Kanchanaburi had a little more going on than Ayutthaya it seemed. We stayed at the Jolly Frog, a super cheap and basic but very nice place nestled right on the bank of the River Kwai. For our brief stint there we did mainly WWII stuff, going to the War Museum, walking the River Kwai Bridge (and seeing what was left of the old one), checking out the WWII cemetery and going to an underground cave temple, made of 7 different cave rooms.
Kanchanaburi also provided us with one of the funniest and most memorable happenings of the trip. While doing the usual bartering over transportation prices, we encountered a haggling tactic that we had never seen before. After deciding that one driver was offering a ridiculous price, we were chased down by another guy, this one more elderly and apparently much wiser than his friend. He set his price of 200 Thai Bhat, which we thought was high. And then as we debated it, he started making expressions of pleasure and sex-like noises every few seconds to show us how nice the trip would be. "We take you to cemetery, temple, and cave... uuuuhhh, yeaaaaah... very nice. Yeaaaaah. Uuuuuuh. Mmmmmm. Uuuuuh huuuu. Oooooh yeaah."
Rachel and I were laughing hysterically. In fact, we laughed so hard we both had tears coming down our faces. We were speechless, our negotiating power taken away by laughter and the inability to speak. After we agreed, our friend pawned us off to one of his drivers who took us around to all the sights. I know this description doesn't do it justice, but it was hilarious.
Somewhere along our stay in Kanchanaburi, I noted in my notebook that I wished Ayutthaya had been more like this. This may have been right after our Thai Massage... but probably not as the small Thai lady absolutely destroyed me. At nightfall, Rachel and I both went in for another cheap massage, but this was my first Thai style massage. Pretty much the lady brought the pain, using her hands, feet, arms, legs and everything else to leave me sore for 2 days. All that was going through my head as I lay there too chicken to ask her to go softer was, will I live through this? What would Drobny do? Does she know this is killing me and get enjoyment out of it? Anyways, she did some cool stuff with her feet and bending me in all different shapes and I survived the experience a better man because of it.
After the massages, we decided to head out for some dinner. As it would turn out, there was no need to pay for dinner because all along the river, as part of the New Years Eve celebration they had free buffets at a lot of the restaurants, offering all sorts of good food to those who would open their pocket book for a few drinks. We had no qualms. Our first stop was at this bar with flashing light all over and the best buffet of the strip. We split a bucket or drink (literally a bucket you would see a kid using to build sand castles on the beach) and enjoyed dinner around some other obnoxious tourists. Our next stop was across the street, where we sat at an outside bar serving 10B drinks (32 US cents). Amongst the liquor bottles was the OBAMA Blended Spirit, so of course I had an Obama and coke. Next was the Reggae Bar, which of course doubled over as a dreadlock repair shot. They gave each guest a board game with their drinks, so we played some variation of Chinese checkers and joined in with fellow patrons who were playing everything from Scrabble to Mancala. We bounced around the strip quite a bit that night, having a low key New Years Eve and turning the page on the decade in travelers style. Again, fireworks were exploding all over the streets and next to peoples heads. No big deal. Just another night in Thailand.
Chungkai War Cemetery for the POW's who died building what became known as the Death Railway. "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" reads the cemetery entrance.
Rach walking down the tracks of the River Kwai Bridge
The River Kwai Bridge, built by POW labor during WWII. Construction of the bridge and railway cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives.
What is left of the old River Kwai Bridge
Just in case you need your dreads repaired
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