Some pics:

Not me… at least I hope not.

Ok, Monday June 4th – not sure if I mentioned this already but Thai culture doesn’t really have a set menu for meals times. In the sense that they don’t really have “breakfast” – like if you wanted oatmeal for dinner, knock yourself out. So it was sometimes not the breakfast you’d expect, overall most places did a decent job. But the eggs are from different chickens, the bacon isn’t that great, and you know – ya just start to adjust to the smells and tastes of the area you’re in after a while and go with the flow.

We left our guest house in the artsy side of Bangkok after splitting a hero for breakfast which contained the following: egg, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cucumber,onion, and prob sprouts *can’t remember* – the bus to Kanchanaburi 1st class was about 3 bucks per person one way. The Southern Bus Terminal was your typical bus terminal, full of fumes, lots o’ people, benches, little grungy, etc. The ride was interesting, there was a woman who took our tickets, sat us in a seat – similar to a greyhound bus but imagine an older model like a 1980s greyhound. She gave us each a small bottle of water. The air conditioning on the bus wasn’t cold, but it was good enough for the ride. Along the road we saw a few farms, people with roadside stands selling veggies and fruits, and some random houses. We also saw a group of cows walking along the highway with no one with them. Wild cows?

After 2 hours and starting to get antsy, we were there! We weren’t entirely sure if we were there, no announcements were made as the bus stopped and picked up/dropped off people. I realized we better pay attention to the road signs. Then it seemed that Kanchanaburi was the last stop anyway… still… ya never know. I’ve missed too many stops on the trains and buses here to relax 100%. I think J and I were the only tourists on the bus. There was a monk who sat in the back.

The bus station in Kanchanaburi is located downtown. We wanted to go to this road where several guest houses were located. Now, it’s not as urban as Bangkok so things weren’t as tightly packed together as they are in cities. Which was nice and made for a super pleasant stay in the province.
So if you can see the bus terminal in this map you’ll see where we pulled into. It looked like it would only be a 20 min walk from the bus station to the guest house that seemed be the best.

The guest houses that we thought would be best were all over near the Allied War Cemetery. Some were on the water, via dead end streets. Apple guest house isn’t on the water but it’s the one that offered cooking classes, had its own restaurant, massage, and tours. It was like, there was no reason to not try that place. So we figured, hell, first one we pass anyway and if it’s full we’ll just make our way down the streets to other guest houses till we find one that is clean, a/c, and affordable. The walk took longer than we expected. It had to be around 94 degrees – wasn’t as humid here as it was in Bangkok – but still 94 degrees, walking down an avenue similar to 4th ave in Brooklyn in Park Slope – lots’ of tire shops and such – 4 lanes of cars and fumes — makes for tired lil travelers. We stopped a few times to rest. My back was soaked with sweat, my head was pounding from the sun, and my lil’ feets were getting tired after a while.

When we got to Apple, we were greeted and shown a room. It wasn’t air conditioned but you know- the place was sooo freakin’ nice I kind of didn’t care and figured we’d just deal. It was also about 9 dollars a night. After we said yes to the room the two women who run the place told us to go settle in, rest, and come back to the office to pay and sign stuff in a bit. I guess we looked like shit. I think we underestimated the distance from the bus station to the guest house, it prob was almost 2 miles.

We changed our clothes and walked over to the restaurant section to eat- it was closed to the general public but open for guests. Or maybe open for us since we looked sad and red. The food was amazing. AMAZING. They were also super nice and turned on the fans that were attached to the roofing for us. I think we got spoiled there. I really liked it. After lunch we took a small walk to orient ourselves with the area – found the 7/11, a few bars – one was called Spread Eagle Beer Bar – and saw some stray dogs. We smoked a few cigs and each bought a silly child’s notebook to write things down in – so we wouldn’t forget our trip. My notebook has a lion and a snail on it. The lion has a thought bubble that reads “What?” and on the back the snail says, “I am snail!” Jen’s is even odder. It’s got some cows on the font and back, one of the cows is thinking about steak. On the back of hers, a cow is painting what looks to be a mural of a farm and it reads “This is cow’s farm” or something like that. One of the staff had a cute mini poodle puppy that was rolling around and having a grand old time running about.

We booked our transportation through AS Travel for Tiger Temple and bummed about till dinner time. We ate again at the restaurant. I think I had noodles – if not phat thai prob some other rice/noodle thing. It also rained that afternoon/evening – and boy it came down. We watched it from the porch – it was very cool. Once the rain ended — big big snails were out and about, lizards were on the outer walls, and worms.
We had a bathroom where the toilet wasn’t a flush, instead you had a big bin of water – like a big sink and a pail. So you’d pour water down the toilet. Not bad.

We also had worms in our bathroom – couldn’t deal with that very well. So I showered in J’s flip flops. How does anyone wear those things? Who decided having your toes support a whole shoe was a good idea?

