Bekannten aus dem Hotel den Nong Nooch Park besucht. Eigentlich hatte ich nicht vor dorthin zu fahren, denn das klang mehr nach Disneyland als nach botanischem Garten. Aber wenn man schon von einem Einheimischen eingeladen wird, warum nicht. Leider haben sich meine Befuerchtungen bewahrheitet. Das fing schon an beim Eintrittspreis: Touristen zahlen 500 TBH, Thais 200 TBH. Ok, das ist noch verkraftbar. Und die "Tanzshow", die die thailaendische Kultur...

Sep 25, 2011 - can you say struggle???

Well lets see. I paid a woman to get me on a bus to Chanthaburi but then when I got there found out I was 4 hours in the wrong direction, boy was I mad, poor bus driver. I stayed at the Jolly Frog. one night, it has a great garden area but the town is creepy with a capital C. This is where the river Kwai (Sp?) is and the death bridge but I did not see it. I just wanted something to go right so I woke up the next morning and headed to Koh Tao....how was I to know that island sucks lol I know you think I am kidding. I AM NOT.....to be continued