Kanchanaburi

Now we're in Kanchanaburi, home of the famous River Kwai Bridge.  The real one here is actually not the same one used in the film, which I've never seen anyway, so it wasn't as underwhelming as the literature says it is.  Here we went on a day tour of the surrounding sights.  First we went to Erawan National Park and hiked up the seven tiers of the Erawan Falls.  Simply stunning.  We went swimming in some of the pools and there were those little fish that nibble the dead skin off of your extremities.  Doctor Fish for free!  Then we headed to Hellfire Pass where the Japanese forced allied POWs from Australia and Britain (as well as thousands of Asian laborers) to construct a railway through Thailand and up into Burma.  The terrain was impossible to travel over so they had to cut and blast through solid rock and build dozens of bridges.  The museum and audio guided tour through the "cuttings" were very well done, albeit depressing.  After completing our somber walk, we headed on to another part of the railway that traversed a cliff on one side, and the river Kwai on the other.  Then we rode the train for about 30 minutes.  It was fun to hang out the side of the train as we bustled along.  The last stop of the day was the actual bridge over the river.  It was... crowded.  Headed back to our guesthouse after a long day of walking, driving, and sightseeing.  The whole day (8-5:30) only cost about $30, which included admission fees and lunch.  Today we had a bit of a lazier day.  Went to the pool in the morning.  Then rented a motorcycle for about $6 and drove around.  Tomorrow, we head to a new town for just a day to explore some temples on bike.  Then up north to Chiang Mai. 

I've been reading the Thai phrasebook.  This language is ridiculously hard.  Any language with five tones is hard.  I definitely miss being able to communicate with locals in the native language, like in Korea.  Luckily English is widespread here.  Here are some more pictures (if they ever upload).