We took a local bus for the journey back to Kanchanaburi, which seemed to take a lot longer than the minibus had in the opposite direction. The bus was full, and even had a chicken on board. Accomodation in Kanchanaburi was huts built on stilts in the River Kwai – though they were not really in the river as such, since the water was not flowing past the huts, and a lot of algae and lilypads covered the water’s surface for the most part. Facilities had become one step more basic, with no hot water this time, and no toilet paper either! There was a waste pipe attached to the sink though. Lorna and I got separate rooms this time.

For lunch we were able to order western food – I had a cheeseburger, and enjoyed my first meal without rice or spice since arriving in Bangkok. Thai food is great but I think I can only take it in short sessions.

First idiotic mistake (I’m sure there’ll be more) happened shortly after lunch, when I dropped the padlock for my hut. Since I was standing on my veranda at the time, it went into the water. Plop. Whoops. Steve and Sue were too busy laughing to offer much assistance, though I didn’t think much could be done – the water was covered in algae and plantlife and the bottom was sure to be muddy. We had a free afternoon though, so I went into town with Lorna, in search of a replacement.

Before doing any shopping we went to the local POW museum, which had a lot of pictures and press reports about the conditions of the Japanese camps. It was shocking – I’m surprised that anyone survived at all. Coming out of the museum we headed in the general direction of the market, as marked on our map. We got lost, but in doing so managed to pick up both a bottle of bug killer that Lorna wanted, and a new padlock for my hut. Both were obtained after I did some self-invented sign language, and in the case of the padlock, drew a picture.

Finally about 30 minutes before sunset we decided to rush to the bridge to catch a sunset photo. We underestimated the distance and got there a few minutes too late, but I got a fairly good shot anyway. We’ll try again tomorrow. Back at the guesthouse, I took a long exposure shot of our lodgings before dinner.