Kan-chana-wotsit

We left the hotel at 6:45 am to get the hotel shuttle to the sky train. 8 stops on the train got us to 'Victory Monument' where we sat in a minibus waiting to leave for about 45 minutes. A 2.5 hour drive later we were in the west of Thailand, in Kanchanaburi close to the Myanmar border, and a further 20 minutes in a 'taxi' got us to our hotel.

Driving into Kanchanaburi felt like we had arrived in the Thai countryside, and felt more appealing than the concrete landscapes we had seen so far. Arriving at the hotel added to this, we walked 50 meters down a gravelled path that was landscaped either side with plants and grass between the bungalows. We noticed many lizards (4 times the size of the geckos) and an array of chickens. The foot of the property backed onto the River Kwai. The owner Dennis was from the Midlands. He had built the resort about 8 years ago. For lunch he took us out on motorcycles about 1km down the road to a local resturant. It was very busy, and took a long time to order and get the food but it was worth it, I had a warm prawn salad that was full of red chillies. I tried some of Dennis' soup that was the same paste as a red curry, made into the soup without the coconut milk - he is more accustomed to the thai chillis than me!

The journey back to the hotel took ages, a lady arrived to take Tash back and then was meant to come and get me and then Dennis, but after the first drop she carried on working in the hotel garden before she got a phone call to remind her!

Dennis' thai wife does most of the cooking, I had a prawn panang curry that was again full of red chillis but was easily the best presented dish in Thailand so far. The rice was a mixture of white, black and blue (the colouring came from flowers in the garden). Tash ordered a Duck Larb, but even asking for it mild made it too hot for her as there was still a fair amount of chillies left in there.

Hours travelled; 84
Bowls of rice; 48