Road Race and Bridge on The River Kwai

Vince is back from Australia tomorrow which might explain the lack of recent pics of him. This weekend myself and 7 friends went to Kanchanaburi, home of the famous Bridge on The River Kwai, for an organized running race of 10.5 km or 21.1 km.  It is a 3-5 hour drive depending on traffic and we were lucky to have a fabulous driver for 2 days.

The race was 60 km outside of town so we were limited on places we could stay. It's always and adventure and a shot in the dark here but this is the first time we have ended up feeling like we were deep in the jungle. To top it off, we arrived when it was pouring and dampness was an understatement. Alfred Hitcock came to mind. Beautiful place really and I think people go for retreats.

 

 View from my balcony

 Rustic room.....scared the heck out a gecko who I think hadn't seen visitors for a while. I screamed and I think he did too in his own little way. 

 It's the first time I've had a padlock for the door.

The doors. Happy that Colby was next door to guard me from the creepy crawlies.

Like this crab.....

 It's like it's rejoining nature.

Hotel

  

Pre-race photo at 5:45 am. Representing UK, France, USA and Canada.

10 km finishers.

 21 km finishers. 

The whole gang together.

On the way out we stopped at the Bridge on The River Kwai. As bad as I used to be at history, I am finding this to be very interesting.

Cheesy tourist train that travels over the bridge.

View of The Floating Restaurant from the bridge-yummy lunch.

A totally random picture of scooters parked outside the 7-11 with the funny puppy. Classic.

Rainy season and klong ride

Rainy season is upon us and with it comes some crazy storms. The rain can be local but when the skies get black like this and the wind picks up it time to take cover. I made a last minute trip to the market and got luck not to get caught in it. Vince is away in Australia otherwise he could work around the rain times pre-dinner. So, it was toast and peanut butter or going to the salad lady.

Black skies pre-storm.

 Carrying groceries back on the scooter.

....and 4 chairs to a friends for girls night out.....boys are playing poker.

Who knew you could put salt in toothpaste? When I bought it, I didn't see the English side-you get used to it.

On the weekend, April and I went on yet another wild goose chase on the klong. We made it to a skytrain station called Ban Thap Chang which is not at all what we expected but still good and two stops from the airport. We have been slowly trying to find our way to a new bike 21 km bike route that around the airport. 

The skytrain is shown above April and the train is the super cheap way to travel. We often see the two extremes side by side. 

A few minutes later we came across  this place that made us feel like we were on earth after the apocalypse. There are many new developments that pop up in the middle of the regular Thai style housing which can be anything from 4 walls of plywood to beautiful houses. After slipping through the gate it got even stranger. This was a beautiful yet abandoned complex.

Entrance

The road appears to have a cement wall placed straight across it. That's the pathway we came along.

Roads were deserted

Finally some houses which were fully furnished and in great shape including beautiful furniture which we could see from the windows. Something was strange though and we quickly realized that no-one lived in them. The lawns were over grown, dogs slept on the walk ways, cow paddies were all over the place. Plus there were a few people living under one of the carports. We think they might be model houses.

Check out the soi dog.

It was right after this that the security guard saw us and asked us to leave.

Saturday or Sunday morning often seems to end at Lord of Coffee where they have great artists.

Hula hoop competition at school. These are serious hula hoops and it seems to be part of an exercise regime.

Birthday Party in Koh Samet

Ryan (in the middle) turned 30 so we had a weekend away in Koh Samet....4 hours door to door with bus and speed boat. 

 Overcast but nice place to spend a day and a half.

Beersbee? Not sure where it came from but it involves a frisbee. I am sure there are some younger readers who are more versed.

 Not he most elegant in a dress. But.....we did okay!

The frisbee and the balancing baby in the background.

We were "roughing it" in a place that was one step up from camping while the others were in  a nicer resort. I stayed here last year with friends and with was a pretty magical place in its own little cove-wanted to show it to Vince.

Our hut.

Bathroom

The shower. No hot water but has a rock wall.

Walkway to the hidden beach where we stayed.

 Looking for tea.

Last year all of the roads looked like this or worse.

Major improvements over a year. But.....more rented scooters too.

Our beach.

You can hardly tell the place exists.

We all went for a walk up and over the island which was really only 2 km. The destination was the water reservoir which we saw on a may and the beach on the other side.

 Eesh.....not what I expected.

A lookout to the other side.

The "hikers".

Made it to the opposite beach.

Old meets new.

 Just a nice flower.

Storm rolling in....

Done....