Originally we had booked the transportation to go to the National Park and see the Erawan Falls in the morning and then Tiger Temple in the afternoon but the others who were going to be part of that trip changed their minds. It wasn’t worth the taxi to take only 2 people to these places and wait there all day for us. I felt bad cuz the falls apparently look amazing around the beginning of monsoon season. Although looking back, considering the higher # of mosquitoes that were in Kanchanaburi and the fact that I got bitten even when wearing repellent – I think it was best t avoid the falls. Still, I wish we had seen them – just wish there was a foolproof method of ensuring I don’t get bitten.

That night in one of the other rooms- some women from I think AU – started laughing and screeching. Considering the peaceful silence that the place had, it was out of context. They were screaming though because a scorpion was walking on their screen door. Every room had a wooden door and a screen door. Unfortunately our screen door didn’t close tightly enough and there were gaps where bugs would get into the room – so we couldn’t leave the door open for air to come in. The next morning the women were at breakfast and talking about it with their friends- looked like a large group had decided to vacation together – they were describing the whole thing. At first they thought it was a lizard and two of them stepped out of the room to look at it- meaning, they opened the screen door that the scorpion was attached to. I guess this pissed the lil’ fella off. It apparently raised its stinger and started walking around- hence th
e screeching. Eventually it walked off the door and onto the wall. Glad it wasn’t me. No one was hurt.

next entry: tiger temple

We got back to the guesthouse and changed our clothes, cooled down, and bummed around our room till about 6 or 7. We found a place called Roti-Mataba that was awesome. It was some fusion-y place and their curry was awesome. We also had this roti bread dumpling sort of thing- it was stuffed with chicken, that was soooo good. All their food was good and it was made fresh. When you walked in, you passed the kitchen which resembled an old diner setup where you can watch them make your food. There was one woman rolling dough, placing stuff into these little rolled circles of dough, and then placing them on an oiled iron flat surface where they cooked up and smelled awesome.

Afterwards we took a walk through the park and down over a canal into a residential area. We also passed a fort:
In the park we saw some kids and probably their teacher playing traditional sounding music and singing the words in thai and then english. It was nice. We also walked by some guys playing what looked like Go, with their chipmunk hanging out on the table. It looked like they had a pet chipmunk, it had a little hamster cage and was sitting on top of it. I had to pet a cat I saw- this happy chubby black one that purred when I scratched its chin.

J got some socks from a sneaker store and then we went home to fall asleep… around 11pm again!

Sun June 3rd- Weekend Market- it’s over 8000 stalls of stuff! Jeans, shirts, kitchen supplies, sneakers, fluffy puppies, bunnies, hats, army bags, batteries, cameras, socks, winter jackets, paintings, crafts, the list goes on. We took a cab, it looked like it would have been a big hassle to take public transportation from the area we were in to the market. I think it’s the biggest market in the city. I’m looking at wikipedia and my guide book – both are saying it’s the largest market in the world. It’s overwhelming… so many elements of this trip were overwhelming but it was the good kind.

The last time J was in Thailand she had gone to the market and saw live scorpions. We tried to find the exotic animals section. The stalls are packed close together, leaving enough room for two people to walk down the aisles. They all have a tent setup so you’re mostly in the shade and it messes with your eyes. When you leave the shade of the aisles and end up out in the sun it’s like a blinding light. We did find the pets section and saw these little stands of tiny pups and kitties. The pups were mostly small breeds like shih-tzu, poms, maltese… they were all in these bins and had enough room to hang out, but some of them were hot. Then we saw a few enclosed rooms where people were selling dogs, it looked like they were air conditioned. One stall was selling St. Bernards! Those pups were huge. Another had kittens that were clean, silly, and healthy. Now, I don’t advocate buying critters from pet shops but I just had to see how it’s done. It also fulfilled my petting quota for the day.

At some point we started to get overheated and looked for a place to sit down. J was getting more worn out than I was and we ended up in the park in the sun, which wasn’t really a good idea but we felt better after a while. We gave it another half hour of walking around the market and then caught a taxi to Chinatown to eat. I started to feel a little ill from the heat and fumes of diesel… but didn’t want to go home. I knew going back to the guesthouse would make me too lazy to get out and do something later. So I advocated for getting lunch in Chinatown, walking about, and then heading home.

Chinatown reminded me of the Chinatown in NYC, similar look and feel. We walked down this one thin street looking for a place to eat that was in the guidebook, however we didn’t know it was just a vendor and thought it was a restaurant. Then it started raining and J got annoyed at the crowds, rain, and overall mess we’d gotten ourselves into. I was annoyed too and felt really cloudy. We took a tuk tuk back to the guesthouse. Getting into the tuk tuk I slammed my knee on the metal side and later it turned into a nice purple bruise.

tbc….

See this statue? It’s a demon holding up part of the chedi and is a character in the “Ramayana.” The tale was adapted and changed somewhat when Rama I and II rewrote it and it became known as the Ramakien. The tales of the Ramakien are similar to those of the Ramayana, though transferred to the topography and culture of Ayutthaya, where the avatar of Phra Narai (the Thai incarnation of Vishnu, who’s also known as Narayan) is reborn as Phra Ram.

