Day 1.

I flew into Bangkok at 6am, and then got a taxi to the hotel. About a 30 minute ride, and the meter only came to 350 baht or about $12. Got to the hotel at 7:45am, and luckily they let me check early so crashed on the bed for a bit.

Had a shower at 10am and went for a walk around the streets. The hotel was close to Khao Sanh Road, so plenty of stuff to see and breathe in my first dose of Bangkok.

Sun protection.


Horizontal.


Front Seat.


I bought a small bag of fried pork and chilli sauce for about 35 baht, or about $1.20 at a street stall. Quite a few Europeans (or 'farangs' as the locals call us) about, much more so than Vietnam or Cambodia. After a bit more walking, stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Green curry beef and rice plus some water for 100 baht or $3, have missed all the cheap tasty food since last visiting this part of the world. After some more walking, went back to the hotel and then met up for an afternoon tour I had pre booked at 3. Just the tour guide, Pam, a Thai lady, and Kelly, a Kiwi from Wellington.

We then went for a walk down some alleyway shops I totally missed on my walkabout, and then to the river. The riverboats pier was out of action for some reason, so we caught a taxi down to Chinatown. Had a look at some Buddha temples, covered in gold leaf and looking very ornate.



Candles.


Apprentice.


Then went through the Chinatown alleys and markets. Went to an alley where they sold gifts people buy to 'give' to people at their funeral/cremation. Lots of symbolic stuff like play money, paper shoes, even fake credit cards and paper iPhones.

Merchant.


It was also a great opportunity to take some portraits of the friendly locals.

Thumbs Up.


Concierge.


Cigarette and Chrysanthemum.


Shopping.


With Mum.


Beers.


Fresh Mango Vendor.


Fiddly Noodles.


Belly laugh.


Catch of the Day.


Lacoste.


Little Guy.


Then went to an old style cafe with lots of old men drinking tea and coffee, and had a black iced coffee. We were the only 'farangs' or foreigners there, but they didn't seem to mind us crashing their party, and a few didn't mind when I asked to take their photo too.


Then went for a walk through the night markets, and again a lot of sights, smells and more people to hassle to take their photo.

Fresh Pomegranate.


In the Lights.


Shopkeeper.


Waiting for Dinner.


Chinatown.


Girl.


Meat & Veg.


We then went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Pam, the tour guide ordered for us, and the waiter duly arrived with 15 containers of dim sum for the three of us. Really tasty, and we managed to eat most of it. Kelly was quite an interesting girl, works as a HR consultant, has been to Mexico for 6 weeks as part of her travels ad her boyfriend is half Mexican, and one of her hobbies is burlesque dancing.

We then caught a rickety old bus back to hotel, and then I just crashed at the hotel after a busy first day in Bangkok.



Day 2.

Got up a lazy 8:30am on Saturday morning and went for a run. Traffic here is pretty hectic, even on the pavement, so headed to a big park near the hotel and did a few laps. After breakfast at the hotel, went for a walk to the Grand palace and Wat Phra Keow.



Palace guard.


Supposed to be Bangkok's biggest tourist attraction, and was literally heaving with tourists. Saw the emerald Bhudda, which is the star attraction. Only about 60cm tall, and is actually made out of greenstone. It has golden robe, which is changed three times a year, or once each season (summer, winter and rainy) by the Thai crown prince.

Then I went to Wat Pho, another temple close by. The Lonely planet book recommended this as the pick of the temples to see, and they were pretty much spot on. Half as many tourists, a bit more interesting to walk around and only a quarter of the price. The main temple housed a big reclining Bhudda, about 40 meters long and 15 meters high.



After a quick feed of fresh pineapple from a street stall, caught a ferry across the Chao Phraya river for the princely of 3 baht or about 10 cents. Then climbed up super stairs of another temple, Wat run, and a had a good view across the river and Bangkok.



Then caught the river boat down the Chao Phraya river. Only 15 baht or 50 cents, and got off at one of the stops and got some late lunch at some street stalls, and then got a taxi back to the hotel.

