Kanchanaburi days
2 days in the town at the Bridge at the River Kwai (or Kwae, as it is spelled here). Wanted to visit two museums and met quite interesting people instead. E.g. Connor, Irish from Belfast. He had travelled already quite a bit and showed me the „off the beaten track“ sights of town. Great afternoon!
Or Naam, who works at the Little Creek Resort, a very openminded and openhearted person. We used to talk for hours during dinner time during those two days I stayed there. She really has an interesting life story.
What else? I went to the Erawan Waterfalls, met two nice girls from Germany. And since I already started handling animals, I continued this time with tigers.
Oh, yes, my first trip with the local bus system was therefor a full success, since I arrived here.
The whole two days started of course in Bangkok. Taking the taxi I payed 50 instead of the 100 the driver asked. Thanks to the advice of the hotel that it should cost no more than 50 and my initial counteroffer of 40. You really need to negotiate on everything her.
In Kanchanaburi, the hotel (Little Creek hideaway, a bit out of town) picked me up free of charge after calling them. Quite a nice trip on the back of one of these pick up trucks. I took an air-con lodge this time. A fan-room would have been cheaper, but the heat was just to much.
Later on the way back to town I met Connor, he was also on the shuttle taxi. He showed me around in town until about 19:00, then I continued on my own again. I just saw the north part of town, the rest is probably like any Thai big city.
Back in the hotel, I had dinner and met Naam, who recommended some dishes to me and later we started talking. She thought I was a teacher and could speak Thai (from my looks and because I had greeted her in Thai). Well, we had a very nice talk that evening and the following.
Erawan National Park
Yesterday then was mainly characterised by the visit to Erawan waterfalls. They are a 7-tier-waterfall with small ponds, where we could also swim. It was really wonderful to cool down in the ponds after having climbed up all the way to the 7th step, 1.5 km through the „jungle“. The jungle path by the way is well prepared for Thai and foreign tourists. Later we had lunch at one of the Thai tourist restaurants and then continued to the Temple of Tigers.
The Temple of Tigers
Somewhere in the midst of nowhere, in a quite dusty landscape, a monk started to take care of tigers that their owners didn’t want anymore or who are orphans. In a way it was interesting to be there, see and touch the tigers – yes, we could really crawl them! All on the hands of tiger handlers who guided us, and always from the back of the tigers, never from the front. I got some interesting pictures from that, please be patient until I have the opportunity to upload them.
On the other hand I must admit that I also was a bit shocked about the living conditions of the tigers when they are not in the „arena“: Small, rusty cages, hardly space to roam around. And they seem to get only vegetables and cooked meat. All together made them look kind of tired and worn out – their fur wasn’t shining at all like that of those we usually see on TV. Maybe it was just the dust, but I doubt it. However, they collect quite some money here for building up a new refuge sanctuary for the tigers that seems to meet modern standards. There are even some Danish volunteers down here.
Travelling forth to Ayuthaya
Well, today finally I left Kanchanaburi again, though there would have been still places to see for 2-3 more days I guess. I didn’t sleep well tonight for whatever reason, woke up again and again. This morning then I finally had a nice cold, probably from the air-con.
The hotel taxi took me to the bus station at 9.30 and people there were really helpful to find the right connection to Ayuthaya, since there is no direct bus. So I encountered for the first time the local „regional“ bus system. Buses still work, have open windows and fans mounted on the ceiling and people enter and exit at the rear door, sometimes while the bus is still (slowly) driving.The conductor always yells his commands to the driver and it makes the impression of a really well-thought system.
On the way, we all had to change the bus and again people were very helpful. It seemed everybody on the bus and the street took an effort to take me to the new bus, since I was the only „Farang“ on that trip. They even already had loaded my luggage into the new bus, so I didn’t have to take care of anything. Amazingly friendly these folks here.
Ayuthaya: finding a spot to stay
I arrived in Ayuthaya finally around 13:30 and then the search for accomodation started. The first place was booked out and the lovely chinese landlady couldn’t say „No, sorry we are booked out“. She longly explained she has one room and there was somebody reserving it, who hasn’t shown up yet etc. Reframing my question and asking if it would be better checking out other places she immediately said „yes, yes“. At the third guest house I found something and thanks god. In the meantime my cold developed a bit further and I already have some headache as well and feel a bit dizzy. I hope it’s just the heat and the sun, but if it isn’t any better tomorrow, I might just go to the hospital to have it checked. However tonight I will think about the next steps in the travel plan.