kanchanaburi and beyond

I spent the weekend in Kanchanaburi province as planned. It's about 120km or about a 3 hour bus ride north of Bangkok. I really had a good time there as there is plenty to do in and around Kanchanaburi, yet it's one of the few places in Thailand that isn't completely overrun by tourists. It's kind of like a mini-Chiang Mai. I got there midday Friday and promptly made my way to the Death Bridge Museum and the adjoining war memorial cemetery. Both commemorate the enormous loss of life during the building the Thailand-Burma railroad at the hands of the Japanese in WWII. It's a rather somber place to visit, but was thoroughly fascinating and well worth it. Once done with that I made my way to the famous Bridge on the River Kwai which was packed with tourist, but with a better understanding of the history behind it, it was worth the detour. Now I I just have to see the movie.

On Saturday, I rented a scooter and drove myself further northwest to Erewan National Park. There I climbed the seven levels of the Erewan Waterfall, which was one of the nicer waterfalls I have ever seen. After couple hours of hiking and bathing in the waterfall pools, I continues another 10km on a dirt road to visit a cool little cave. I was the only one there - benefits of not being part of a tour group - and the park ranger took me around the cave with his pressurized kerosene lantern in hand. Besides the usual stalactites and stalagmites, I also saw the worlds smallest mammal - the bumblebee bat which is 11mm when fully grown. The 100-mile round trip on a small scooter was a bit long, but definitely worth it.

Sunday, I decided to continue exploring the region on my trustee little scooter and headed northwest once again (albeit on a different road) to Hellfire Pass and on to the local hot springs. This trip was a bit longer - about 90 miles each way, and while I'm glad I stopped at Hellfire Pass, I could have passed on the hot springs. Hellfire Pass was also part of the Thailand-Burma railroad, and was considered a particularly difficult stretch to build. The workers essentially dug through 25 meters of solid rock in some spots to build the rail bed. Thousands died in the process. Seeing the mass of rock that needed to be excavated manually was definitely impressive. Meanwhile, the hot springs were overrun with vacationing Thais and busloads of Russians, which made for a not-so-relaxing stop. I decided to go on a little further to the town of Thong Pha Phum simply to see a bit more of the countryside. Overall a great day of exploring.

Now I'm back in Bangkok about to go to school orientation. Not sure what the blog will be like when I'm actually "studying," but I'll try to keep it going.