December 7, 2006
To Kanchanaburi: Bridge over the River Kwai
Today we say goodbye to Route 4. It's a bit tricky to find the right road on our paper map to take us out of Ratchaburi, but yesterday's adventure gave us a bit of preview. We find the right road, cross Route 4 and set off on the "yellow" roads. First back almost to the bat caves then Northwest. It's a lot nicer to ride these roads, even though we do not know exactly where we are and how much further we have to go.
At one point, we even take an even smaller "white" road, jumping from one yellow to another, and get a bit lost. But riding the white road amidst fields of sugarcane is fun. Rachel even shoots a movie, not something we remember to do very often. We get to another road that heads northwest for a while, but then curves almost easterly, not the direction we want to go. Patrick asks (yes men will ask for directions) a woman at a restaurant, and she draws a little map, only to find a road sign pointing to Kanchanaburi in another direction down the road... Patrick follows his gut feeling and navigates towards the Northwest. We finally come to the River Kwai and follow it to the town. Fortunately, there is a bridge so we can cross into town.
We first ride to the famous Bridge over the River Kwai for a picture of us and the bikes. Then find the Bluestar Guesthouse and take a nice bungalow on stilts right on the river. At 650 Bath, it's a bit expensive for three nights, but we get a very nice view, upstairs seating area, hot water shower and AC, a nice place for rest days. It has been a long hot day. We reward ourselves with a bottle of cold Singha Beer and potato chips and enjoy the AC for a while.
We book a tour to Erawan Falls for tomorrow and Rachel signs up for a Thai cooking class on Saturday. We treat ourselves to a T-bone steak dinner and a real salad. The restaurant has some thumping modern noise on when we walk in, but the friendly owner changes the music to a Dire Straits DVD on our request. He even has a screen in the outdoor dining area to watch the video. Patrick exchanges emails with his sister, Linda to congratulate her on her birthday and also call his mother.
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Today's ride: 105 km (65 miles)
Total: 2,733 km (1,697 miles)
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