Our guest house for the next few days was a home stay run by an ageing Canadian hippy who had come to Thailand years ago on holiday, decided he loved it here, bought a piece of land and built a guest house. Over the years he has built on various extensions and extra buildings and developed the garden into what is now a great meeting place and a fun place to stay. We had a basic little shed on stilts with an shower and toilet which was all we needed. Luckily cleanliness and home comforts were not at the top of our wish list! We had a great four nights there, hung out each evening with a the various other guests each evening with a few beers and the delicious meal his Thai cook produced from ingredients bought fresh from the local market each day. No menu here just an assortment of fantastic Thai dishes for everyone to try.
During the days we hired two scooters and explored the area. We visited the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, the Kanchanaburi War Cemetary, and the museum which tells you all about the building of the bridge by the japanese and the terrible conditions suffered by the allied prisoners of war.
We also headed out of town one day and travelled up into the hills, paddled in the waterfalls where the water is crystal clear. We stopped at a little restaurant which had a gorgeous garden and saw monks trundling down the road.
We drove up the little alleyways in the town and found temples and markets and it was great to have our own transport and just potter about and stop when we saw something worth looking at.
Coloured chicks in the market????
After four days we decided it was time to start heading south towards the coast and the islands. We caught another mini bus, this time to the coastal town of Hua Hin, which is popular with western tourists as it is only a few hours from Bangkok. We found it sweet but a bit too touristy and westernised with very little feeling of being in Thailand but it was nice to be at the coast and to break the journey towards the islands.
The first night we had booked into a hotel on the sea front. Part of the hotel was built on stilts actually out over the sea so at night when the tide was in you could hear the water lapping under the floorboards! it was basic but fine and we ended up in a pizza restaurant for dinner! We walked along the beach for a while and on to the pier where we watched the locals fishing and also watched the ladies cleaning the basins full of squid which had been caught that evening and were destined for the local restaurants. The second night we moved to another hotel just up the road which was nicer and also had the sound of the sea below us. We found the local night market that evening and had supper at a local stall where you could pick your seafood and have it cooked for you to order. It was deliciously fresh and only cost a few pounds for a two course dinner. We wandered through the night market where there were some amazing handcrafts.
Next morning we were back on the road again! Our next destination we were very excited about - Koh Tao island by catamaran !!
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