The tale is:
Once upon a time there was a giant king (called Tosakan) on the island of Lanka who won a battle against the god Indra and then sought to achieve the rule of the whole world. The gods knew that only a mortal man would be able to stop the invulnerable giant and sent the god Vishnu down to earth.

Vishnu is reincarnated as Prince Rama (Phra Ram), son of the mighty King Tosarot of Ayuthaya. Rama and his faithful brother and friend Lakshman (Phra Lak) become famous heroes and Rama is appointed by his father as successor to the throne of Ayuthaya. When Rama manages to win beautiful and chaste Princess Sita as his wife, their happiness seems complete. However, an envious concubine of King Tosarot convinces him to favor her son and to disinherit Prince Rama. Rama, Sita, and the faithful Lakshman are expelled from the royal palace and have to flee into the jungle where they spend the next fourteen years hidden in a hermitage.

Even in the seclusion of their forest retreat, however, Sita’s beauty does not go unnoticed, and the evil giant King Tosakan decides to lure her way from Rama. He disguises himself as a lovely deer and carries Sita off to Lanka where she is forced to live in his palace. Rama and Lakshman, of course, try to find her and enlist the help of the monkey king Subrik and his white general,Hanuman. Hanuman, by flying through the air to Lanka, finally discovers poor Sita. Supported by Hanuman and an army of monkeys, Rama and his brother reach the coast in front of Lanka and Hanuman builds with his body a causeway to the island.

And the battle starts. When it turns out that Rama and his followers are going to be victorious, however, the evil giant Tosakan manages to sneak out of the palace and takes lovely Sita with him. Again, it is Hanuman who helps: he finds the giant and becomes his confidant. Tosakan trusts him so much that he reveals to Hanuman the secret of his invulnerability. That allows Prince Rama to successfully fight (in an exhausting seven day battle) and finally kill the giant and to win Sita back – although in the beginning he does not believe in Sita’s faithfulness and she must undergo a trial of fire to prove her chastity.

All of them now return to Ayuthaya, where the unlawful king, the son of the envious concubine, resigns and Rama again becomes king. Everybody could be happy now, but Rama is still in doubt about Sita, who is expecting a child. He expels her from the palace and orders his brother Lakshman to have her killed. Lakshman, however, does not obey and brings Sita instead back to the hermit in the jungle where she and Rama spent fourteen years during Rama’s exile. There she gives birth to a son and the hermit, a powerful magician, forms a twin brother of the child and teaches both arts and mystics. Rama hears about the children, and finally recognizes his son. After a final battle with the remaining rebel giants, Rama’s mission is fulfilled and he returns to heaven.

In the other version, Sita kills herself and Rama then realizes that he was wrong to doubt her…Murals depicting this tale are all over the Wat in the Grand Palace. I took a few pics but they don’t really help you unless you know the story. I suppose it’s like seeing the Stations of the Cross in a Catholic church and not understanding why this dude is carrying a cross and what each station depicts.

After a while we were getting too tired and hot to look around at the other buildings. We sat on some steps in the shade and watched people for a while. One part of the complex had a shrine with little buddhas covered in gold that were flaking off, the paint was coming off. People were making offerings, lighting incense, and would then dab the flaking buddha with a tissue and then place the tissue on their head- similar to someone blessing themselves with holy water. It was interesting to watch. I took a few pics of the more chinese looking statues and eventually found myself feeling overheated, tired, and a little dopey. We did see the Emerald Buddha… he’s this tiny statue way up high in a temple, it’s hard to see what he really looks like- it’s all gold and decorations in there. Apparently someone got a pic cause I found this on wikipedia:

Now imagine this brighter, golder, and you’re kneeling. It’s quite the scene. All around the inside there’s murals and gold paint on doorways. It was cool but once again, lots to absorb and take in. I think I missed so much cause it was just too much. You spend your whole life in a place where some buildings are just BORING and the ones that aren’t – are so big ya can’t miss them… and then you go to Thailand and everything is smaller and intricate and amazing.

We ended up punking out and taking a taxi back to our guesthouse. After a small rest and shower – we went and ate a late lunch from one of the street vendors. We had phat thai and it was awesome. The noodles weren’t too soft, the taste was fresh, and a cat came over to us crying for some food. I gave it a few noodles and then some egg but it wasn’t interested in the egg. Then a dog was near us also looking for food. No one seems to “shoo” animals, they ignore them at most. We kind of bummed around for a while then fell asleep till about 8/8:30pm.

We debated whether or not we should get dinner or go back to sleep. In the end we ate at Hemlock. A very good restaurant, in the artsy sort of part of town. We had this appetizer that was tea leaves with things to wrap inside of them – fried coconut shavings, peanuts, lime, dried shrimp, and some other things that I can’t remember right now. I ate the Phat Cee Euw and was happy. We watched a little lizard running around on wall outside, it chased off another lizard and then returned to heating itself under the street light.

Eventually we made our way home through random night markets and what not and went to bed around 11:30pm.