After arriving in Bangkok I decided to head more into the countryside. I caught a minibus which took me about 3 hours North East to a town called Kanchanaburi. It is where they have the river Kwai - pronounced like square but without the s. I found some accommodation which was very basic and was without air conditioning. Can i just say although it was cheap, if any of you go traveling - GET AIR CON - barely slept the first night and will spare you the details on how I slept!! Just after I arrived I met an Ozzy girl called Catrina who was really nice and we decided to hire bikes and investigate the town. We found one of the Bridges over the river Kwai – well it was fairly obvious. It was quite weird walking across it, and we decided not to get the train that just goes back and forth over it, even though it would have cost 2 pounds. We found the history museums which were partly interesting and partly just weird as one of them had a section that was dedicated to the Miss Thailand competition in the 70’s and had a collection of rocks. During the day I had also met two blokes, Uzi and Steffan, who run there own outdoor activity centre – called Mellow. I booked myself onto a 2 day trek that took in some of the local places.

The next day I was picked up by Steffan and we drove off to first go to Erawan Water falls. It is this place in a National Park that has these seven beautiful waterfalls. The water was so clear it was amazing. In the water are the fish that love eating the dead skin on your body – particularly feet. It was such a weird experience as you could feel their little teeth (well it did feel like teeth) eating your skin, it felt like very tiny razor blades slowly making your feet smooth. It was certainly cheaper than paying for it in Bangkok! I got to swim in the in the water falls which was just fantastic fun and the hike was a really good work out. Steffan told me that in the area they have this massive wasp that can easily kill you with one sting, but it keeps going and then when dead it starts eating your flesh! But the best bit is that if you survive the experience – you become an Albino due to the poison in your body – gross!
After a delicious lunch we headed to Sai Yok Yai waterfall, were we would be sleeping. We got there and I could see that it was these huts floating on the river and I had my own hut. After a a relaxing beer my the water we were taken up stream by one of the locals, not only to see the views but then we equipped ourselves with some life vests and jumped in. It was soooo relaxing just floating down the river. I did ask if I would be able to float to Bangkok. Although very possible it was advised against as floating in the dark would not be a good idea. We ended up next to the water fall for more beer and to chill out. Something I am getting much better at you will all e glad to hear. We then got to watch the ‘bus tours’ arrive and do the same thing, but they only had 10 minutes to chill and I had had a couple of hours which was far better. At this point I must comment about my sleeping hut. To flush the toilet you just pour water down and put the paper in a bin. You don’t need to worry about ‘waste’ as there are fish in the river that eat it. Very clean and tidy!! As we watched the world go by, and chatted about how to set the world to rights, we dined on a most delicious amount of food, we had soup, rice, chicken and the best bit was the fried fish (not the local fish by the way!!). They had cut it into sections and then fried it – delicious. We could not eat it all so fed the rest to the fish. The lights came on and the river looked stunning. Had a great nights sleep. In the morning we headed to Hell Fire pass to see Australian war graves and the mountain which was cut for the railway track which was made by the hands of the allied prisoners of war. Very disturbing place knowing what the conditions may have been like. We then saw another water fall for a few minutes before meeting up with his colleague and friend Uzi and a Dutch couple. We then went to have an elephant ride which was great fun. Mine was only 14 years old but was already massive. Unfortunately as she was so young I was not allowed to ride on her head. After feeding them, we then headed down to the river were the magical stuff really happened. I got to swim with, ride on, play with, stand on the head, and just generally have fun with two other elephants – something I would recommend to anyone. It was fantastic fun. The elephants loved it. They had a great time playing ‘bucking bronco’ with us on their heads. The finale was when they picked us up with their trunks. You did have to hold on fairly tightly to their tusks. We then headed to another part of the famous railway and a place called Krase Cave were the Japanese had a base. We then headed back to Kanchanaburi and parted ways. I must say, paying extra to have a trip tailored to you and it gives you the time to relax and enjoy the scenery was unbelievable. I have done package tours before and you get moved from post to post so quickly you don’t have time to think, but with these guys you are the boss and you decide when it is time to move on. They were full of local knowledge and fantastic hosts. They knew when to go to places to avoid the ‘peak tourist times’. I wish them luck in their own plans for the future and I am sure I will return. If you go to Kanchanaburi please seek them out mellowtrek.com.

I have returned to Bangkok and have been off to see the local sights around the hotel. Well not sure when the next blog will be as I am not sure what the plan is – either Cambodia or head south to the islands.