Because I hadn't had much of a chance to teach in Phonics, I still needed to finish all of my evaluations. With only 2 weeks left before practicum was over, and my need to not leave everything until the last minute, I booked my 4 evaluations to be completed from Wednesday to Friday (with two evaluations being completed on the Friday) It was exhausting and stressful to know that I was being evaluated on these lessons, but it felt so good to be able to leave for Kanchanaburi knowing that the most difficult part of my practicum was over and the majority of them went very well!
On Friday after school, there were 5 of us from our campus going to Kanchanaburi, so we piled ourselves and our luggage into a small taxi to find Victory Monument where we would take a bus (15 passenger van) to Kanchanaburi. We like to travel in style, we're classy ladies, so we fit one in the front and three sitting in the back with one laying across on top! It took nearly an hour to get to Victory Monument, and then from there it took more than 2 hours to get to our hotel in Kanch. It was a small hotel, and I panicked when I got into the room and there was a spider hopping around. I dislike all spiders, but the ones that jump scare me even more than the ones that just crawl. I was shocked when I found that our shower had a window to the garden outside of our room's window, but no shower curtain. It's all fenced in, so that the only person who could see you in the shower would be the person in the room if the room's curtains were open, but we kept them closed. The hotel was called Ploy and it wasn't terrible, but the previous weekends out had been in fabulous hotels, so this one did not have much of a chance. Internet was inaccessible in the rooms and was only available at certain times near the pool. The pool was only open until 8:30 at night and the breakfast included was just toast and jam and coffee or tea. However, it had the most amazing view of the river beside the hotel from the pool, and if you ordered the pancakes off of the menu, they order was huge and the pancakes were amazing! (and served with syrup not honey!)
We started our trip there by walking to a restaurant that we had been told was a must to go to called Jolly Frogs. It has amazing food and the pizzas were the best I've had in Thailand. They had homemade crusts, and a variety of topping choices. I had a vegetarian pizza one night and I loved the corn on my pizza! We also tried apple pie there one night and it was also amazing! Great place to eat, and there's a hotel right there as well, although I have no idea what it's like. We went to bed pretty early that night since we made arrangements to participate in a tour on Saturday that started at around 8 am.
By 8 am on Saturday, we were meeting our van to take us on the tour that we had booked. The van was right full with about 14 of us plus our tour guide and our driver. We drove out to do some bamboo rafting first. Altogether, there were 8 of us on our bamboo raft, and your feet got a little wet, and we all panicked about random bugs crawling on us and giant spiders coming up from between the bamboo that is the raft and searching for a dry space. It was peaceful and serene once the spiders were pushed off the raft by our guide and his paddle. It was a short journey, just up the river with no spectacular thrills, but just a calm way to start the day.
Our next step in our adventure was an elephant ride. I had done and enjoyed an elephant ride before, but it was part of the package so we did it once more. Along the way we saw baby elephants and bigger elephants and a lot of other tourists. This part of the trip was also fairly short and ended with me holding a python and getting elephant kisses from a baby and Julie getting a massage from the baby elephant. There was a short show at the end (where Julie got her massage) where both the older and younger elephants performed, basketball and twirling hula hoops were part of this show.
After the elephants, there was a drive to get to the waterfalls. We went to Erawan National Park to climb the falls, however I only climbed to the 3.5 tier mark and not all the way to the top of 7 tiers of waterfall. I do not fear heights, but I do fear falling from up high. The stairs were steep and wet and there were places that there wasn't much to hold onto while you climbed. I decided it wasn't worth falling to climb to the top in my shoes that were not designed to grip mud. I stayed near the bottom and put my feet in the water to be nibbled by fish just like at the fish foot spa, only at a waterfall and not a spa. The water was beautifully cool and refreshing on my feet, and when we met the van and I met up with the others in my group, I was happy to have stayed where I did as two of them had fallen on the stairs beyond where I had been.
After the falls, we went on to see Death Railway, which was built by prisoners of war during WWII to connect Thailand to Burma (Myanmar). Many of the people who worked on the bridge died constructing it. As the structure ages, wood and parts of it are replaced as the rail is still in use. We even got to take a ride on the train back to the town of Kanchanaburi and see the view from the train.
When we arrived back in Kanch, we went to see the Bridge over the River Kwai, a famous bridge that is well known from a movie. This bridge carries the Death Railway line. From there, you had a beautiful view of the River Kwai.
After our adventuresome day, we went back to Jolly Frogs for supper and then to our hotel. It was so late when we got back that we didn't even have time for the pool, and since many of us were tired, we just went to bed. A couple went out to the bar and met the two English girls we had met earlier on our tour, but I was tired and just crashed.
The next day was a lazy day and we all slept in a little before going to breakfast at the hotel and swimming in the pool. The water was so cool and comfortable and it had a beautiful view of the river from the pool. It was a lot of fun and a relaxing way to spend the day. We then went for massages and decided to try a new place for lunch before we left. We tried a place called Tai Thai which was right across the street from our hotel and nobody could complain about the food. It was great!
Just before finding where we would go for lunch, we came across a book store. I haven't had any books to read for a while because I figured I would not have time to read while I was here, but I wanted something to enjoy on the flight back to Canada, so I picked up a few books. I was also missing my Lonely Planet Discover Thailand book that I had forgotten in the airport in Bangkok on our way to Chiang Mai, and when I found a used copy for around $9 I decided to get it. So I purchased that and another about Israel (where I hope to travel to one day), a Lonely Planet French Phrasebook (because I'm determined to learn French now, too), a book about Karma in Buddhism, another about Ethics of Islam, and finally a book called the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I'm so excited about these books and I've already been reading about Karma and I'm fascinated. My purchases may seem strange, but I love learning about religions and languages, and travelling to learn more about cultures. The guidebooks give advice on where to go and in some cases what is appropriate behaviour and what is not.
Once I'd collected my books and my belongings, we got set up for a bus (15 passenger van) back to the city. The drive back was incredibly cramped. At least on the way there, there were about 4 or 5 open seats, but on the way back every seat was taken and there was no room in the back for our bags, so they sat in our laps or at our feet making it even more uncomfortable. I have to say I've never traveled so uncomfortably. And the journey was long, taking 3 hours to get from Kanchanaburi to Victory Monument in Bangkok, and then from there another taxi ride to where we stopped for supper at Nawamin City. Taxi drivers in Bangkok are not so friendly when you need a ride to different places, many of them drive past ignoring you, or they tell you that they don't know where you want to go and won't take you. I have to say, I will not miss that part of Bangkok. I don't mind taking taxis but they don't seem to like taking us and so I find them quite frustrating.
Overall, though, it was another fabulous weekend in Thailand! It's hard to believe there is only one more left before heading back to reality in Canada! I'm going to miss Thailand!
