On leaving Bangkok on the 11th, we took an aircon minibus for 250 baht (around a fiver) to Kanchanaburi which was about a 2 hour drive. It seemed a lot longer as the driver decided to play Boney M's greatest hits all the way there, torture... It dropped us straight at a quiet little guesthouse right by the river Kwai so we just booked in there for two nights to save looking around, got a nice bungalow with a fan and bathroom for about 3 quid a night each. We could see the bridge on the River Kwai from our porch too.

We dropped our bags, freshened up and went for a wander, took a little rattly train over the bridge and back, no shocks on this train, just metal on metal, noisy ride! Had a bite to eat on a floating restaurant, I had 3 fish complete with heads and tails in red curry paste with coconut milk and rice, mmm. Had a look around the WWII museum next to the bridge which was full of old weapons and items left over from the war, including bomb shells and anti-aircraft guns, i love war memorabilia so it was right up my street. Next to the war museum was a temple style building full of Thai art and swords and weapons from centuries-old battles. We also stumbled across the resident iguana who lives in the building!

We went out for beers in the evening and could only manage to find a couple of places that were open which seemed strange as it was early in the evening. It wasnt until the next day that we realised that down the road in the opposite direction was where all the bars and the action was! We ate at the floating restaurant agin and then had a few Singhas next to the river. Spent the next day chilling out on our porch, the only noise was the speedboats and karaoke party barges coming past.

On Saturday we took an early minibus for a 2 day excursion which srated with a trip to a waterfall, spent 30 mins or so there, then on to the Hellfire Pass museum which was really interesting. Hellfire Pass is a large rock cutting which was excavated by WWII Allied and Asian POW's under the Japanese as part of the 'death railway' between Thailand and Burma. After that we went on to some natural hot springs. There are two springs, one hotter then the other. You haver to start in the not so hot one before you go into the hottest and then take a dip in the river next it to cool yourself down. We could only spend 30 mins or so in there before we turned red and had to get out. We left in a hurry to get back to the minibus and in doing so I left my Topman shorts in the changing rooms, gutted. Also, I threw away all my undies as its just too hot, so now i'm down to just 2 pairs of shorts for the entire trip, ha ha.

We then went on to a little village about an hours drive away where we weere introduced to our jungle guide, a Thai guy called Tom who spoke pretty good English. He and another guide drove us down a dirt road in a 4x4 and we set off on a 4 hour trek in the afternoon heat deep into the jungle. Tom had a machete to hack through the vegetation when the path was covered by fallen bamboo. We stopped halfway for some food before carrying on. Even though we were drinking plenty of water, we were pouring with sweat and it got quite uncomfortable. We were given a bamboo stick each to steady ourselves as the trek got more hilly. The sun started going down and it was a good job we were carrying torches as it was pitch black by the time we reached a tiny village where we spent the night. A 5 course meal was laid on for us which tasted awesome as it was all cooked fresh. Thai green curry, sweet and sour chicken with veg, some chilli paste with nuts in it that you eat with veg and rice, more vegetables, Thai omelette and rice. We were given some Thai whisky which is basically moonshine brewed from rice. We necked it like a tequila shot with salt and lemon, even Tom had to do the same as it tastes so lethal! An old Thai guy from the village played a kind of primitive sitar type instrument as we ate the meal and necked his whisky straight, apparently the older Thais are more hardcore! Tom told us that they have national conscription in Thailand and as such, he has to go back to the army in a month or so. He said he spent 7 days in Bangkok in April controlling the red shirt protesters and was hit with a rock from a catapult which broke some of his ribs. He was surprised when i told him that we dont have conscription in England and people join up out of choice.

The village had no electricity or running water so we had to have a wash in the river the next day before setting out on a 2 hour trek down a dirt road which wasnt as hard as the previous days journey which we were glad of. On the way Tom dug out a tarantula hole and got the spider out! Ace! It was rearing up, fangs out and everything. I didnt get too close, just close enough for a picture..

On finishing the trek on foot we got onto an elephant and trekked for an hour through the dirt tracks and through some rivers before getting a bamboo raft for the last 30 mins back to the village we started out from the previous day. We had another meal laid on, BBQ chicken and sticky rice, cooked in bamboo sticks.

From there, we took a minibus to the death railway where we took a train along the route constructed by the POW's back to Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi is awesome, busy but relaxed at the same time, a good place to pass through if you're in Thailand. As we hadnt properly washed we were desperate to freshen up so got to our new guesthouse and had what was the best shower of my life! On showering, i discovered that I hadnt put enough Deet on my ankles or the river water in the jungle must have washed it off as i have about 30 mosquito bites on each ankle, they're all swollen up too!

Today we caught up on sleep and are generally recuperating before leave for Ayutthaya tomorrow where we'll get the sleeper train up to Chiang Mai!

I havent been able to put up any pictures yet as the internet speed is so slow out here so for now its just the blog i'm afraid!

Laters!