Whether the Weather

Well: I've made it to the beach!  Specifically Hua Hin and it is wonderful (sort of like a tidier, un-rednecky Myrtle Beach with spicy food).  Unfortunately it is raining like cats and dogs (and even flooding a bit) so my imagined time on the beach reading trashy novels has not yet come to fruition.  Instead I've been hanging out in my fantastic hotel room and at bars reading trashy novels.  Still a pretty good time.

I took the train here from Kanchanaburi yesterday and that was QUITE a great experience.  I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but Thai people are inveterate snackers - you see people eating everywhere all the time.  So on the train there were many, many folks selling things up and down the aisles (at least one vendor every two minutes riding along with us, and then at the stations it was a total free-for-all with station-bound vendors hurrying through the cars and people also buying things through the windows).  And they were doing a brisk business!  In the six-hour trip the couple seated on my left bought three different items (fruit, noodles and some custardy looking something) in addition to eating some KFC that they brought with them.  And the dude on my right bought two different items, but doubled up on the noodles.  So that was neat.  I felt very adventurous on the train as well, I only spotted two other Westerners the whole trip.  There was very little guidance in English and a lot of "I guess this is the right train?"  All went swimmingly.

My last day in Kanchanaburi I went on a big tour that was also fun, although not in expected ways.  Downsides: it rained all day and they was very little tour in the tour, which is to say that the tour operators did not so much tell us what we were looking at or point out interesting things as take us from place to place.  Upsides: the places were pretty cool!  And they played Deuce Bigalow, European Gigolo in the minibus.  Nothing like the phrase "man whore" used repeatedly to break the ice with strangers! 

Our first stop was Erawan Falls National Park where we hiked to see a series of seven waterfalls.  They were lovely, but the trail was not.  A sign at the outset noted that this was "a trail for all ages - not too slope."  Not too truth.  A friend I met on the tour was in flip-flops and she was hating life.  I was trying to put visions of twisted ankles and broken femurs far from my mind, but they kept cropping up.  We then took a ride on the Death Railway, which did not live up to its name for any of us on the tour.  And then, the whole reason I came to Kanchanaburi: The Bridge on the River Kwai!   I am a huge fan of William Holden, Alec Guinness and David Lean, so there was no way I couldn't not see this.  So I didn't.

I'm really glad I went to Kanchanaburi - it was a nice cool out from the hustle bustle of Bangkok.  The best part of the trip was meeting the extremely nice women who work at the River Guest House where I stayed.  Jun, the manager, and her daughter and Lin, the cook, and her daughter all worked at the GH and were all extremely nice.  The offered some of what they were (very often) eating to me (it was always good, too).  The next time you're in Kanchanaburi, you should really consider staying there.  The only downside: I still have "sea legs" from the floating hotel room.

Up next: hopefully some sun!  And heading further south on my way to Malaysia.

Comments

[Amanda]

NICE....... You regretted to tell me that your hotel room was "floating"... or either the WiFi cut you out on that part. I'm trying to picture a unredneckyish Thai-ish myrtle beach...(I'm sorta getting an image) sucks it's raining! Anyway, I'm sure the beer is good... you know Bebe was from Malaysia....Haven't talked to her in years... she's in Florida - I should try and look her up to give you some pointers while there. Alright, I love you - Pictures are fab!
I'll try and call you tonight around 10pm my time.