3 countries, 6 weeks, 9 lives?

3 days in Thailand feel like they have been jam packed with seeing the sights and visiting places all things Thai but life still feels like a homely bubble.

Our arrival in Bangkok began with an over-charged cabfare, not much by AUS$ standards and offset by a friendly driver.  The taxi arrangement company at the airport probably got the best out of it.  We were dropped off close to Khao San Rd and it was at least half an hour and 6 full guesthouses later that we had a bed for the night, 1 for 3 at the Swasdee guesthouse.

Bangkok is lively.  Sprawling, dirty city though.  Khao San Rd and the backpacker district gloss over the dirt and pollution with plenty of people roaming the streets which are lined with bars, cafes, bookstores, travel agencies, tattoo parlors and plenty of street vendors selling food, clothes and trinkets and heaps of other stuff.  Not far from Khao San is Rambuttri (St?), still backpacker orientated but cheaper and more relaxed.  The amount of non-Thai people that are in the area and the way they are accommodated kind of makes for a weird sense of dislocation- not quite Thai and not exactly home.

First day in Bangkok brings a visit to the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha.  After a filling 'Asian soup' from the guesthouse restuarant.  Palace and temple of the Emerald Buddha are a stark contrast to the surrounding city:  clean and sparkling and ornate.  Very large expanse of buildings.  Amazing murals and hand painted wall motifs.  Made me think about the possibility of all the other 'Sistine Chapels' in the world. 

Now we are spending our second night in Kanchanaburi.  The 2 hr bus ride northeast of the capital was a glimpse of Thai life.  Rice paddies, lotus flower harvesting, huge billboards, plenty of scooters and lots of people flew by out the window.  Staying at the Jolly Frog is comfortable and, like the rest of the town, a fair bit cheaper than Bangkok. 

Our first afternoon was a dusty ride to the Tiger Temple, to visit the tigers on the Buddhist Monks' reserve.  A volunteer/guide quickly leads each tourist around the performance canyon, with a quick pet of 2 or 3 tigers and several photos.  Amazing experience when you think about it afterwards.  Plenty of other animals there as well, water buffalo, chooks, cattle, horses, boars, deer, goats, eagles.  Beer agian... Leo is the best of the tallies, at 60B (5%!)and a good taste.

Today we rented scooters... I was on the back of Tony's out to Erawan falls, 65km/ 1 1/2 hour.  The falls have 7 tiers and it's a good 1.5km trek through the bush to get to the top... plenty of steps (never the same height), tree roots, rocks, rickety bridges all worn by the many feet... very polished in places.  The waterfalls are beautiful, no. 7 especially.  Well worth the trek.  Beautiful limestone bottom, blue water, lush green moss and ferns and palms around.  Scootering back by myself was quite scary... best way to get around though.  Quick visit to River Kwai Bridge... walk along the tracks that still carry a tourist train.

Tomorrow we are probably headed out to Hellfire Pass, on the scooters again (they are manual and still haven't managed to get the hang of stopping).  Day after is probably departure for Pai/ Chiang Mai.  North anyway.