Tom, Matt and I left the hustle and bustle of Bangkok to stay for a couple of nights in Kanchanaburi. This is where you can find the Kwai River Bridge or Death Railway Bridge made famous by the film “The Bridge On the River Kwai” (though not a true story). After a nice air conditioned mini bus journey we arrived and settled ourselves into a nice extremely cheap little place right on the waters edge. I think possibly the cheapest place we've stayed so far at £3 a night for the room! We almost didn't believe them. Matt opted for a room on a platform that was floating on the river, with nice picturesque views. They also did pretty good food which we took advantage of for lunch. 

In the afternoon we visited the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre. The museum was excellent, one of the best we've been to. Very informative and moving as well. Around 100,000 captured allied soldiers, Malay and Burmese lost their lives in WWII after being forced to work on the railway by the Japanese in brutal and cruel conditions. We visited the Allied War Cemetery across the road. An immaculately maintained final resting place for nearly 7,000 POWs who died here. Also very moving.

Later in the day we found a nice Thai lady to take all three of us on her little bike with side cart attached (!) to the Kwai Bridge. It was extremely touristy here. Many many people around taking photos etc. We walked the length of the bridge and a little way over the other side. Emotional to think of what the POWs went through to lay the tracks we were walking along. We watched a train go by and then headed back. We had been so engrossed we completely forgot we'd asked our Thai lady who had brought us here to wait for us, whoops! She didn't mind though :).
 
The following day we set off to visit Erawan Falls. A seven-tiered waterfall in Erawan National Park. After a ten minute ride we were at the bus station. The bus left for the falls every hour apparently...and it was 9:05, dammit! The bus turned up at 9:30am, great, at least we could jump on and wait. Swelteringly hot and the stupid bus didn't actually end up leaving until 10:30am! Can't describe how hot it was waiting for the bus to leave. Sigh. Oh well, once we got going it was much better. 
 
We arrived and headed off for the first couple of levels. Lovely turquoise waters full of fish! We decided to take a dip at the second level as this was the largest waterfall here with the deepest water. It was so hot I couldn't wait to get in. Made slightly more tricky by the fish which were very bitey!! You had to carefully tread over some pretty slippery rocks and logs in shallow water to reach the deeper area. Though this bit was full off fish trying to nibble your toes making it even more difficult to keep your balance. It was definitely more than nibbling, not the greatest sensation. You just had to bite the bullet and get through as fast as you could to the deep water and then you were ok. Happy to point out that this only took me a couple of minutes but the boys after putting their toes in, stood at the side for 20 minutes being wusses! Ha! They came in eventually after some persuasion. The water was lovely and cool, perfect for a hot day!
 
We then made our way up the trails to the higher tiers. This took longer than expected especially because it was so hot and sticky and a bit of a climb. As we had to make our way back down again in time to catch the 4pm bus we only managed to get up to level five before we had to turn back. A shame but I don't think we missed much after hearing people say the second level was the most impressive. A long hot day but worth it. 

The next morning we set off back to Bangkok so we could see Ella and Besty one last time for lunch before we set off for Vietnam that evening. A lovely lunch out (with possibly a few unwanted geckos) plus coconut smoothies for pud, what a revelation! Yum, thanks Ella! :)