Saturday, February 03, 2007

By the way...

Kanchanaburi - the pictorials continue


After being put up in this ridiculous hotel in Bangkok (thanks STA travel!) we ended up in this idealic shack on the river Kwai. Well, it was more like a swamp off the River Kwai but you get the idea. It really was idealic despite it being 38 degrees with nothing but a fan and bull ants invading the toilet everytime you weren't looking. We had to hose them down just to get a seat without being bitten.


It was idealic so Ruth embraced the romance of it.


It was idealic so I embraced my inner yob.


One of the highlights of staying in Kanchanaburi was going bike riding to the Bridge over River Kwai. Despite its terrible history there is little evidence of the attrocities that happened here apart from the bridge (which is just a bridge) and names like Death Railway and Hellfire Pass. Please note, the bridge is quite high up and there is very little to stop you from falling off so if you looking closely, you can see I'm packing it.


Make no mistake though thousands of Thai, Burmese and POW's died building this rail line. They reckon it should have taken ten years what took them eighteen months to build on the back of the death and enslavemnt of these people. I hate to say it but I think its the model Howard based his Work Choices legislation on.




The next day we went to Erawen Falls which is seven layers of waterfalls that cascade into beautiful blue waters which you can swim in like this.


Getting to seventh fall was quite an achievement so I celebrated like any Australian backpacker channelling my inner yob (AGAIN).


Bringing sexy back but I can only suck my gut in for so long ladies...


The guide said that the fish would kiss you but in fact they were goddamn human eating pirranhas from hell who took chucks of flesh rather than sweet pecks on the cheek, urm leg. Look at the murderous glint in their eyes...


Aww, that's a sweet photo. It was a great day.


Those were the highlights of Kanchanaburi, there were others but I'm too vague to remember and I'm not sure I'm vain enough to put photos of me reading the paper. Anyhow, we picked up stumps and went Ayutthaya next which will come later.

PS the majority of great photos on here were taken by Ruth so full credit to her for the shots she's taken while travelling. It turns out she's an amazing photographer and my photos are as crappy as my blog...

4 comments:

gwendoline said...

is 'idealic' the same as 'idyllic' or does it mean something different??

Jonathan said...

You know, you're right, I did mean idyllic when I first wrote it as in:

1. excellent and delightful in all respects; "an idyllic spot for a picnic"
2. suggestive of an idyll; charmingly simple and serene; "his idyllic life in Tahiti"; "the pastoral legends of America's Golden Age"

However, it wasn't idyllic. The idyll or rather the ideal was there (perfect) but the reality was sweltering heat and ants biting me on the bum when I went the toilet. So in fact, it is idealic or idealesque if you will. As the English language is a living, mutating entity I am proud to invent a new word. You heard it here first!

gazza said...

whats with the English lesson just enjoy, you seem to be anyway see you sometime in the future

Jonathan said...

Oh yeah, having a great time Gary. Gwen and I have just worked together on some literary masterpieces so we're just paying out on each other but she's knows my vocabulary is better than hers...