'Kanch' ya just wait to read this!

Feb 5-7
Friday we stayed in and watched Inglorious Basterds (which is a great movie if you haven't seen) so that we could get up bright and early to head to Kanchanaburi. Emily, Josie and I took a bus to the province about 3 hrs East of BKK for a 2 day excursion. We got off the bus and had Sowng Lorbs (song lohbs)--basically bicycles with a rickshaw-esque carriage on the back take us the guesthouse area for 10 baht (30 cents) each. It's pretty crazy riding in a bike and buggy on the main road next to zooming cars and motorbikes! We decided to stay at River Guesthouse which literally floats on the River Kwae; to get to the Front desk and to your room you have to walk on a series of docks= so cool! We ate lunch at our place and found a Song tao to take us to the Tiger Temple. This is a 1000 acre monastery where the monks raise/breed tigers and where tourists (both Thai and Foreign) come to lay, pet and play with the big cats. It was an amazing experience to be that close to tigers, let alone get to touch them. Some of them are HUGE and they are all beautiful. It's sort of a bizarre place, but definitely worth visiting.

We headed back to town and walked around for a little bit (it's a pretty nice city with some cool memorial cemeteries and monuments) before hiring a tuk tuk that took us to Khoa Poon Cave which is a temple located in a series of 9 caves. The highlights of the excursion were our two 6-year old, non-english speaking 'guides' who basically just ninja fought and jumped around through the entire cave. The lowlight was definitely almost being mauled by a bat that emerged from some unforseen crevice right for my head--after ducking it came back at me and we decided soon after that we should probably not be down there without our rabies shots! There is something really eerie about seeing shadows flying around in the depths of a cave... After the cave, the driver took us to a brief stop at the Monkey School where I got to hold hands with Gigi, a gibbon who didn't like girls (therefore Emily and Josie just got to watch/take pictures of me)

Back at the guesthouse we sat on our porch/ in our hammocks and watched the sunset right before us over the River. It was really beautiful and peaceful. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant (run by an Italian ex-pat) that made incredible pizza before making our way to the Night Market for some shopping, bargaining and food sampling. We found some good treats including one of our favorite desserts: kernels of hot corn, butter, sugar and condensed milk! Stuffed to the brim we went back to one of the worst night sleeps we've had in Thailand...rock hard beds and a few roaches. No big deal (I only woke up once in the night to hear the roaches 'talking' to eachother aka hissing).
Thailand.

The next morning we 'got up' early (as we were already pretty much awake) and went to the bus stop. After a delicious breakfast of Thai cup-o-noodles from the 7/11 our bus headed off to Erawan National Park. It was a really scenic ride through the countryside and up the side of a mountain to the park where we began our 2200m trek. The park's main attraction is Erawan Waterfalls which is a 7-tiered waterfall nestled in the mountainous jungle of the park. Wanting to ensure we made it to all 7 tiers we turbo-trekked it to the top (over a mile in 90 degree weather and some insane amount of humidity mind you) not to be let down by what we saw. The hike consists of dirt paths, some stone stairs, climbing over rocks/fallen logs and breathtaking scenery. The entire climb you are walking beside the epitome of crystal blue streams flowing into fish-filled pools flush against a backdrop of forest green. Sinking into the pool at tier 7 you snap back to reality as the chilly mountain water hits your chest and the little suction of tiny fish tickle your feet: a really odd and slightly uncomfortable sensation.

We spent the next couple hours making our descent down the trail stopping for photo-ops along the way. At tier 5 Emily and I joined some locals for a slide down the face of one of the rocks into the water below while onlookers cheered and laughed. After said excursion we hopped on a bus back to Kanch (as we've thoughtfully dubbed it) and hopped on another bus back to BKK. Man, looking back, we did a lot in 2 days!