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Day 14
We had a free morning, but I woke up at 08:30 anyway, because next door were building something and clearly thought they should get an early start. Lorna decided to get a Thai massage, so the guesthouse manager arranged for a masseuse to come to her hut. I went off to check my email. The morning continued uneventfully, and after lunch we piled into the truck to drive to Nakhon Pathom, where our overnight train to Trang would depart, and made a stop on the way at our guide’s local temple – a brand new one but no less spectacular for it. It didn’t have any boundary stones, which I thought was interesting – most temples I’d seen so far had boundary markers: one stone for a normal temple, and pairs for royal temples. I had found them quite useful for working out where I needed to take my shoes off.
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Day 13
I slept reasonably well despite there being essentially no difference between the mattress and the floor. We left at 08:30 for Hellfire Pass, which is a cutting through a rocky outcrop that was dug by POWs. The work continued night and day, and during the night flaming torches were used to illuminate the area, casting flickering shadows of malnourished prisoners on the grey rock. This led to the nickname ‘hellfire’. The museum on the site was excellent, with many well written and presented exhibits, a model of the railway, and a short video. It concentrated mostly on the Australian POWs, since the museum is financed by the Australian government. The pass itself is now devoid of any railway, and in fact has a big tree growing up from the floor of the cutting. Two kilometers from the hellfire pass, we reached the riverbank and launched the kayaks that we had brought with us. Initially I had a single one, until I realised that my arms obviously weren’t cut out for this sort of thing. I switched with Charlotte and got a spot in one of the doubles. The other occupant of my kayak was a guide who was really starting to get on my nerves by calling my name all the time for no apparent reason, and Lorna’s even more often.
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Day 12
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.
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Day 11
Banana pancakes arrived as promised, and everyone agreed that they were much nicer than yesterday’s offering. A pickup truck arrived to take us to the start of our jungle trek. Charlotte managed to get the passenger seat, while the rest of us travelled cargo class. The drive was refreshing, though the guide seemed more interested in showing Charlotte his photo albums than in looking at the road, steering wheel or anything else normally indespensible to the task of driving a truck.
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Day 10
Lorna’s alarm clock didn’t go off, and I didn’t have one, but we were both awake anyway so it didn’t matter. We met Sue and Steve at the lodge and were just deciding what to have when Meo arrived saying: “GOOD MORNING BREAKFAST SETS COOKING EVERYONE HAVING SAME”
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Day 9
On Charlotte’s orders, we had to be in the lobby for 6:30am. I had set a wake up call for 5:45, and it didn’t work, but I was awake anyway, having slept fitfully on an aching stomach. I was still the first to arrive in the lobby though, and started to check out for the second time, as Steve and Sue arrived. The laundry I had done yesterday had cost me 650 baht, very high considering that you can get the same amount of laundry done on Khao San Road for 100 baht or so. Came back in very nice shrink wrapped packaging though.
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Day 8
I got up early to pack. After checking out, I met Charlotte, my tour leader. She looked puzzled, and asked why I’d checked out. Obviously we were going to stay at the Viengtai another night then. As I checked in again, to the general amusement of the reception staff and confusion of the porter, another member of our tour group arrived. Lorna, who was travelling alone, worked at a hotel in Edinburgh. The final two members of the group were apparently sleeping off their jet lag after arriving only this morning. I got a different room, with quieter plumbing, but a distinct smell of cigarette smoke. I put the aircon on and went back to the lobby in time for the first full group meet at 12:30. Sue and Steve, a couple from Swindon, completed the group.
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Day 7
I woke up to find it was almost noon. Wow – slept for AGES. Then I realised that I’d sent an email to Wee telling her I’d be in the lobby at 12 if she wanted to meet. I’d never make it in time, but fortunately she phoned just as I was starting to panic and asked to meet at 2, which got me off the hook. I had a chocolate croissant for breakfast. The regular ones had run out and the breakfast buffet was long gone. In fact, they were serving lunch. Wee arrived at 2:15, and we set off for the National Museum.
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Day 6
Today I was prepared for the poor organisation skills of the tour operators. I stuck a note to my door saying “I’m in the lobby, wearing a black T-shirt and dark green trousers”. I notified reception that I was sitting in the lobby – yes in that seat over there – and if someone asks for me don’t call my room. I waited in the lobby again, and this time the tour guide arrived and told me to follow him. He led me to a bus on Khao San Road, which I boarded for the drive to Ayuthaya. As I expected, there were a number of unpublished stops along the way, but not for cash-grabbing as on my last tour.
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Day 5
I was in the lobby by five to seven for my trip, and at 7:45, remembering what happened yesterday, I asked the reception desk to phone the travel company and find out what had happened to the guide. Turned out he’s already been and gone, so obviously he hadn’t looked for me very hard. I decided to abandon governments of Thailand past and go look at the current administration while I waited for the travel agent to open. A very moody taxi driver takes me there after I insist that he switches on his meter instead of charging a flat 100 baht. Saved 40 baht in the process.