kanchanaburi

I woke in the early hours of the morning in a budget guest house in Bangkok. The bed had looked so inviting the night before after a long day travelling from Koh Chang but looks can be very deceiving! I don't think I have ever slept on a bed that hard and every muscle ached as I lay contemplating the journey to Kanchanaburi. I eventually willed myself to get out of bed and tried to wake up my muscles with a nice COLD shower. With bags loaded on my back (this was a feat in itself) I checked out and wandered to the main road.

Usually on a main road in Thailand you have taxi's and Tuk Tuk's fighting to grab your attention. I stood waiting very patiently and soon realised I had managed to pick the one road where this was not the case. I managed to hail down a taxi with some comical hand waving only to be laughed at when I gave the destination of the South bus terminal (apparently if the destination is deemed too far or complicated to reach the driver will howl with laughter and just drive off). After this had happened with two separate taxi's I realised I needed to change my travel plans.

I waited another 20mins before grabbing the attention of a passing Tuk Tuk and asked him to take me to the nearest BKK (Bangkok overhead metro train link). Once arriving there I climbed the 3 flights of stairs and brought a ticket. When I boarded the train I didn't have the energy to take my rucksack off again so I balanced myself on the edge of the seat and tried not to give eye contact to the screaming toddler who had burst into tears when I sat opposite him. When the train reached my destination I climbed back down three flights of stairs and walked to another main road where I hailed a taxi who didn't laugh at me. Within another 10mins I was at the Southern bus station and brought my ticket to Kanchanaburi.

The bus ride was 2hrs long and I dosed on and off. The scenery was beautiful the further away from Bangkok we travelled and tree covered mountains lined up on the horizon. It was very lush and green

and the air was much less humid. We pulled into Kanchanaburi bus station and I was once more acquainted with my rucksack (the enthusiasm for 'backpacking' had already started to wain). I was assured my guest house was only round the corner and so I set off down an alley way.

Luckily it was only just around the corner and I walked through a little gate into an inviting open planned area with a large wooden seating area surrounded by hanging plants and little water features. A huge overhead fan whirled above me emitting a warm breeze. It was so hot. I was shown to my room and as I lay on the bed willing myself to cool down I looked up the temperature in Kanchanaburi. It was 40 degrees!

I didn't venture out until late afternoon when I decided to explore the town. This should have been an easy process seeing as I was staying so close to the bus station which was a central point. However, I turned right instead of left out of my guesthouse and ended up in a residential warren of alleyways. Once I managed to stumble out of this area I found myself quite some distance from the center. I am not great at navigation at the best of times and rely on visual points of reference to determine where I am. This is much harder in Thailand as most streets look the same.

I spied locals flocking down a side street and thought maybe this was the route to the centre. No it was not. It was a local market so off the beaten track that I was the only foreigner there. I wandered past a vast array of local delicacies in the form of pigs heads, odd looking chicken meat, dried fish, sheep's eyes and fried insects. I am not very good at controlling my facial expressions and often look like the champion at a national gurning competition when I see or hear something I don't like. I willed myself to keep my face still as I walked past stalls with foul smelling concoction's.

I eventually found my at back to the bus station but by this point I had been walking for two and a half hours (quite and achievement when it should only have taken me 2 mins!). The sun had set and my mouth salivated as I walked past the line of street food stalls. I grabbed some supper and returned to my guesthouse thoroughly exhausted.