My 3 day trip to Kanchanaburi from BKK during NY holiday

[55bulldog]

So I decided on a last minute trip to Kanchanaburi to escape BKK. I woke up New Year's Eve at 5 am and got to Victory Monument at 5:40 am. I arrived at a mini van podium in front of a 7/11. The young Thai woman was so fixated on her phone that she didn't acknowledge me. "Uh uh UM, Sawasdee Khrap......Kanchanaburi?"

"120 Baht", she says.

I give her the money and she flicks her hand back and forth telling me to wait curbside. She is annoyed with me because in Thailand a job isn't something you do it's something you have while you "play" face book or line. I stay near the podium to be sure I am not forgotten and to annoy her. Fifteen minutes goes by and someone with a radio comes over to walk me to where the vans are loaded. It is 30 meters a way, in front of the next 7/11 and I am loaded in last with seated passengers only to be driven by the original podium where I bought the ticket.....TIT.

As soon as we pull into the roundabout, Somchai puts the petal to the metal. The guy next to me has a big suitcase in the aisle that rolls up and down. The (cargo) passenger in front of him puts his seat belt to good use by tying it to the suitcase so that it won't roll back and forth. Hey, as long as the luggage survives. The driver is a typical lunatic and the Thai guy next to me lets out a few "Oi"s as we nearly clip side mirror with oncoming vans at 120 km/h. As we arrive 5 km from the Kburi buss stop. The guy is really flying down the road as street vendors are setting up shop so the "passage way" is shrinking. Then all of a sudden some poor guy on a bicycle hears Somchai's warning horn, it causes him to look over his shoulder, which causes him to lose his balance and quickly drift a little too much into the road, he panics, and swerves side to side, he over corrects, and then BOOM! Right into the backside of the van and right against my window. It reminded me of the time a deer ran into the back end of my uncle's car back home. Somchai hits the breaks, slows down, and stops. Did he do it to check on the bicyclist? No! This was a stop for passengers to get out. The stupid driver nearly killed this guy and all he cared about was dropping the passengers off! He takes a snort of his menthol stick and punches the gas. The farang in the seat in front of me was unfazed.......definitely been here 5+ years.

The van left at 6 am and we pulled into the bus station at 8 am. Perfect, a whole day ahead of me and out of the big city! First stop was the Allied War Cemetery. It was very beautiful and there were about 5 people there including myself. I took a nice walk around. The place is very well kept. It is sad to walk past each headstone and notice the ages of the soldiers. At times, it seemed I counted 8-10 in a row with soldiers aged in their twenties. It made me think about my grandfather who fought against the Japanese. He was with 300 soldiers and only 14 came back alive he was one of the lucky ones. The morning air was fresh and crisp so I decided to save the railway museum across the street and its air con for later in the day or New Year's Day when the weather was warmer.

Next stop, was the JEATH museum. I really liked the way it was set up. I heard a guide speaking Spanish so I decided to leach onto the tour group but I remembered I was wearing a Barcelona jersey so I ran to the toilets to quickly change my shirt . I don't even like Barcelona but it was a gift from a friend's sister who works in the nike factory. I don't wear it much because I think ear biting Suarez is a "See you in T....ijuanna" (a CUNTijuanna) . The guide just basically translated the pictures in English to Spanish. Still pretty impressive to go from Thai to English to Spanish. Anyways, I went into the museum theater to watch a short film. The speaker volume was horrible with bad distortion. I guess the volume was loud to compete with the noise of the boats on the river.

Ok, time to head to the bridge, it is only 10 am and the robust birdy coffees I'd drunk were kicking in! I headed to the bridge and it was a nice sight. It was starting to get crowded but manageable to walk along. I headed to the WWII museum near the river. I have to say I found the museum and the area to be a bit tacky. As I went to the deck where the helicopter and plane were I started to enjoy the view and sound of chanting from the temple across the river.....until two people started riding jet ski's. They weren't all that loud but it seemed to be a bit out of place. Next, I went to some railway cars that were used to keep prisoners. Beside it there was a replica of an infirmary complete with emaciated soldier replicas. Along this recreated scene were were 3 x 8 rows of A4 +size pictures and descriptions of the conditions and treatments. Of these 24 or so pieces of information there were 4 advertisements for a sushi restaurant, a travel agency, a tailor, and something else, all in BKK......um, Ok.....moving on.

