…in England, as I am reliably informed. It hasn’t, however, in Kanchanaburi. It’s about 30 degrees and really rather humid. In fact I’m trying to decide how to cool down next. Go for a swim in the River Kwai or take my third shower of the day.

We came to Kanchanaburi with the intention of staying three days. It has now been a week and I would stay for longer if it wasn’t for all the other places I want to see in Thailand. It isn’t that there is so much to do, but rather the place is just so beautiful. Our wooden hut stands on stilts in the river. Swinging on the hammock on our terrace I can pass the whole day reading, listening to music and watching the longtail boats race past. As daylight fades we are presented with a beautiful deep red sunset over the river before we wander of the the restaurant / lounge (also suspended over the river) to meet other travellers, play pool and enjoy green curries with Chang Beer. The price of such wonderful accommodation? A little over 3 pounds per room.

River Guesthouse

We’ve not only been relaxing excessively by the river. We hired a (very) small motorbike and spent two days touring around the local area. I could defiantly get used to this motorbike lark. As I’ve been told many times before, you really feel you are in the environment when on a bike, rather than so detached from it when in a car.

We spent a day temple hopping south of the city each one bigger and more impressive than the previous. Many of these temples are built up the side of the limestone mountains and caves make up a proportion of the temple. My favorite temple was one which had stairs rising up the mountain which continued up into the mouth of a dragon. Inside the dragon stairs there was a Buddhist picture story that finished with a painting of the very temple we were in. At the top we were rewarded with stunning views of the river below and the city in the distance.

The last temple was huge, with 8 or 10 buildings built in either Thai or Chinese style. The place was so impressive, especially the huge golden Buddha (check out Espe in the photo to get an idea of scale). We also saw a very big tree.

The day after we made the 65km ride up to the Erawan Waterfalls. These comprise of seven separate falls within about one kilometer. The scenery was absolutely stunning, with the deep blue water and surrounding jungle. Swimming in the falls was the true highlight, despite the little fish nibbling at my feet.

Yesterday we went swimming in some hot springs (yet another relaxing activity). Changing from the 35 degree pool into the 40 degree one before jumping into the cold river has amazing effects on the body.

Of course while here we’ve also been to several of the war museums, taking in the atrocities commited by the Japanese on the locals and POWs during the building of the Thailand / Burma railway (see Death Valley Railway or Bridge over the River Kwai). Tough, but fascinating stuff (makes me want to pick up my history books again) but I’ll save you the details as this can be found elsewhere.

Finally, let me explain my fascination with these longtail boats. They are long thin beautifully painted wooded boats. They have fitted at the rear a car engine and gearbox, the drives via a long prop shaft the propeller. They are unsilenced so make loads of noise, but the coolest of all are those with shiny big turbo’s on display whistling their way along the river…