We arrived in Kanchanburi from Bangkok after a 3 hour train ride on what was certainly an authentically retro style train. With its wooden seats and lack of aircon we were glad that 3 hours was all we had to spend on it but it was great to be getting out of Bangkok and into the countryside finally. There was much excitement at spotting real banana trees but not enough to stop me having a lovely nap to while away a fair part of the journey. We arrived and found our guesthouse which we had prebooked for the next three nights. Our room was on a raft building on the River Kwai although unfortunately our balcony faced inward towards the shore and the other rooms on land so we were a little gutted that we'd paid extra for the privilege of being on the river. However it was still a novelty to have the entire room moving back and forth as the boats went past. We spent the evening up in the restaurant/common area which was on stilts and had stunning views over the river and played Uno with our new friends, I turned out to be a master of the game and thoroughly thrashed everyone!

The next day we tackled Erawan Waterfalls, one of the main reasons we had come to Kanchanaburi. This was a National Park with a series of seven tiers, at each was a stunning waterfall with the most impressive being Level 7 of course. After more than a little persuasion from Ben and Lena we decided to hire motorbikes to get us out to the falls rather than take the bus as we had previously planned. After a little hesitance at first on my part (declaring that 20 mph was the perfect speed) I put my faith in Tom's fabulous driving skills and became an excellent passenger if I may say so myself, although Tom may accuse me of wriggling around and disturbing his balance!We arrived at the falls 2 hours later, a little longer than the one hour that we were advised but I think that the Thai concept of speed is rather more reckless than ours!So began the hard slog in the heat up to Level 7, although there were people swimming at each level we were gluttons for punishment and decided to wait until we got the very top to allow ourselves a dip in the water. By the time we reached the top I was sweating profusely and almost threw myself fully clothed into the water. My entrance into the lagoon was greeted with much hilarity by my companions and others around as as soon as I got in I began squealing like a small child as the little fish nipped at my feet and legs.Tom the self proclaimed fish lover found this hugely comedic until he himself got in and had the same adverse reaction! We quickly moved over to the waterfall area where there were no fish and spent a while enjoying the cold water. It was a much quicker walk down the mountain and soon we were back on the bikes heading back to the hostel. We had a pretty chilled evening due to our immense tiredness although we did wander into the town for a while and checked out the hugely seedy strip of bars which was filled with old Western men and Thai prostitutes, it was pretty gross all round and I was embarrassed that the majority of the men were English.

Day 3 in Kanchanaburi we said goodbye to Ben and Lena as they headed down south for their wedding and spent the day at the various WW2 historical sites scattered around Kanchanaburi. First on the list was the Death Railway Museum which was hugely informative and really moving. I was shocked at my own lack of knowledge of the impact of WW2 in Asia and specifically the plight of the prisoners of war building the Thailand/Burma railway which the museum focused on. Opposite the museum was the cemetery housing the graves of some 7000 British, Australian and Dutch soldiers that died on the railway. It was beautifully laid out and we spent a while wandering round reading the inscriptions. Later in the afternoon we took the motorbike again and drove out to the spot made famous by the Oscar winning film 'The Bridge on the River Kwai.' I had to shamefully admit that I'd never seen the film and neither had Tom so we were a little clueless and apart from the hordes of tourists swarming around it I can confirm that it is just a big metal railway bridge. That didn't stop us taking the obligatory photos though and I had another coconut milk drink which was worth the visit anyway! We ate dinner at a lovely but empty restaurant in town and steered well clear of the skanky bars this time.

The next day we lay around the hostel until 1:30pm when our minibus arrived to take us to Ayutthaya a former capital city around 2 hours north of Bangkok, but more about that next time!