Kanchanaburi

I had fond memories from visiting Kanchanaburi last time I lived in Thailand and figured with the limited amount of time...we needed somewhere to go that wasn't too far away, but was a calm and relaxing trip outside of Bangkok.  Had time permitted, I am sure we would have been on a beach/island...but in 10 days...well, it is loads of traveling already.

 We started off at the Thai-Burma museum...and we had a perfect view onto the cemetery across the way. Now, it is a bit of an odd occurrence, but last time I was in Kanchanaburi, I had just started "The Rape of Nanking" not knowing I would be visiting this city.  And the book I took along thistime..."Balkan Ghosts"....go figure....

 We stayed on river rafts, such as these ones...but I think we got the quieter side of rafts as I didn't hear the "moving boat disco"...but then again, I have learned to sleep through things such as that.  One night, our neighbors I guess were being quite loud (or on the bamboo rafts sound travels quite well)...I didn't wake up to that...but rather Scott knocking on the wall saying "Excuse me...I'm trying to sleep..." followed by the other side saying "Sorry Sorry" and I guess they hushed down....

Kathi and Scott do the Asian thing...

This is the wonderful restaurant that I remember Ollie taking us to last time we went to Kanchanaburi, and I couldn't resist--we went back and when it got dark we fed the fish...

This is the wonderful restaurant that I remember Ollie taking us to last time we went to Kanchanaburi, and I couldn't resist--we went back and when it got dark we fed the fish...

As we started the next day towards the falls...our camera died mid-day...so there are only pictures for half the journey...

We had a wonderful guide named Irene and a small enough tour group to make our day enjoyable.  We started at the waterfalls and wandered up...

Well, we also rode some elephants....yea, camera died during that part...but at least Scott's parents have some pictures I think.  We went quietly rafting down a river and we rode the train into town.  Now it was great because our tour guide must have read my mind when she told me I could stand at the doorway...and she and our Portuguese friend did as well.  It was refreshing and the views were amazing...