Jess & Jude's Adventures in Thailand 2004

Monday 7 June
Patong - Bangkok - Kanchanaburi

Raining again in Patong, had our last breakfast at the Tropica overlooking stormy seas. Grabbed a taxi to the Phuket Airport (400bt). Arrived in Bangkok at 1.30pm and went upstairs to departures to pick up a cab and save on the airport taxi charge of 50bt. Frugal Ferg would be proud of me! Took the taxi to the Southern Bus Station in Thonburi and bought two 1st class air con tickets to Kanchanaburi (79bt each). We only had a short wait for the bus and then we were on our way. It took 2 hours to get there.

We got hassled by the samlor drivers at the bus station when we arrived. We grabbed a tuk-tuk (first time for Jess) and headed to the Blue Star Guesthouse on the River Kwai. We have a thatched roof hut built over a lagoon over the river (550bt/night inc.air, tv and hot water). It's not bad but wouldn't recommend it, saw better guesthouses with an actual view of the river.

Once we were settled in we took at walk up the road checking out all the tour places. We needed to book a tour for tomorrow that included Erawan Falls and the Tiger Temple. We ended up with half a dozen brochures from various places. We stopped for dinner at the Apple Guesthouse restaurant. Highly recommended, food is fantastic and reasonably priced. While enjoying dinner we decided to take our trip with Toi's Tours. We booked and paid for the trip on the way back to the Blue Star (600bt each). After a quick 1/2 hour stop at the internet cafe (10bt each - very cheap) we crashed into bed, it had been a long day travelling. Jess is stuck in front of the movie channel.

Thursday 8 June
Erawan Falls, Hellfire Pass & Tiger Temple

I awoke at 5.30am and sat on the porch listening to the roosters crowing. I left Jess asleep and went for a walk to the nearby bridge. I took some photos of the River Kwai Bridge in the distance. At 6.30am I awoke Jess and we walked up to the Apple for breakfast. We have fantastic banana pancakes and to most divine coffee. I dropped of a bag of laundry (20bt for 2 kilos) which I will pick up this evening.

Toi's Tour minivan picked us up at our guesthouse at 8am. Our guide for the day is a nice Thai guy called Jollieon. It took 2 hours to reach Erawan Falls National Park. The falls are made up of seven steps (falls). We made our way up the mountain to the third step where we decided to have a swim. The water was deliciously cool and very fresh. Getting in and out was a little tricky though as the fish kept nibbling our feet. Quite a strange sensation and a bit off putting.

We eventually moved on to the 4th step and again couldn't resist a swim. This pool was a little harder to get into but very deep.

We gradually made it up to the top at the seventh step although I must admit, Jude gave in at the 6th and Jess went on to the 7th. I was only 200m short of the top but I was stuffed. We had walked 1.5km up hill and steep stairs all the way. Extremely worth the climb though. This place is definitely paradise.

We had a brisk walk through a bamboo forest back to the carpark where we stopped at a local cafe for a delicious Thai lunch. I had a great Pad Thai and Jess had Khao Pad Gai.

Back in the minivan we drove to Hellfire Pass and the Australian Museum. We had a look at the static displays and watched a short film. I met the Australian curator, Bill and he took Jess and I aside to show us a short video on this years Anzac Day ceremony at Hellfire Pass. We then moved down the mountain to the pass. It was an amazing feat of endurance for the POW's and it is surprising any of them made it out alive.

Back to the minivan again we were taken to the Krasae Railway Station. Just near the station is a cave which was carved out of the mountain by the Japanese army when they were building the railway. Inside the cave is a large gold buddha statue.

Jess and I rode on the train for about 10 minutes then we were leaving the tour to go to the Tiger Temple. Our minivan driver had stopped on the wrong side of the train to the station so Jess and I did the wild west thing and hopped the train and ran along the tracks. The rest of the group continued on into Kanchanaburi.

The Tiger Temple was about 20 minutes drive. We had to pay a 150bt donation to get into the temple grounds. We didn't have a guide so we got a little lost but eventually found the tigers. They were situated in a large quarry. We arrived just after a large tour group had left and the monks were playing football with the tigers. We were lucky to have the place to ourselves. We both had our photo taken with the tigers, a little scary but a fantastic experience to be so close.

We were really lucky as another tour group arrived just as we had finished. On the way out we passed wild pigs, cattle, peacocks and deer. One deer got up close and personal with the camera.

As we headed back to Kanchanaburi the heavens opened up. It had been a fantastic day and the rain had held off for us. We picked up the others from the tour group and we were dropped back at our guesthouse weary but happy. We had a meal at the Blue Star, non-existant service and crap food. Another 1/2 hour on the internet, picked up our laundry then off to bed.