Day 7-9 Dec 19-21

After reading through my previous post, i realise i forgot to mention something. In thailand everytime you watch a movie, there would ALWAYS be a short clip of their king and when the clip is being played, everybody will stand automatically stand up till the end of it. The few of us was kinda shocked when we suddenly saw this happened. Afterwards I clarified this with my thai friend Ahmy and he said that they do this because thais respect their king very much.

I woke up kinda late on day 7. The bed at Apple GH was terrible. Both the pillow and mattress was hard and they did not have blankets for the cold night. End up i had to use my sleeping bag far earlier than i expected. Woke up many times during the night and ended up sleeping all the way through to the afternoon.

Had some time so went to the river side to try out my funky new Gorrilapod. Pretty cool actually and it attracted quite a few onlookers.

Evening Chao Praya river

First shot! Missed!

Decided to change position!

Meeting up with Ahmy was kinda fun, we went from talking about making a business selling cotton candy on khao san road to buying a tuk tuk and drive around the world. Too bad his surfer was too quiet.

Ahmy with his bear rice
Insects, would you eat them?

Early next morning, i had to catch a 7.45am train to Kanchanaburi. Woke up at 6am(not that i had much sleep anyway) and went off. 10mins after walking off, i realise i couldn't find my Singapore Sim card! So i rushed all the way back and found it beside on my bed. Phew!
Went to take a ferry to the other side of the river and the ticket collector wasn't in sight. In the end, me and everybody Else did not have to pay for the ride :DI initially had my doubts that the ferry doesn't stop at exactly where i wanted and i was right, it skipped my stop. Without a choice, i had to take a cab to thonburi tran station.
Then another problem occurred, the cab driver does not speak english and could not understand where i wanted to go. He was kinda helpless and pulled up at the side road while i quickly grabbed my notebook and drew a picture of a train -_-" and went "choo choo!"
"Ahh ok ok!" he got it and off we went to the train station(60B $3). Drawing helps alot!

Kiss on the train
My 10B $0.40 lunch on train
And off we go!
This is a train "station" in the middle of no where.

Kanchanaburi is 4 hours train ride(100B $4.20) west of bangkok, this place is known for the Death railway which was constructed by the POW in world war 2. There are museums, cemeteries and many others about it's history that you will see here. Took a motorcycle taxi(yes you heard me right) to my GH for the night. Imagine me with my huge backpack and sitting on the back of a motorcycle zipping in the traffic, kinda cool actually.

My motorcycle driver. Thais like to wear their helmets like this, don't ask me why

The GH that i wanted to stay at was full for the single room and i did not want to pay for a double, so i had to walk to my 2nd GH, Nita guesthouse(90B $4) which i later realise was 1.5km away....
I was feeling kinda crappy and tired after walking for more than half an hour in the hot sun with my pack, on top of that i got lost on the way and had to backtrack quite a bit. Just as i was checking into the new place, i saw a Caucasian girl ordering food at the same place and she said "hi".

My room
Beside was a floating restaurant. It will drift down river while you eat

I waited awhile for my room to be ready and dumped my pack into the room and went to find food, turns out she is still there. We chatted and she said that she had just checked in awhile before i did. The whole place doesn't seem to have any other people staying except the 2 of us. Kind of surprising since i think that Nita GH isnt really such a bad place.

After discussing our plans, we decided to go explore together. We ended up renting(300B with gas $13) a motorcycle(i did not tell YOU that they never check for licence) and with my newly made friend, went riding. A little infor about her, her name is Alice and she is from France doing internship in Bangkok and on weekends, would sometime travel to other parts of thailand. Death museum, named after the countries involved.
I look weird with the helmet and gloves LOL
Alice
By the river
I have no caption for this...

Went to a few interesting Wats around the area and 1 interesting thing that i saw was that even though kanchanaburi is far away from china, there is a huge impact from the chinese community on their structures and temples. I saw HUGE chinese graves and several chinese temples along the way.

Familiar?
Dragon temple
While we were coming down, we saw this guy carry his GF all the way up the long flight of stairs. The girl better marry him
Then Alice said she wants to try riding it. First time for her, abit slow but safe nonetheless
Temples
Temples
Having fun with my gorrilapod
Huge chinese graves

Then we went to see a "floating nun" as depicted on Alice's french guidebook. Was very excited about it since i did not believe that it could really happen. After watching it, i was feeling sad and sympathetic. Watch the video to find out.





