Scooting Around Kanchanaburi

I rented a scooter in Kanchanaburi, and drove in the wrong direction while looking for two temples. I ended up at a very nondescript temple that had very loud music pulsing from it. I have no idea what was going on but there was a large procession of people following a band with drums and brass instruments. I couldn't help thinking that this was the Thai version of a mariachi. Everyone stopped at the steps of the temple, and the music continued thumping for some minutes. All of the women and a few of the men were dancing just outside the temple. Suddenly a shower of little colorful paper stars came hurtling from the temple steps and each person frantically scurried around trying to catch them or pick them up from the ground. Once all the stars were collected, the music stopped, and the crowd dispersed. That was it. The entire purpose of the festivity appeared to be the collection of small paper stars.

I did find my two temples: Wat Tham Seau and Wat Tham Khao Noi. They were impressive, especially when viewed from a distance. Also the view from these temples looking out over verdant fields was memorable. I saw some interesting critters too: a large millipede with orange legs, something that looked like a spider but only had six legs (perhaps an ant?) but with a bright red body that did not resemble that of an ant, a slow moving snail, and a darting yellow lizard. There is so much wildlife here.

I crossed over a dam where some men were fishing with half a dozen rods each, and then stopped at a lone street vender who was running a little BBQ grill. I ate one of each item: chicken leg, wing, some pork. It was all very good. That was the first time that I ate outside of a restaurant. I was always afraid of the food, afraid of getting sick. Silly me.

I went to another war cemetery just outside of town, the resting place of Brits and Dutch mainly, and then to the Thai-Burma Railway Museum. The museum was very interesting, as it chronicled the building of the "Death Railway" where the Japanese worked to death something like 100,000 men (Asians, Brits, Dutch and Australians, especially).

Back in town I found dad at the same restaurant, the Jolly Frog, where we have been a few times now. A couple of the staff members here are memorable. One is a lady boy. He/she is a tall, strong, grand specimen of confusion. Another is a blond girl from England who didn't have the smarts not to run out of money and now needs to work there. Basically she's clueless and the Thai girls don't talk to her.

Kanchanaburi is an interesting place. There are quite a number of old white guys looking for young Thai girls here. Most seem to be from England too. I heard the story of one fellow who ended up spending a good sum on a girl, and when his finances ran out, and she didn't want to see him anymore, he had nothing left to do except slit his wrists. And I understand he couldn't even do that right either. What a clown.

This seems like a good place to insert a picture of a toilet: