After an exciting week of ramming back and forth between eastern and western Thailand, I’ve decided to chill out in a sweet suite here in Kanchanaburi, just up the road from that famous “Bridge over the River Kwai”. It’s a lot touristier than Ubon, the place at the opposite end of the country where I just came from. I think I would have preferred something a bit in-between. At least there should be a lot to do here.
Although I managed to get the last sleeping berth on the train, it wasn’t quite as nice as the overnight train I took to Chiang Mai last year. I was stuck with an upper bunk, which has little headroom and little ventilation. I was sweating, lying in bed for hours before I could fall asleep. There was a vent up on my ceiling, but when I opened it up, a bunch of black, dusty crud fell down out of it and onto my nice, clean pillow. Yuck!
I did eventually get to sleep for about 4-5 hours, so it wasn’t so bad. Getting the bus out here to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok was a lot easier. I have to confess to being somewhat embarrassed when I arrived. After hopping off the bus, a man I thought was a taxi driver plugged his taxi service, even though there was no taxi in sight. I agreed to the price, and he escorted me to his bicycle rickshaw. I felt like such a colonialist in the back of that thing as he peddled a good mile or two out to my guesthouse. Poor guy. He was probably older than me. I made sure to give him a good tip.
This is a very popular weekend destination for Thais as well as Western backpackers. The weather is definitely more humid than in Ubon, but it isn’t nearly as hot as in Ayutthaya.
