Bangkok, Kanchanburi and the Monkey attack

We left Chiang Mai successfully on the night train and arrived in Bangkok late (2.5hrs) and made our way to Jo and Lukes place in Bangkok. Upon arrival Mark left the Lonely Planet book on the roof off the taxi but didn't realise until later! We are very lucky to have a place like this to stay (thank you Jo & Luke) and straight away used the washing machine to wash all our kit - quality! That evening we ordered take away Mexican and chilled out catching up on what we'd been up to since we last saw them. Luke is away again with work so it was just Jo.
The following day we had to be up early (05:30) to catch the bus to Kanchanburi. The first stop after our two hour journey was the Allied War Cementary - a immaculate place and a very special place to visit on Rememberance Day. The next stop was the actual bridge (see the film if you don't know), however, Mark was really disappointed due to sheer number of tourists and the loud music being played. Not what we expected and wished it was a place for reflection like the cementery. We were then taken to the Death Railway and spent an hour travelling on the railway, the demands put upon the POWs and locals to build this rail in such a short period of time are hard to fathom.
After lunch we spent time at Hell Fire Pass, the longest and deepest gorge the POWs had to cut for the railway. This is what we expected the bridge site to be - tranquil, solemn and a place for reflection. We then returned back to the river and found our accommodation for the night - a small raft room floating on the river! Very basic but adequate. The showers and toilets were communal and outside. In need of a shower Rach went to investigate - there were 3 shower options; option 1 - the shower knob was broken so you couldn't turn the water on but it had a lockable door, option 2 - the door had come off the hinges so wouldn't shut and option 3 - there was no shower head, just a hose! Rach went for option 1 but had to use the toilet hose! Mark went for option 2 and propped the broken door up. He also shared his shower with a frog! Feeling a bit cleaner we went for dinner, shared with a Polish couple and two Dutch girls. Unfortunately our Dutch and Polish is non existent and although their English was pretty good conversation was hard! After dinner we walked into town for a drink before bed. We slept suprisingly well considering the heat!
Our second day involved a 2km walk along side the Erawan waterfalls, an impressive 7 tiered waterfall with areas for swimming. We walked up the 7 tiers, all very unique and took some beautiful photos along the way. Very sweaty and in need of a swim so we descended back down to tier one, got changed ready for a dip. The pools were filled with fish like in Laos but this time much bigger, some a foot or more long which put Rach off a little. In fact she didn't go in but just paddled. Mark swam around and felt the little critters nibbling on his toes, fingers and even shoulder even when swimming! Rach was taking pictures from the bank and without warning was suddenly attacked by a monkey! We were told that they could be quite aggressive and to avoid them. This one must have spotted the food we had in the bag and in trying to grab it scratched Rach on the shoulder. She flung the bag of food at it to scare it and fortunately a local man threw a stone at it sending it up a tree. Rach quickly grabbed the rest of our stuff and moved away. The scratch was only minor and didn't hurt but had certainly taken her by suprise. Mark came out of the water oblivious to the monkey attack and we moved well away from the waterfall and monkeys! We saw other people throwing food at them and encouraging them so it's no suprise they are fearless. Rach hasn't had much luck aroundwaterfalls so far, what with nearing drowning in Vietnam, getting biten by a fish in Laos and now a monkey attack in Thailand!
After lunch at the waterfalls we then headed back to Bangkok and to Jo and Lukes pad. We did some more washing and had a Thai takeaway after Jo returned from netball. Today we plan to stay local and get ready for our departure tomorrow morning to Ko Samui.
Love to everyone at home.
Mark & Rach. xxx