I felt that it was more like a circus act, a overly fat person kicking around in salt water. And they kept asking for donations. Don't bother going for it.

Those were near the nuns...
This is how they pump gas
Thai bells
Dinner!

After dinner, we went to see the death railway. The main character in this place. The bridge may just look like any ordinary bridge to people but if you could spend some time understanding the history of it, you would definitely look at it with a different light.

Near the death railway

The next day, Alice is returning to Bangkok. For me, i did not see the point in staying either if she left. So i decided to head to my next destination as well. In the morning, we took a train to Nam tok to see the waterfall. We avoided the more famous and beautiful Erawan waterfall cause it was overly expensive(300B $13) for foreigners and 10 times less for thais.

My first Tuk Tuk ride in thailand(taxi all the way in bangkok)
Grave of the POWs
The people had to stand aside for the train to pass!
Over the death railway
Innocence
This thai girl was very sweet, she knew all the sights along the way and alerted us just before it appeared. She even offered us some snacks
-_-"
View along the way to Nam Tok
Waterfall for children
Picnic for adults

The main area was full of kids and we decided to go to another spot further away. Perfect, less crowded!

We talked about our lives and what we want to see happened in the future. Kinda felt like we were long time friends at that moment.

We later realised that we had both planned to rent a bicycle and just cycle around kanchanaburi. But as it was the 2 of us, i opted to rent a motorcycle and it turned out to be a much better idea considering the distance between the sights. Sleeping ZzzZ

After returning back to kanchanaburi, it was time to part. We exchanged our goodbyes and with a hug, she moved onto her life in Bangkok and me to a new destination.
I guess all good things have to come to an end so that when we look back, it will always remain as a pleasant memory.

Off she went back to Bangkok
and off i went to suphanburi
My bus driver in front of his bus

I boarded my bus to suphanburi(50B $2) where i will change to another bus to Ayuthaya. As the bus rode on, the sky became darker until the road around was pitch dark except for the tail lights from the vehicles in front and the head lights from the vehicles opposite.
Then i had another problem, the last bus to my next destination had already left an hour ago... So there i was in a bus heading to a place where it is not even listed in the guidebook and i had no plans for lodgings!

Just as we are closing in to Suphanburi, my bus pulled to a stop. Alright maybe the conductor lady needs a toilet break. So off she goes to the toilet and back and said something in thai that made everyone get off the bus and wait by the roadside, me included. A passenger of the bus managed to converse to me that we had to wait for another bus but i had no idea why. Fortunately half an hour later, we are burning rubber towards suphanburi.

When we are there, the driver dropped me off by the road side and pointed to a buiding opposite. A bus station? a hotel? i went without knowing what it was.
Pigeon holes! Great! a hotel to sleep(205B $9). But when i went up to the room , it sent a chill down my spine. The place looks like those scene from ghost movies with big stained mirror facing the bed, old school bed and blanket, giant old wooden cupboard and toilet with cracked tiles and a weird smell. I felt uncomfortable there and did not even want to take any pictures in cause i accidently take something i did not want. I even did not bath and just went straight to sleep, setting my alarm clock for the first bus the next day...

Bangkok day 1-6

Finally after such a long wait (1 month to be exact), i finally left home! Met XY and gang for lunch at this Italian place in vivo that serves weird pasta and sped(HAHA!) to the airport. Met up with my family and some of my other friends. Turned out all the guys that said they would come didn't turn up, making it a all-female party. Nonetheless, i met up with my 2 other friends who are going to Bangkok with me and checked in.

My family!
My "got heart" female friends

My singapore wall paper...

turned into thailand! Cool eh?

Basically, my first few days in bangkok were spent shopping and eating. Went to famous shopping places like chatuchak market, Mah boon Kong Shopping center, a few Siam shopping center and Puan Lum Night bazaar.

