Oh My God, Oh My Buddha!

Wow, I really feel like I've been traveling for ages already! I'm only on what - Day 6? - but I've done a lot in the past few days...

I spent one day having a leisurely breakfast followed by an amazing reflexology foot massage with a lovely Thai lady named Khay. I must have arrived at the "Spa" at a quiet time, because usually there would be several people in the room. Fortunately, I had the place to myself which allowed for some great conversation with Khay (though hindered significantly through the language barrier). She asked me about Canada and various social customs there, mostly about marriage and family and relationships... she wondered "Why you have no boyfriend when you beautiful girl?" Very adorable lady and the perfect way to spend a morning. When other customers arrived at the spa, the room filled up and the Thai ladies began to gossip. One of them exclaimed "Oh My God, Oh My Buddha!" in a high-pitched voice, about something her customer said to her about sex & marriage, and the entire room full of customers and Thai women burst out in laughter. Only in Thailand. Later that day I met up with the Doyle clan for a tour of the canals through Bangkok. They had chartered a long-tail boat that took us through the narrow "Khlong" and to a "floating market" that lacked the whole floating aspect. I guess we arrived after all the boats had packed up shop for the day? The tour was great though, and I got some really nice photos with the late-afternoon-sun lighting. From there, all 5 of us - Doyle, his parents, Skye, and myself - crammed into the back of a Tuk-tuk to the Suan Lam Night Bazaar again for dinner. The Tuk-tuk driver got a real kick out of all of us crammed into his little rickshaw. We parted ways from there after an evening of great conversation and a bit of haggling over silk scarves and salt & pepper shakers at the market.

My last day in Bangkok was spent looking for a way out. The noise, the pushy vendors, the chaos and the massive number of tourists was quickly becoming too much, so I arranged my visa to Vietnam, booked a plane ticket to Hanoi, and wandered around the neighborhood trying to decide what to do with the 2 days I needed to kill while waiting for my Visa to go through. While wandering the streets of the Khao San area (and periodically stopping in at the internet cafe to check out new ideas), I visited a local temple, discovered a Muay Thai boxing training arena down a back alley and met some people for dinner that night. After running into Cash - from San Francisco - over and over that day, I joined him and his friends for dinner, tea and a late-night photo shoot. From there I was tempted to hang out and do a photo competition with my new-found friends, but decided that I really did need to get away from Bangkok before I lost all love for Thailand.

So yesterday, I hopped on a 3rd class train to Kanchanaburi. After a few stops down the line, the train was packed with school children, headed to the same town for a dose of History, I presume. Four children crammed into the seats beside and across from me and giggled incessantly at me, the weird white lady. This time, though I'm a "Farang" instead of "Mzungu." The little boy next to me kept snuggling up against my arm then laughing bashfully as he showed off to his friends. The shy girls across the way tried out their English by saying 'hello' and asking my name, then giggled away as well. The trip took longer than expected, which was fine because the scenery was great, and I arrived in Kanchanburi in time for lunch at this great little guesthouse right on the river. The bungalows were up on stilts right over the river and I discovered a great wooden swing on the end of the pier that was perfect for reading my book. I went for a long walk that day to the Railway Museum to learn more about the Thai-Burmese Railway line that the Japanese built in WW2 using hundreds of thousands of Prisoners of War and Asian slaves, practically. Over 100,000 British, American, Australian, Malay, Thai, Canadian and Indian men were killed due to the brutal conditions they were forced to work under during the construction of the Railway line. With a bit of context under my belt, I made my way over to the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai to see what all the stories in the museum were really about. The bridge itself wasn't particularly spectacular, but interesting given the history behind it. I enjoyed a nice long walk back to the Guesthouse, about 2km away, and enjoyed a Singha beer while watching the sunset and reading White Tiger (By Aravind Adiga) by the river. At dinner, Andrea - from Italy - joined me, as he is also traveling solo in Thailand and was up for a bit of dinnertime conversation. We chatted for a bit afterwards and traded some valuable travel tips about the various countries he has traveled to with his work in Tourism at big All-inclusive-type hotels around the world.

I woke up early this morning, had a coffee and set out in a small inflatable river kayak on the Mae Nam Kwhae. There were organized kayaking tours available all over the place but the friendly staff at the bungalows let me borrow theirs for about $3 and so I went on my own (Way better!). I saw a few really colorful birds, some kind of big lizard-like reptile, pink lotus flowers everywhere and was greeted by friendly locals along the shore. Mostly, I just enjoyed the quiet, the scenery and the chance to be on the water again. The best word to describe the experience would simply be "Lovely." The Thai lady at the reception desk was shocked when I carried the kayak up on my own from the dock and back to its resting place on shore. I ran into Andrea again when I went for a walk in town and he drove me up to this "Monkey School" he had discovered earlier that morning. I got to play with a White-footed Gibbon and had Andrea take a few photos for me which was kind of fun, but I had a hard time seeing the Gibbons tied up to their jungle-gym play area. They did seem healthy, well-fed and happy, though still a sad sight. After a scenic drive on the back of a "Motorbike" (scooter, really) through rice-fields, fruit plantations and idyllic mountains, we went back to the guesthouse for some lunch before I caught a bus back to Bangkok. My love for Thailand has successfully been restored.

And here I am now, exhausted yet refreshed, but SO excited to fly to Hanoi tomorrow morning. I'll hopefully meet up with the Doyles again before all of them return to Canada. From there, I'll carry on through Sapa, Halong bay and then South, towards the Mekong River Delta. Photos to come soon, once I find a computer that will accept my portable hard drive!