To the North!

Back in Thailand again to tackle the north. Being in Cambodia really kicked me back into travel mode, to the point that when we got to the beach resort of Sihanoukville I didn't really want to stay more than 4 days, I've had enough of beach bumming and clubbing. It's time for a change of venue. I'm looking forward to the different kind of travel Northern Thailand has to offer.



Yesterday I took a day trip to the ancient city of Ayutthaya, the old capital of the Siamese Kingdom before it was invaded and sacked by the Burmese hundreds of years ago. I caught the train in the morning, and was pleasantly surprised at how much it cost. Literally $1.33! It was cheaper to get there and back, including cab rides to and from the train station, than it would have been to take the bus one way. I rented a bicycle and cruised around the city for four hours, checking out the different ruin sites. While very cool, after seeing Ankor Wat it just didn't impress me as much, it's been outdone.

Today I was supposed to take another day trip to Kanchanaburi to see the Kwai River Bridge, which was part of the Death Railway built by slave labour for the Japanese in WWII, and the topic of the movie Bridge On the River Kwai. Supposed to is the key phrase here, thanks to a dumbass cab driver that wouldn't listen to me when I told him I needed to go to Bangkok Noi station, not the other, main train station. I missed the train. So now thanks to that dumbass and the limited time on my visa stamp, I have to skip seeing that in order to have enough time to see what I want to see in the north. Tomorrow I'm going to catch a bus to Mae Sot, a supposedly pictuesque town in the north. If only the bus timetable site was in English...