the REAL thailand

The adventure continues... but more along the lines that we were expecting, thank goodness! We met with our group yesterday morning around 10 am, and left for the local bus station, bound for the city of Kanchanaburi -- the first stop with our tour. The bus station was interesting... to say the least. I had my first experience with a squat toilet -- how that is considered the "norm" is beyond me! haha. But I'm getting used to them... somewhat. We took our comfortable coach bus the 2.5 hour trip out west to Kanchanaburi, and found ourselves in a smaller, more remote city... much more of what I was expecting in Thailand. Bangkok was... a bit overwhelming, to say the least. I think that once we've navigated our way through the northern regions of Thailand we will be ready to tackle the city of Bangkok.

Our guesthouse here in Kanchanaburi is run by a cute little family, and their kids are ADORABLE! Our group has decided that Thai babies are quite possibly some of the cutest. The rooms at the guesthouse are actually on a barge that floats on the River Kwai... so... they definitely have some character! Julie and I love this kind of traveling, so we are quite happy with the adventurous aspect of it all. I wish I had pictures to post, because I don't think I can adequately describe the set up of this room... but the bathroom is one room about 4x5 feet, complete with toilet, sink, AND shower. hahahaha. We have yet to test out the shower, but we will probably attempt to use it later tonight. I'm sure we'll have stories to share about that...

After settling into our rooms, we took a small speedboat down the river to a local buddhist cave temple, which was quite spectacular, actually. It is cared for by the resident monks and the small boys who are in school there, and we had a personal guide through the winding tunnels -- he was about 6 or 7. The cutest. He LOVED posing for pictures, and had the biggest smile. He felt very important, and had his whole schpeal perfected -- made sure to inform us of each new room and its name (the only words he ever spoke to us) and then alerted us of low ceilings so that we wouldn't hit our heads. SO cute. After our trek through the caverns of the temple, we made our way back out to the boat to ride back up the river to a WWII cemetery, where many English and Dutch POWs were buried after their work on the railway. This whole area is rich in WWII history -- anyone familiar with the River Kwai Bridge and its background? We've been learning a lot about it since we've been in this town. I never knew that Thailand (or Siam as it was called) was involved in WWII.

We were caught in a torrential rain storm last night, so thank goodness we came prepared with ponchos! We walked to a local restaurant for dinner (SO delicious -- I'm loving all this Thai food!!) and then played pool at a local bar. We've really enjoyed spending time with the members of our group, and are quite thankful that we all get along so well. Unfortunately, one of them was sick today (upset stomach.. ick) and so he and his girlfriend couldn't join us. And what a day to miss! We were up bright and early for our breakfast at a local vendor -- Thai style. WOW... that definitely woke me up! It was SPICY (emphasis on the spicy) chicken over rice with pork/vegetable soup... and this is their typical breakfast. Julie and I are insistent on trying everything we can while we're here, so when Chumpooh (our group leader) invited us, we couldn't turn her down. It was an experience! haha. Then I had some amazing fruit called "Jack fruit" -- tastes like a mixture of mango and melon. I'm really loving the cuisine here!

Our group headed out to Erawan National Park to hike up to see the 7-tiered waterfall with the same name. It was beautiful... we swam at one of the levels, and were greeted by small fish that, for whatever reason, thought we were tasty and therefore proceeded to nibble at our legs and feet while we were wading in the pool. It was fun... for a few minutes. haha. Then we made the trek back down to the bottom to head to the River Kwai Bridge. After snapping some photos at the bridge, we made our way back to the guesthouse to relax for a bit.. and now I'm out here at the internet cafe! We leave here tomorrow morning, on a 4-hour bus ride back east to Ayuthaya, a historic temple site, and we are both very excited to explore that!

I'll leave you here, and hopefully I can find a computer soon that will allow me to upload some photos.. I think I've taken over 200 in the first couple days that I've been here. So until next time... lah gorn (goodbye)!