ok...i lied. Kanchanaburi is not a national park just outside Bangkok. I really have to start paying closer attention to what i read, and what other people tell me. I never would have known where to get off the bus i was so busy looking for a park ;)

anyway, turns out Kanchanaburi is a little TOWN not far from Bangkok on the river Kwae....this is the very same river, which has the very same bridge from the movie "Bridge Over the River Kwai". This town was the location of POW camps during WWII, where the Japanese used captured Allied soldiers to help build the Death Railway (so named for all the deaths of POWs and locals during it's construction) and the infamous bridge. It turned out to be a pretty cool place with an interesting museum run by monks, with old pictures and articles about the bridge and railway, a war cemetary, and, of course the bridge. We walked the full length and had only just gotten to the other side when a train came along, forcing all the gawking tourists to gather onto little platforms along the span while it roared past :) (pretty funny to see everyone runnin) Apparently despite bombings, and rebuilding, some parts of the bridge are still original.

The other highlight of Kanchanaburi was that we stayed on a floating guesthouse on the river. Kind of like a hostel on rafts...there are a few different platforms connected together, the same walls, ceilings, bathrooms you'd expect...but its all floating :) and, because we had the front corner room, all you could see out the windows was water :) Unfortunately, all you could hear at night (and ridiculously early in the morning) was karaoke from the boat discos that float by blasting karaoke....so so so bad :) But odd, and funny nonetheless :)


I forgot to mention before that when we first returned to Bangkok from Laos...we arrived in time for an out-of-season rainstorm...it made me very very glad we are not here during wet season. Khao San Road where we had returned to pick up some bags, was literally flooded, there doesn't appear to be any real drainage system...whoulda guessed?! ;)
The downpour left us with no choice but to wade through shin-high black water, with who knows what kind of gunk floating in it...and whenever we reached higher ground, it was impossible not to notice the giant cockroaches scuttling to safety. Yeah, um...fun :) However!...despite all the trudging and trekking through dust, mud, and who knows what all...i have to say...i have never had better looking feet ;) thanks to the $4 pedicures available at every corner. so bizarre.

so, today's the first day of the Ultimate frisbee tournament that Kristi and James are playing in. I'm off to help set up for the big party tonight (in exchange for my own admission, food and drink...since i'm not one of the registered players at the tourny)...should be fun, we'll see....there's a theme, people are supposed to wear costumes...i dunno...i volunteered to do Kris and James make-up (Jem - from the cartoon, and David Bowie) and will probably leave it at that :)

thats it for now :)

sun