Heather's Thairy

Heather's journey to Bangkok, Thailand: a year of adventure!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Kan We Do It? (part 1)

...yes we can! We went to Kanchanaburi this past weekend, along with several other staff members and special guests. It was action-packed; we tried to get as much in as possible.
We stayed at Ploy Guesthouse, which is quite nice (I think). Beautiful landscaping and friendly staff, plus free breakfast. I'll stay there again next time I go to Kanchanaburi.
The first night we got in around 8:00 and had a late dinner at Apple's. My parents were pretty impressed with the food there and we ended up eating all our meals out at Apple's. They both tried various Thai dishes and weren't disappointed by any of them.
The next morning it was a bright and early start, having booked a tour that was supposed to pick us up at 8. Unfortunately, they forgot to get us, so at 9 a songthaew came and got us and caught us up with the rest of the group. I wasn't too pleased about the whole thing, but Mom and Dad really enjoyed the songthaew so it was actually sort of a good thing in the end.
The tour started at Erawan Waterfalls, a 7-tiered falls about an hour from the town. It is a long and somewhat difficult hike to get to the top- we stopped at the fifth tier, having hiked for over an hour through sometimes treacherous terrain.
It was beautiful...








Mom and Dad were really determined on the hike and made it past some difficult obstacles...


There are a lot of fish in the water; some are really large and apparently they all bite. Not hard, I'm told, but I didn't test this theory. Lots of people swim in the pools at the bottoms of the falls, and it's supposed to be really nice and refreshing but I don't really care to get munched on by fish.


There were some trees after the fourth tier with cloth wrapped around, something I have seen before...but this was different. Beside the trees were fancy dresses hanging on headless mannequins. It was a little creepy and no one knew what the symbolic meaning of the dresses was.





The second stop on the tour was at a cave alongside the Death Railway. The cave itself was dull and unexciting, but there was a nice view from the railway. We spent far too much time there; almost an hour.







After riding the train for a while, we drove into town and had a meager 20 minute stop at the Bridge on the River Kwai. I was disappointed that we had such a short time at the bridge, it being the main attraction of Kanchanaburi and all. Our tour guide was a bit pushy and rushed us along at the end; the tour was supposed to last until 6 but we were back at Ploy by 5:40. Oh well; the falls were spectacular and we were tired anyway.





Another dinner at Apple's and an early night to rest up for the next day of adventure...to be shared in the next episode of "Kan We Do It?"!!!

Until next time,
Heather

1 Comments:

  • At 1:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Heather and Ford clan!
    Glad to see you made it ok and are enjoying it fully! Beautiful scenery. Maybe the dresses were the remainders of a fashion shoot for some magazine. Love your top Brenda!
    Love, Auntie Bonnie

     

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