A few days ago we made our way by train out of Bangkok Noi station to Kanchanaburi. The train ticket was our best bargain so far, costing 25 baht or around 40p for a three hour trip. The train itself was pretty basic and the wooden seats seemed to get harder with every bump, but the journey was interesting. We passed through the North Western suburbs of Bangkok and it wasn't long before the urban sprawl gave way to jungle villages. As we neared Kanchanaburi the landscape changed from flat rice fields to limestone hills.

At Kanchanaburi we took rickshaws down to the River Kwai which runs through the town and found ourselves a floating raft bungalow for a few nights. The bungalows are built on top of a big raft which is moored to the river bank. They're very atmospheric places to stay in and can rock around quite a bit when boats go past. We had a great view across the river and one evening saw an incredible sunset behind the trees on the opposite bank.

There's plenty to do in the Kanchanaburi area and we went on a day trip in a minibus so we could fit as much as possible in. We visited the beautiful Erawan waterfalls which has seven levels and although it was a bit of a scramble to get to the top it was definitely worth it. JP went swimming in one of the turqoise plunge pools but I was put off by tons of fish who nibbled away at you in the water (not painful but a horrible feeling!).

We also visited the 'death railway' which was built by POW labour during WWII under the Japanese. The POWs built cuttings through the rock and constructed wooden bridges over gulleys to connect Thailand to Burma by rail. There was a very good museum near Hellfire Pass, one of the most notorious cuttings, which described the dreadful conditions the POWs worked under. We took a train along the railway back to Kanchanaburi, crossing the famous bridge over River Kwai. I haven't seen the film so to me the bridge just looked like any other, but given the number of tourists swarming over it with their cameras it must be a big thing.

We left Kanchanaburi yesterday and took the easy route out on an air-con tourist minibus to Ayatthaya and we plan to head up to Chiang Mai from here. We haven't done much in Ayatthaya so far. There are tons of amazing old ruined temples here as it is the ancient capital, but JP overdid it a bit last night on the local brew (Chang Beer, 6.4%) and today has been hangover day (getting up in the afternoon, trip to McDonalds etc!). No more Chang for at least a week...