Return to Thailand and Kanchanaburi

I had a flight from Penang back to Bangkok and the flight was nothing special but getting to the airport did not go really great. I caught the bus from the center of town that was suppose to go to the airport and I believe the driver told me to get out at one stop along with the other foreigners on the bus. The other people were going to visit a temple across the street from where we got off but I did not see anything that looked like an airport. It turns out I got off the bus about 4 stops too early and had about a 4 kilometer walk with my backpack to get to the airport. It was not a bad walk but with the heat and carrying my backpack I was a little bit of a sweaty and stinky mess when I arrived at the airport. I tried to clean up a little and changed shirts prior to getting on the plane but figured no would want to set next to me on the plane. It turned out it was another flight that was only about 1/3 full so no one had to get the pleasure of my company.

I spent some time in Bangkok just taking it easy and decide to go to the movies a couple of times at a theater that showed movies in English. I found it interesting that they play the national anthem prior to the movie and that they censor some of the nudity and violence from the movies so not sure what parts of the movie I missed.

I had a good report from my doctor on my checkup and scheduled another appointment. I did not want to spend the whole time in Bangkok or go a long ways away so figured I would go back to one of the places I had visited and enjoyed before. I caught the train for the 3 hour trip to Kanchanaburi.

I rented a motor bike for a couple of days while here and the first day I headed out to Sai Yok national park and on the way visited Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi waterfall which was really small with not much water and a bit disappointing.

I rode on to the national park and saw Nam Tok Sai Yok Yai waterfalls or what seemed to me to be 2 different waterfalls that flowed right into the Khwae Noi River.

I also did not find these waterfalls very impressive but found the area around the river really pretty. I then took a walk in the jungle which was a little bit of a workout. It was a little bit up and down on the walk but the real work was trying to keep my feet under me. It had been raining and the trail was really really slippery. I made it through the circle walk without falling but still came out covered in mud but was a fun and pretty walk. Here is the only picture I took while walking.

I made the long ride back to Kanchanaburi and it seemed to rain on me the whole way. I think this is the only time I have been cold in Thailand unless you count the times in the hotels when I fall asleep with the air going full blast. I was soaked when I got back to my hotel and because of the rain did not really get to see much of the scenery along the way.

The next day I visited the Chungkai War Cemetery which would be a long walk from the city center but was only a short ride on the motorbike.

I spent the rest of the day just riding around and enjoying the scenery around Kanchanaburi. The weather was much better on this day and I had a real good time just riding around. This is one of those pictures where I take a number of them and then use the computer to stick them together.

I bought some pineapple at one point and just sat beside the river and enjoyed the view while I ate my pineapple feast.

I had met a guy from Scotland that owned the bar next to the hotel I was staying at one night when I first got into town and ran into him again on my last night in Kanchanaburi. He and a friend where on a sort of pub crawl and ask me to join them and it turned out to be a great night where I think we stopped in ever foreigner type of bar in the whole town except for his own. I also got introduced to a huge number of expats that live in Kanchanaburi. It really surprised me how many foreigners live in this little town.