Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Amusing Raft House in Kanchanaburi

Things are moving now, though not at its full speed but it's moving seemingly well for everyone and myself so far. I'm a happier man, nothing else more important than this.

At point of writing, it should be at the near end of my exploration weeks backpacking in Taiwan, I didn't make it, this is supposed to be one of the most exciting trip that I've been looking forward to.

Well, I'm going plan for it again next year, or maybe this year around October.

World War II

World war two, or the second world war, was considered started in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland, and ended in 1945, resulting of some believed to be around 70 millions fatalities.

The war of the Axis and Allies, which later became global with the invasion of Japan into Manchuria, was ended by the defeat of Germany and Japan in 1945, was the saddest incident that had left many in disaster and unimaginable pains to many lives.

I had been reading articles and books about WWII, it's very temperamental being able to understand the past, our grand parents' history, it's part of us.

I felt the duty to understand and learn about our pasts so we could appreciate what we have today. It was because of those warriors in the past who fought the war and defended our mother land from the intruders that we now could tell ourselves this is our home.

Sugarcane Guesthouse

I moved to stay on Sugarcane Guesthouse the next day in Kanchanaburi, it's a very pleasant and enjoyable guesthouse.

The guesthouse is located at Rongheabaoy 1 road, very much at the center where the backpackers hang out, but it's less travelers in the month of May which has the most raindrops.




Sugarcane guesthouse in Kanchanaburi

I managed to squeeze a little bit out of original rate of 500 Baht due to low occupancy of visitors at this time of the year, after checking at the room condition like I always did, I decided to take on the double single bed rafting room for 400 Baht a night with fan.

You don't need an air-conditioned room as the night usually is quite chilling. And these single bed room would ranged around 200 - 350 Baht.

Single bed room and the little garden

The staircase connects to the floating houses

I settled down quickly and rested outside my room, there were chairs outside each room, then only I realized how beautiful the river view was from the rafting room, it was believable to have such a stunning sight.

The river was motionless, it was perfectly calm, I could hear the birds singing, it's only this moment my mind was completely shut down on literally everything, the trip itinerary, work, problems and people back home, never was I feeling so focused and relaxed.

The river was perfectly calm and motionless, stunning, I'd never feel so relaxed

If you were wondering, I wasn't having beer bottle in my hand, it's 8 o'clock in the morning, I'd be freak if I did that =)

I'd later come back for the Sunset in the evening after my day tour to Erawan National Park, elephant riding and bamboo rafting.

Opposite the river bank, there were houses and what seemingly more luxurious hotels surrounded by the greens.

Top view of rafting house
The room was spotless and clean, the wooden floor and wall intended to make any traveler feel closer to the nature.

Wifi was within range, and pretty fast, one of the condition I must say would determine whether I was going to take on any room.

It's rather common to have Internet connection accessible in the room or at least at the dining or resting area, which was to me a facility that a budget hotel would have conveniently provided to any travelers nowadays.

Clean & spotless bed of Sugarcane guesthouse

400 Baht twin bed rafting house with fan

The toilet wasn't spotless but was ok enough for me to take the room.

The bathroom was ok, never mind the spots

Sunset was beautiful at the river front


The restaurant served good european food, though I haven't tried other than omelet for breakfast, it was fantastic! The price was quite fare for typical backpackers,

Crispy omelet served at Sugarcane guesthouse

That night, after a satisfying spicy Tomyam soup with beef rice for dinner at The Frog restaurant (no frog was served for your information), I was invited to join for wines and beers with a group of expats' wives, it was a retreat to get away from busy life in Bangkok.

I always liked random invitation and the occasional free drinks, those mothers, they were awesome, and strictly no photo!

I was told they didn't understand why people including their kids love posting pictures on Facebook, they felt their privacy was taken away.

Indeed, Facebook exposed our privacy, and you don't know when suddenly a random unpleasant photos of yours being posted and tagged and before you know it, your mom, husband or wife, bosses and thousands would have seen it!

Next, I'd be working on my last post of Kanchanaburi before moving on to edit some amazing Ayutthaya pictures for posting.