Kanchanaburi
Well, today I spent most of the day in the area surrounding Kanchanaburi. To start off with, I had a traditional Thai breakfast of rice soup with prawns. It was quite weird to be eating rice in soup, I don't usually do that. I've had a rice porridge before, but this wasn't like that. Very satisfying none the less. We then jumped in the back of a ute for a half hour drive to Hellfire Pass. One of the things that I'm really starting to notice about Thailand is that although the people are poor, the infrastructure is good. The roads out here in the country have been really good, similar to Australian country roads.So anyway, Hellfire Pass was very moving and sombre. Reading the stories in the museum inspired in me an anger that I had never felt before towards another race. I can now understand why the ex servicemen are so strong about not allowing enemy soldiers to march in the Anzac day parade, seeing the brutality that those prisoners suffered really leaves an emotional scar that for many, is unforgivable. One thing though that you don't see in the old black and white pictures of the prisoners at work is how green and lush the jungle is. It was really quite a lovely walk down the rail bed.After Hellfire Pass we headed to the Erawan Falls, a 7 tiered waterfall about 2km long. We hiked up to the highest tier, and swam there for a while. The water was a beautiful cloudy green, caused by the calcium in the water from all the limestone in the area. I've only ever seen water that colour in still ponds that you would never swim in. Behind the 7th waterfall there was a cave, dripping with water from the roof, it was very cool inside. We sat there for a while and just relaxed. There were also a lot of fish in the water, big and small, which if you stayed still, would nibble at your toes.Overall, it's been quite an exhausting day with a lot of walking. Tonight, if the weather holds up, we're going to the Kanchanaburi night markets, and will probably find a nice bar to settle at and have a good time.Posted 18 September 2006
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Hi! My name is James Roper, and I am a software developer with a particular interest in open source
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