I go to the courtyard for a coffee and I notice a Hitler statue I decide to enjoy my coffee and to see if any Thai's will take selfies with it. There weren't many visitors this day but I wonder how many Thais get there picture taken with it. This particular exhibit has some information about Hitler (and other military figures and leaders from the era), one part reads: In World War "It", he decided to invade Russia. After waiting ten to fifteen minutes without seeing a single selfie snapped I decided to go upstairs......more tackiness. Among all the artifacts of uniforms and stacks of cash from the war there is a special partitioned off exhibit against alcohol and cigarettes........ok, fine......this is what it was: A figurine of a gymnast doing a rings routine next to a keyboard surrounded by copious amounts of booze bottles and cigarette packs with a small porcelain statue of chairman Mao with signs saying" Drugs are bad mmmmKay".

I leave the museum and decide it is time to stroll "the strip" and look for a place to stay. Tons of bars, restaurants, and guest houses. I decided on one of the "Sugar Canes". I decide to splurge on a raft on the river for 550 baht. It has air con, hot water, and most importantly the bum gun has the right amount of water pressure. The walls are paper thin and there is a sign saying that you should whisper at night time. Drop the bags off, shower, and head out for a foot massage and a lunch. I was in the mood for some Tom Yum Goong so I went to an open aired hut restaurant with a farang waiter and what I assume to be his Thai squeeze. I ordered the Tom Yum Goon and some fried spring rolls. The shrimp were nice and clean without poop and the beety-eyed heads came clean off but it was a bit farang tasting-not very spicy or tangy-oh well. I go back to my riverside suite back to take a nap but it is a bit loud with boats . I decide to roll out of bed and take a stroll and check out the night life.

I walk by several places and decide to have a few Leos at Tara's where I can sit at the sidewalk bar and people watch. Really, it was the cat sitting on the bar stool that got me to stay. Ever since, I've moved to Thailand cats have slowly won me over. After 2 Leos I decided to walk the strip. A friendly guy outside the BBB greets me from a table and invites me to a party with free food. It turns out he was the owner and a great gentleman. I chowed down on some mussels and curry. Bought more drinks than I should have and met quite a few of the irregular regulars. The expats there seemed really nice and down to earth. Some of them lived outside of town and were just there for NYE. I sat at a street level table and people watched it was great. The BBB was a very good mix of Thais and farangs in good spirits.

The first day of the New Year and I was mildly hungover. I wanted an English breakfast. Nothing better for a hangover but I like the American style bacon. Evidently, Sigmund Freud's nephew is responsible for brainwashing Americans into a marketing campaign to get people to eat pork bellies.....is this true? Anyways, I wasn't expecting much. I went next to the Aussie rules bar where there was a restaurant next door. I asked the farang if they were serving that day and he said no dice. Then I said, "Hey, you were in my van yesterday?" He looked at me and said, "The guy on the bicycle?" Frigging van drivers!

I never found that English breakfast so I decided to make a feeble effort to look into Werunda waterfall. The tours were too expensive as I was alone and asked 2 randoms that looked lost if they would be interested......nope. Then I decided to talk to a tour provider on the side of the road which just led to a typical misunderstanding and lack of reasoning. I asked how much the van was and they said 1,500 baht up to six people. Then I asked them if I could give them my phone number to call me if other people ask them about the trip to share the cost of the ride. I understood the trip cost 1,500 Baht for 1-6 passengers. This just led to confusion as they snapped at me that the cost was the same no matter how many people went. I told them I knew that but maybe in some logical universe(I didn't say this I was polite and smiled the whole time with a game of charades) someone else might want to go on the trip and if they didn't want to go or wanted someone to go to share the cost that they could call me. "Trip same price you alone or six people same price always!"..........Now, three people are letting what I already known be known. Maybe it was just two because one of them just sat there with sun glasses on and could have been a sleep but I think he was just sitting there stoically and thinking, "stupid farang". Ok, I get it you don't do deductive reasoning thank you bye......I guess if I wasn't mildly hungover and wanted to put more effort into it I should have went to the bus station.......maybe there are vans or song taos that go to Werunda....?