Went for a walk at about 7pm to Khao Sanh Road, a popular street with tourists with lots of street stalls and places to eat, with everything available from fried scorpions to McD's.

Stopped off at a restaurant filled with English people watching a Chelsea match, and had fried noodles and pork while watching the blue team win.


Day 3.

Got up at 7am on Sunday and went for a run in the park again. After breakfast, caught a tuk-tuk to the Chatuchak weekend markets. Hundreds and hundreds of stalls selling anything and everything, and bought a coconut ice cream and just had a wander about.



Then caught the metro to Sukhumvit.



Then caught the Skytrain to Siam Square, the main shopping place in Bangkok. Had a lunch from the street stalls with fried pork, tofu, a spring roll and some chilli potato balls for 40 baht, or about $1.50.



I then caught a canal boat to the last stop, and then walked a kilometre back to the hotel.



Had the trip intrepid group meeting at 6pm, with our leader, Chumpou, a thai lady. Good mix of people, with 4 Brits, an Aussie, a person from Belgium, a Swiss, and a couple of Canadians and one American. Went out for a group dinner afterwards to get to know each other. Had some ostrich and rice, quite tasty, a bit like beef.


Day 4.

Managed to get up at 6:30am on Monday, although was a bit bleary eyed. After a run and breakfast, packed the gear and met the rest of the group in the lobby at 8:30am and headed to the pier on the river. Out tour guide had organised a long tail boat, which is a long boat powered by a diesel truck engine perched at the back with a long drive shaft connected to the propellor.

Then headed through some of the canals, checking out the sights. Stopped by a temple and picked up some bread and then fed some catfish in the canal.



They were pretty energetic and everyone got a good splash of water as they fought over the bread. After going through a lock, we stopped and did a tour of another couple of temples and then caught the riverboat back to near hotel.

After lunch we headed off in a convoy of 5 taxi's to the main bus station. After a bit of spirited driving in the crazy Bangkok traffic we arrived ready to catch a public bus for the 2 hour ride to Kanchanaburi.

Got to Kanchanaburi at about 5:30, and hopped on a cyclo-rickshaw. Felt a bit guilty as I had an old guy cycling, and he was struggling a bit to cycle with me and my 2 bags. One of the younger guys even kept pushing him to get him going abit faster.



We stopped at the war cemetery where they buried the POW's who died in WW2 building the Burma to Thailand railway.



We then set off again, and had a driver change to give the old guy someone lighter. The new guy said the old guy was 74, but he was a bit younger at 53.

Then stopped off at the famous bridge as featured in the movie 'Bridge over the river Kwai', and crossed over it and took a few photo's.



Then headed to our guest house, where we are staying for 2 nights. Quite flash and modern, just like a hotel except no TV or fridge etc. All you need anyway.

After a quick shower we went to the restaurant across the road from the guest house. Chumpou, our tour guide then gave us a run down of tomorrows plan, before dinner. Had pork and chilli fried balls for entree, and curry with blue rice for the main. Apparently they cook the rice with some blue flowers, which acts as a natural colouring.


Day 5.

Got up at 6:30am for a run in the country side. The guesthouse we are staying at is on the edge of town, so was good to run past rice paddies and cornfields after the smoggy air in Bangkok. Did a loop back into town, and ran back over the Kwai river bridge.

Had breakfast back at the guesthouse. The restaurant is right on the edge of the Kwai, so quite a picturesque place to chomp down on some muesli and banana.

We then headed off at 8:30am in the back of a songthaew. Just two bench seats on either side for the 12 of us, and a bit of a roof. Good natural aircon though.



After about 90 minutes we arrived at the death railway, which had some original remnants from the Burma-Thailand railway from WW2.



Walked along the tracks for a bit until a bit of a cave where the Japanese officers used to camp, and had now been turned into a Buddhist shrine.

Back on the songthaew again and after another 60 minute drive got to Hell's pass. Basically a big cutting in the side of the hill in the middle of the jungle which was excavated by the POW's during WW2 for the railway.