Loads and loads of cheap counterfeit goods here. Any brand, any merchandise you would ever want. I didn't want to add any weight to my bag and i only bought 1 fire man t shirt(

The place where we initially wanted to stay (New Joe GH) was full. We were there at 10pm so in the end, we had to settle for another place nearby called Top Inn (600B Dbl room $24). It was an average place for its price and we couldn't stand the small and cold shower. So after 2 nights, we moved to Sawadee Banglumpoo hotel (850B Dbl Rm $36), a place with bad reviews on the net. Nonetheless, we did not find any faults with the place after 3 nights. It had good shower facilities, tv, air con, mini fridge, free breakfast and is very close to the (in)famous Khao San Rd.

Phad Tai, many stalls selling this along khao san till very late at night(20B)

Khao San Rd is knowned for its happening night life and the many backpackers lodgings around. Walking down the streets, you see many foreigners especially westerners EVERYWHERE. Mostly making a fool of themselves. From my friends who went to the pub/bar, the girls(half girls) there are very easy to hook. All you have to do is to treat them a drink and they are yours for the night. Definitely not my kind of place to stay. So after they left home this morning, i switch to another GH for the remaining days in Bangkok.

Leg and back massage, was very good and not sleazy at all.(450+50B tips $21)
Internet cafe (10B 30 mins $0.45)

One of the days, we were bored of shopping (finally). We went to watch Ong Bak 2. The cinema was cheap at 120B ($5). Ong Bak 2, fortunately they had english subtitles
Cinema
Nachos (sucky) and drink
Mah Boon Kong, a place with many singaporeans
Big extinguisher :P
Then we chanced upon this shop with chopped bodies while we were walking....
Ouch
Looks real... i did a little editing on my camera for these 3 pictures.
All these faces are actually made of bread! If you like it, you can even buy it home
Talking about bread, this is Wong's room service. Skinny chicken wings on the left. Omelet egg from Khao San Rd (20B $0.90)

So i changed from Sawadee Banglumpoo GH to Apple GH(100B dorm bed $4). It is located a short walk from the main street and into the side alley. The place is not a nice clean hotel, instead it looked like the owners converted their homes into it. So i have to share my room with 3 others tonight. Haven't met any of them yet, i hope they don't snore.

My room
My bed

I locked my bag to the bed post and went out to do some exploring. Went to the river to take their boat. Unlike in Singapore, their boat is their public transport. It is much cheaper than taxis and tuk tuks (which i have not taken any yet). A ride cost 14B and you can stop anywhere along the river. A land ride would put you back probably 10 times that price. Boat
Many tourists and locals were on board
Monks use them as transport as well

I took the boat to Tha Tien Pier where the Grand palace and Wat Pho are. Was hungry so ordered something.

Bee hoon soup with alot of ingredients, very tasty (30B $1.30)
Reclining buddha
What is that? That is Wat
"Need guide for you sir? good price, best price, first sale"
Then i took another ferry (3B $0.12) across the river to Wat Arun.
And saw an older monk teaching a younger monk
Wat Arun from far

Next, i decided to stop by Thonburi railway station to get my advanced ticket for kanchanaburi on Saturday morning. The route map shows the boat stopping there...but it didn't... It only stopped at the next one. Great, now i have to walk back. Walk past a few schools and even went the wrong direction and ended up in a hospital. Quite interesting as i have never really been to any other hospital except for those in singapore. Interesting snack kinda like the ones we have in singapore except we have it with coconut or peanut and they have it with sweet cream and an unknown thing. Cost 2 baht ($0.10) cheap cheap!

After reaching the station, they said that i can only buy the ticket on Saturday itself :( oh well, at least i know exactly the time and location of the railway station. I ended my route earlier than i expected so i decided to try to take a bus back. Note: don't do this unless you are willing to risk getting lost. In the end, a guy sitting beside me kept looking at me when i flipped through my map and he helped me with the bus. He spoke very good english and said that he just came back from a friend's wedding in Singapore. There are lots of buses with different rates in Thailand, there are no bus routes written anywhere, just the number. Worth a try or two if you have the time to wander around. Funky bus interior (8.5B $0.30)
Char Siew Wanton noodle
Bought from a road side stall

I came to bangkok last saturday and will leave for kanchanaburi this saturday. A week in bangkok really is quite enough to shop and see all the main sights. Wong calculated, including air ticket, he had spent almost $1000 in these few days. Not exactly as cheap as initially expected with the many goods and apparels here.

For me, i had spend roughly $600 plus including my spanking new glasses and prescription sunglasses which cost 6000B ($260). Exceeded my budget a little considering i did not do much shopping.