water ... more water

After a week in the hospital in Bangkok and a week of recovering of dengue fever, saying goodbye to Lauren, going to the movies, and generally not doing much… it was finally time to hit the road again.
We took a bus to Kanchanaburi, a city 3 hours northwest of Bangkok. It’s nice peaceful place with a lot of bungalows on the riverbanks.

The main (only) reason to visit is because of the world famous bridge on the river Kwai. The railway runs from Thailand to Myanmar. We visited the Death Railway Bridge which caused the lives of over 16000 POW’ers during the Japanese occupation (42-43) when the bridge was build.

The day after we left on 4day motorbike trip to the north west of the province with the Three Pagoda Pass (border post with Myanmar) being our final destination. The roads here are beautifully paved so riding here is quit easy.
Our first stop was the Erawan national park. There is one of the most beautiful waterfalls here which has 7 stages and pools which are great for swimming. The walk from the bottom fall to the top is 2 km. the pools. As it is the peak season now there were a lot of Thai families here. the only downside (besides the one that I still cant go into the water when its over 40 degrees) was that we’re in the height of the dry season so the falls weren’t really that spectacular due to lack of water.

We spend the night in Thong Pha Phum where we finally arrived after riding 2 hours in the dark and looking like drowned chickens. In the late afternoon we had to stop for heavy showers and lighting. When it dried up we continued our journey but ended up doing the last 50 km in another storm. And the few places along the road where way over our budget so no luck there…

The next day we drove to Sangkhlaburi, where we stayed in a great guesthouse right at the lake. The ride up here was great, as it winds through mountains of limestone and other impressive scenery. In the town itself is not much to do except riding and walking around. Thailand’s largest wooden bridge which crosses the lake to a minority village was worth visiting.

The next morning we drove to the Three Pagado Pass. We got to Payathonzu and drove right into the customs checkpoint. We placed ourselves on the sidewalks and watched the locals doing their normal business. A very relaxing pastime…You see a lot of Burmese people in their traditional clothing in this border town. After the ride back to Sangkhlaburi we held our daily siesta. When the temperature dropped a little a hired a canoe and spend some time on the lake.

it is the hottest month of the year (over 40 and not dropping under 25 at night) and you really can’t do anything between 11 and four then rest and read. The heat just wears you down.

The next day we drove all the way back to Kanchanaburi and made it their just before dark.




It was a beautiful region, nice landscapes and mountains, really friendly local people that can’t speak a single word of english, nice villages,… you just gotta love riding 70 an hour with some nice music coming out of the ipod. Another nice trip, except for the soar asses after 650km on a bike

In the morning we got a bus to Suphanburi and another one to Ayuthaya. It is famous for the ruins of the ancient capital (14-18th century). So the next morning we hired some bicycles and toured al the ruins and the wats in the area. After 2 hours it got to hot and we had seen enough temples before so we called it a day. We checked out and took the bus to Bangkok.

We met up with Seb and Marie, friends from home that flew in from New Zealand. We have a real nice time catching up and sharing travel stories.

The Songkran festival had started already and you could see it. It is a 4-5 day during festival to celebrate the thai new year. Hundreds of thousands (could be millions too) are roaming the streets and throwing water over each other and shooting water pistols. And they cover your face up with some sort of chalky substance. Pick ups with tons of water, super soakers, buckets, you name it they got it
It is like nothing we have ever seen. If you leave your guesthouse you come back looking like you just took a shower with your clothes on. On it goes on the whole day for 4 days. And in this kind of head it is the perfect way the cool off (your frustrations)!
It is really frustrated that I have to keep my toe dry so I can’t join in full force, but I wear Seb his All stars so I have little fun. Either today or tomorrow I’ll cover up my toe real tight and get some payback. because it is almost impossible to get some nice pics of the waterfestival without the risk of getting your camera splashed, this is how all the streets look like rightnow...





We will be staying here till after the weekend. If the wound under the nail is finally completely dry, I’ll go to koh tao to dive. If not I’ll go somewhere else.

Have fun!