There was a good museum there too which the Aussie govt help set up. About 30,000 British and Aussie POW's were put to work to build the railway, and just under a half of then died due to the shoddy treatment from the Japanese. They had some post cards the Japanese allowed them to send back home, but they were only multi-choice (the one on display had 'doing paid work' ticked).

Got back on the songthaew again and after another 90 minute drive got to Erawan national park at about 2:30pm. Had a quick lunch of green curry and then went for a walk down to the waterfall and went for a swim, The waterfall had 8 steps, and we walked up to the third one which had about a 10 meter drop. Temperature was just right and got to swim right under the waterfall. Had some fish too about 20cm long who would come along and nibble at your feet. Very ticklish too.



Got back to Kachanaburi at 6pm, and after a quick shower and rest, headed into town to the night markets for dinners. Had lots of different stalls selling lots of different kinds of food. Settled on pork and noodle, and a couple of chicken skewers from another stall, all for about 55 baht, or about $2. Afterwards, Champou, our tour guide, took us down to the insect stall for dessert. Had a couple of worms which looked like mini-huhu grubs, and a crunchy cooked cricket. All covered in spices and cooked, needed a bit of water afterwards to wash away the after-taste though.


Day 6.

After a bit of a sleep in on Wednesday morning, we headed off at 10am in a mini-van for a short trip down to the Death railway museum. Had an old bamboo hutt which the POW's were squeezed into when building the railway. Their clothes quickly rotted in the humid jungle, so the Japanese just have them a piece of cloth to put around their waste.

We then walked down to house boat for the river cruise. Basically two big pontoon type things, about 12 x 10 meters each, one for sleeping and one for dining. Just a roof on top to keep out the rain and open sides. A small tug boat then tugged us down the river for an hour of so, until we got to temple on the hill.



A big stair case of about 400 steps to get to the top, but had a good view at the top.

Had lunch back on the boat afterwards, prepared by the crew, and cruised further down the river and then stopped at another town and went for a walk through the streets and up the hill to another Bhuddist temple. Only 200 steps this time.



Then turned around and cruised back up river.



The rain, which had been a steady drizzle, turned started to really bucket down. We pulled over to the bank at about 6pm, and had dinner prepared by the crew. A bit of everything from beef curry, chicken drumsticks and fried vege's. Then whiled away the night, playing charades, cards and domino's. Had to stick to Hollywood movie's for charades to make sure both teams had a fair chance since we had quite a few different nationalities.

The generator went off at 10pm, and then we slept under mosquito nets on the house boat.


Day 7.

Got up at 7 on Thursday and had breakfast on the boat before driving back to Kachanaburi, where we had a quick shower and then set off for a 3 hour in the back of the truck again to Ayutthaya. Then got some day rooms at a guesthouse, and then had some lunch.

Visited a few temples in Ayutthaya in the afternoon, and got some holy water splashed on us by a monk, and got to rub some gold leaf on a Bhudda statue at another.

Monk.


Nun.


Our songthaew driver.


Gardener.


We also go to see the famous buddha in the tree roots at Wat Mahathat.


Came back at 3pm to relax at the pool at the guesthouse, and then off tonight at 6:30pm to catch the sleeper train to Chang mai. 11 hour trip so will get there tomorrow morning.

Got to the train station at Ayutthaya at about 7pm on Thursday night.



Had abit of time so took the camera for a bit of exploring.

Train stop.


Platform guard.


After waiting outside in the humid evening air, everyone jumped on the train when it rolled in from Bangkok when it arrived on time at 8pm.

Apparently the normal sleeper carriages were out for service but the one we had was still pretty good. Instead of separate cabins, was similar to a normal carriage but the seats converted into bunks. The toilets were pretty clean, and gave a good direct view of the track below too.

Climbed into bed after the porters made up the bed with pillow, sheets and a blanket and actually managed to have a relatively good sleep, much better than economy on an aeroplane anyway.