After what's happened the past couple of days, today we subconsciously took the approach of expecting the unexpected while at the same time not expecting a super incredible outing. We are bummed that Chiang Mai didn't work out but we're hopeful that the guidebook was right in saying that Kanchanaburi came in second in terms of beauty and activities if you couldn't make it to Chiang Mai.
We awoke with Katie and walked to the bus station as she walked to school. We were hoping to maybe see some more of the beautiful landscape of Kanchanaburi while aboard an elephant or at least a bamboo raft. We arrived around noon and tuk-tuked it to a reliable tour operator. We showed up, realized that we were hungry, asked if there were any places to eat, disappeared for a bit, and then returned to finally figure out what we wanted to accomplish that day. They did have day trips to see a national park and a waterfall, to ride an elephant, and kayak down the River Kwai. Unfortunately it was too late for that and a two hour kayak trip would be our only option. After long thought, we decided that it was a no go on the kayaks, but did they happen to know how to get to a cave temple outside of town?
Before we knew it we were seated in the side car bolted securely onto a motorcycle (which provided the most freeing visual experience on a mode of transportation thus far on our trip; by far Alicia's favorite mode of transportation). The driver was unexpectedly wonderful. He took us everywhere we wanted to go and happily waited for us and even came along at some parts to point us in the right direction. All in all we had a wonderful day trip.
We started by visiting a temple cave called Wat Tham Khao Pun; it was used during WWII to house the Japanese military. The caves also held POWs and were sometimes used as places of torture. It is also where a British tourist was killed in 1995 by a drug-addicted monk, or so our faithful guidebook tells us. All in all the cave had a lot of eerie history behind it, but was a wonderful and fun experience. It was so different from other caves that we have seen on our travels. This one was quite extensive and looked very worn and like many people had lived there at some point.
The scenery on the way to the Chung Kai Allied War Cemetery had gorgeous views of the river (sooooo much cleaner than any in India or Egypt). We didn't see too much of the cemetery, but admired the river instead.
After we swept through town to visit another temple (called Wat Tham Mangkon Thong) nestled amongst the hills. The hills here in Asia have this look that is just so distinct. We both find them (even the small ones) just so lovely and pleasing to the eye with their sharp curves and jagged edges. The temple itself wasn't all that interesting, but to get inside we had to shimmy up a rocky cave, which made it fun to get there!
After this we went back into town to see the Allied War Cemetery. The grounds were spotless, beautiful, and well kept.
Our last stop was the JEATH War Museum. It was described at heart warming in the guidebook but heart wrenching might have been a better description. Reading about the POW's stories was fascinating but at the same time really sad. We could have gone on reading all afternoon if we had the time.
After the museum, we headed back to the bus station. We asked 3 or 4 times what time the bus was and kept getting different answers. Finally, we got the same answer a couple of times in a row, and realized that we had a half hour to kill, so we wandered through the adjacent market, finding snacks for the bus (including our favorite of all time: mango sticky rice!).
By the time we got back to the bus station (with 10 minutes to spare) the bus had already gone! We asked people where it was, until finally a bicycle rickshaw driver sped us over to the bus' first stop as fast as his legs could carry us. Luckily we made it. But it was infuriating that not only did we ask for the correct information, but we asked several times and got the same answer over and over. How does this keep happening?
We settled in to our bus ride and squished ourselves into a seat on a packed bus with a boy who appeared to be sniffing glue. But once the bus cleared out a little, we were able to move seats and enjoy some scrumptious mango and sticky rice.
Back in Suphanburi, we found Katie out at dinner with Brittany, and sat down to join them. We stopped at 7-Eleven on the way home for dessert and to see the adorable puppies (like you do). Then we relaxed at home, monitoring the airport situation and watching the news.
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1 comment:
We really enjoyed all the pictures, they are all great!
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