Kanchanburi, Here I Come

Located west of Bangkok, the Kanchanaburi province butts up against Myanmar. The city of Kanchanburi is famous for its bridge across the river Kwai. This bridge was built during World War II by slaves of the Japanese. It is called the Death Railway. Kanchanaburi has about 200,000 people in residence, and is a top tourist destination. I decided to stop here to go to elephants world, a non profit organization dedicated to helping old elephants that have spend their life in the world of entertainment and manual labor. Basically, this is a retirement home for elephants.

Who would have known that a big bustling city was just
outside this little park

I left Bangkok around 4:00 yesterday, after much hassle. The previous night I went online to see what bus station I should leave from. I found this website, recommend by lots of other tourists, that was supposed to show and let me purchase a ticket to Kanchanaburi. I saw that there were some that left at 12:00, so I decided I would leave my hostel to make the 12:00 departure time and purchase the ticket when I got to the station. The next morning came around, and I went online to double check, and to my surprise there was no vans left until 4:00, with only one seat open. I hastily bought the ticket, and then waited in my hostel for the next 4 hours. I saw no point in wandering around Bangkok with my big backpack for my bus to leave. At 2:00 I finally got bored enough to leave my hostel and travel to the bus station. There was this huge park separating me from the bus station and the sky train, so I decided to wander through the park, letting google maps guide me. 

There are streets that run through to park for bicycles

Soon I got to the side of the park closest to the bus station, but no way to get there. The park was enclosed by fences to stop food cart sellers and homeless people from setting up inside the parks. I was able to ask a police officer how to get out to the bus station. He pointed me in the right direction. After getting out of the park, I saw that there was a freeway I then had to cross in order to get to the bus station. Luckily it was elevated, and I only had to cross the off raps, But there was no pedestrian cross walk. I quickly ran across the off rams, climbed a bunch of stairs to a sky bridge for pedestrians, then climbed down the other side, arriving in front of the bus station around 3:00. I walked into the station, a wide open lot filled with vans and big buses. I knew I was going to take a smaller van. Some people saw me and were yelling, asking where I was going. After saying Kanchanburi they all talked among them selves, before shouting and pointing me in the direction of a bus. I trusted them, and walked over to where they had some seating for buses. I waited about 15 minutes, and slowly talked my self into thinking there was a miscommunication. I started to walk up to where the ticket office was to try and find some one to explain that I had already bought my ticket and to ask where the van was. A security guard just waved me away saying that I need to go back outside and wait and the bus would come. So back outside I went, and wandered around. Some drivers saw I was lost and came over to ask me were I was going. They pointed me to a different spot, but I didn't know where they were pointing me, so I asked them to walk me there. When I got to the other van area where they pointed me to, another diver told me to go back to where the buses were. I knew he was wrong, so I tried to explain to him that I was going on a van instead. He in pointed me to another different area of the station. I was so lost and confused, and by this time it was 3:45 and I was also getting a little anxious. I started walking, with no destination in mind. I got to another section of vans when yet another Thai asked me where I was going. After stating my destination for what seemed like the millionth time, he pointed me to another person and said "fallow". I quickly hurried after the man and he took me to another van. To my relief no one else argued that this van was not the one to Kanchanaburi. A woman who spoke good english explained to me that this was the right one, and that it cost 120 baht. At this point I was too tired to say that I had already bought my ticket. I forked up the money and hoped on the van which then left 10 minuets later. I now know to not trust what the online world says when it comes to taking vans to places in Thailand.

The view of the bus station from the van. 

Tesco Lotus is like the Fred Meyer of Thailand. 

It was about a 2 and a half hour trip from Bangkok, and once I got to my hotel around 6:30, I found that I was low on cash. I had just enough to rent my room, but not enough to also get a taxi to a 7/11. I was tired anyways, so I went straight to bed. Tomorrow I will go to Elephants World. I hope it is exciting as I think it will be. Before being picked up by a van, I will go to 7/11 for the atm and try to find some bananas to give to the elephants.

My room is right on the corner closest to the camera.

VN Guesthouse in Kanchanburi, my hostel

Wishing for the best on your adventures,
Cienna