I decided to rent a bicycle for the day at 50 baht. I decided to ride it back to the Allied War Cemetery to check out the Railway museum. I think this museum was the best of the bunch. There was a lot of information and I really liked the exhibits. When I get the opportunity I can't wait to see the movie Railway Man .....has anyone seen it that has been to Kanchanaburi? Anyways, I spent the most time at this museum as it seemed to have a lot of interesting details and a practical gift shop (lots of different books with different angles on WWII and less swap meet/bazaar type souvenirs). I really think it dedicates to the memory of those lost in a more tasteful way then the other museums. Nothing against the JEATH museum but the Thailand-Burma railway really captures the essence of what it is all about because it is across the street from the serenity of the cemetery and it is not surrounded by all the cheesy souvenir shops like JEATH. Visitors at the Thailand-Burma Museum are also given a free cup of coffee/tea which is served upstairs and gives a nice view of the cemetery.

When I finished my coffee and a peaceful reflective view of the cemetery I decided to walk across the street to the cemetery to take some pictures with my 2nd hand i phone 4. The camera on it has a temperment of its own, why? I don't know? I touch the camera icon and a black screen pops up with the mini scroll menu below of "square", "video", "all photos"...... I touch one button and the phone turns off-on a fully charged battery. My first day it did this so I didn't get to take pictures.

I walked across the street and stood on the sidewalk along the cemetery to take a photo. As I did a newly modeled Camry rolls up and the guy driving is struggling to park. He parks half the car on the sidewalk and comes fairly close to me. No big deal-TIT. The plates are Thai and the door swings open. A family of four comes out. The fourth one out is little miss "hi-so" complete with a tight sultry dress, ornate high heels, and tattooed eye-brows. Ok, TIT again, no big deal. As I walk around the cemetery to take a few pictures this woman is taking selfies. So disgusting and distasteful! It really ticked me off and I found it unacceptable but just thought, "well that's the way it is here". I snapped my last pictures and as I exited there she was giving a sassy pose with the memorial placard dedicated to the Indians lost, courtesy of her daughter. Uckk! I know Thais opinions of India but seriously! and to get your daughter involved to take the picture-typical! To be fair, I've been told in the UK funeral selfies are a trend but I think it is a narcistic disgrace.

I left the cemetery and decided to cruise on the bike. I went by the bus stop to buy my van ticket back home. I decided to catch the 1:30 pm van out of Kburi. I had fun speaking "Thainglish" with the van people: "I am fine thank you please sit down".

"Oh you put pasa Thai gang"! they gave me a banana. I said, "gluay, Khapun Khap!" I rode back to "the strip" and felt in the mood for pizza so I went to a roadside patio place called "meat and cheesy" or something like that. It seemed pretty cool with a brick oven outside, some tables, and a small area with a drum set. I wasn't sure if it was open at 3 pm on NYD but it was. There were some Thai guys with a pizza and a steak. The steak looked great but I was in a pizza mood. I ordered a pepperoni and a big Leo. The wait was not long and I was served a very nice thin crust style pizza. I wouldn't say it was border line cracker thin. The outer third was pretty crisp with random burns on the outer edge-perfect! I like a little earthiness in between bites to appreciate the cheese and grease. The other two-thirds were soft and chewy.

The last night, I bellied up to the bar and met a few more irregular regulars. Went home the next day and the driver was actually sensible!

Cheers Merry 2015!

[vtjforyou]

Thaivisa and Google thank you for your writing skills that will male them earn a lot of $$$

[berybert]

Thaivisa and Google thank you for your writing skills that will male them earn a lot of $$$

And you couldn't even manage one line !