Kanchanaburi (Bridge over the River Kwai)

We're back in Thailand, having traveled from Siem Reap to Bangkok overland. We spent a very fun last day in Angkor on bikes (Thanks for the tip Ant & Anna). It's the first time I've ever had to overtake Elephants in the road, they're very slow. I also had a great chat with a monk (not the one in the photo) as Rach had to run to the loo in a Pagoda... We visited the Landmine museum as well, which might seem a strange thing to do but is really interesting.

The journey from SR to Bangkok was possibly one of the worst I've ever done. I know understand why it's nicknamed the road from/to Hell. It was like being in a rock tumbler for 12 hours. The first bus to the border at Poipet was too small for the number of people/bags. I was initially over the wheel arch at the back, with my knees around my chin. I also suspect that it didn't have any suspension as you could feel every single bump in the road, and there were alot. We've been warned that the road had been washed out over the past few weeks The road didn't exist in places, it had become an extension of the surrounding paddy fields and we passed countless HGV's that were stuck over their axles in mud. Poipet, well I'm going to have to borrow Ant's description of the place - You know the alternate Hill Valley 1985 in Back to the Future 2 - it's like that with less burning cars (although I did see a car with a huge scorch mark down the side). It's possibly the worst place I've ever been - an absolute toxic waste dump of a town. The last bus from the Thai border to Bangkok was alright, but it did have a huge painting of the little mermaid down the side...

We spent yesterday shopping (Rach got very excited when she saw Boots...) and generally marvelling at all the 'traveller types' i.e. the long haired, tie-dyed tee-shirted lot and wondering why we haven't seen them anywhere else (we think they're too scared to leave the Khao San Road)

Today we got the train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi. It's certainly not a Virgin Pendolino - the seats were wooden and cooling came from the windows which was done by lowering them. It was fun though, you can just lean out the train to see in front, although you have to duck in to avoid various bits of foliage.

Some stats...

Number of Boots visited on the Khao San Road - 1 (of 3)
Number of books read on trip so far - 5 (1 a week, impressive!)
Number of t-shirts now bought - 5 (My bag has become very heavy for some reason)