A bridge from Kanchanaburi

The journey to Kanchanaburi was particularly marked by an Israeli girl arguing for a 'no aircon journey' which seemed to irritate me particularly.

But on arriving all irritation slipped away with the realisation that I was going to be staying in an idyllic bamboo hut right by the river.  The nights were cool, the accompanying restaurant was populated by charming staff and interesting people - as well as taxi soup, pancakes and newspapers - and I decided to take it particularly slow.

The walk into town and the bridge itself was short and untaxing.  There were a number of museums commemorating the war and the bridge itself - one, notably, had a temporary exhibition on Miss Thailand for some reason.  I was particularly struck by the war graves and the fact that many of those who fell were little older than me - cue lots of meaningful poetry writing.  

The second day saw me somewhat unpreparedly join a trip to some waterfalls.  I, of course, thought that this would be a somewhat sedate affair - sitting at the bottom reading the odd book or two.  It was, in fact, a full-scale climb up the waterfall itself - in flipflops.  Danes, Irish and Israelis abounded and we arrived back at the guesthouse exhausted but happy.

It seems I was reading DH Lawrence followed by 'Love in the Time of Cholera' at the time - I have no memory of the former and little of the latter.  'Disco Boats' went past my bamboo hut whilst I wrote diary entries and poems about 'falling in love with who you fall in love with' (!) and my neighbour (who had been keeping me awake at night by merely rolling over in bed) decided to go back to BKK because it was too cold here.

The restaurant staff did, it seems, think I was particularly lazy with my 1030 breakfasts and not going out exploring until 1.  But it sounds like I was finally on holiday!  My final night included a drunk old american guy who wanted me to believe that he was CIA and a descendent of Roosevelt - he'd been infiltrating the Burmese border for years and sending intelligence back.  You do wonder how these people ended up here and if/how they ever got 'home'.

Headed back to BKK - to the Merry V.  Laundry and a shave a preparations for Koh Samui.  I'd already decided that I was 'above' the party-seekers and that a quiet spot was just waiting for me.