Kanchanaburi is really known because of the Death Railway where over 100,000 men lost their lives building a railway to Burma. The town is now a bustling tourist destination because of this- though some of the tours seem to neglect the reason for visiting.
Combining visits to several of the museums, cemetry and of course the bridges was certainly poignant.
On the lighter side of things we had our first elephant trek and 'rafting' experience. The jury is still out as to which wild animal is the more uncomfortable to ride - though I think the camel just about wins it. Shannon particularly enjoyed feeding the elephants after our trek- she must have an affinity with animals with larger than average noses.
We are supposed to be in the hot season at the moment. Returning to the hotel for a sundowner we were greated with torrential rain. Myself and a German traveller valantly tried to finish our drinks before moving on. As a tree branched crashed through the roof we finally decided to beat a hasty retreat to the only solid looking part of the building. Standing in the kitchen did not seem such a good idea having noticed the fine selection of sharp implements hanging on the wall.
Koh Pha Nagn
Our first long distance travelling by public transport- to be honest it was not bad- but I think 10 hours overnight in a train is a good start. (Shannon's edit: Travel path was 2 hours on wood seats on slow train. Tim treated me to a lovely street vendor dinner with mystery bits. Then the 10 hour upright journey to the South. They gave us fresh white blankets which helped. Let's see: Train station transfer to port 1 hr. 4 hour ferry ride. 30 min songtheaw ride to another area of island. And finally a wooden pirate boat to our secluded beach! Hurrah!).
Thai timekeeping is interesting. The 2 hour ferry actually took 4 hours in perfect conditions. Not to worry- a chance to catch up on sleep missed the previous night and to get some valuable sun bathing in. Again, too much time in the sun and I have been working on turning rouge to brown.
We are staying in The Sanctuary on the island http://www.thesanctuary-kpg.com/. Accessible by boat or a 5km jungle walk it's perfect to relax and chill out. Shannon has attended a number of yoga & meditation sessions which seem to be really good. We tried a meditation session that required dancing and shaking for 30 minutes (SP: VERY strange). I've not danced sober for almost 20 years so am sure it would have been a sight to behold. Unfortunately there are no photos! We may try another session tonight (SP: Well, Tim might as he really liked the shamanic spacey meditation teacher who walks around fanning himself with a red feminine paper fan).
The hotel also offers fasting courses up to 7 days. Due to time we are only fasting for one day. So far it's going well though I am a little apprehensive about the end of the day. (SP: The day consists of 2 psyllium husk and volcanic clay shakes, a bunch of strange herb capsules, coconut mik - that was nice, veggie broth - tonights dinner, and other odd bits. 1 day will be enough.) Colonic irrigation should be an interesting experience - DIY style.
On a separate note- we must be getting old as we opted not to go the 'half moon' party last night. If you ask me it sounds like another way to get people onto the island on a more regular basis......a cynic as well as getting old.
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