Kanchanaburi

Fireworks exploding from the carriage of a train, planes flying overhead dropping fireworks onto the Bridge, boys being marched across the Bridge. I was watching the sound and light show on the Bridge over River Kwai which including a reenactment of the war, it was an extravagant display. For the most part forty five minute show was commentated in Thai but I was able to work out what was going on by what was happening around.

Kanchanaburi was the weekend stop for me for the Kings Birthday long weekend. Seven of us in total went to visit the sights of the town in the west of Thailand. Its two most famous icons being the Death Railway Bridge (The Bridge over River Kwai) and the seven steps waterfall at the Erawan national park. Our first night in town we went to the bridge to watch the light show only we arrived too late and it the show was finished. Instead we found a huge carnival/ festival similar to the one in Chachoengsao only much larger. I had a photo taken with a giant python, had my first taste of grubs and went on a large Ferris wheel.

The following day was spent at the Erawan national park and as it was the long weekend the falls were full of tourists. The seven steps refer to the seven different levels of the waterfall each with its own uniqueness. I only swam at level two and by the time I reached level five I was getting very hungry so I left everybody and made my way quickly to the six and seventh level before quickly getting back to the car park eating some food and getting on the bus back to town. The falls were magnificent and quite a highlight of my time in Thailand although there were other things to see in Kanchanaburi.

The town has a few war cemeteries and many war museums. I was able to have a good walk through the Kanchanaburi war cemetery which is full of graves of Australian, British and Dutch soldiers who died during World War II. I was also able to visit the Thailand- Burma Railway centre where I started chatting to an Austrian backpacker then went for a beer with him before returning to the guest house on the river to meet the rest of the group who were just getting back from the falls.

Nobody else was interested in going to see the light show which was probably a good thing as any viewing point around the Bridge was packed with people and throughout the show it felt like I was in a mosh pit. For me it wasn't an issue because I was a foot taller than everybody else so I was able to see clearly. At the end of the show I found the rest of the group at a pub and began a big night drinking.

For a city so busy with tourists there was not a lot happening in the bars so we found reggae bar and sat drinking for most of the night.

The following morning we returned to the Bridge to see it in the daylight before returning on a van to Bangkok and made our way back to Chachoengsao from there. It meant the end of an enjoyable weekend with a variety of exciting activities