Escape from China post COVID: Kanchanaburi (Bridge over the River Kwai) Summer 2023

As the title says, Kanchanaburi is where the Bridge over the River Kwai is located. It's about a three hour drive from Bangkok and with information about trains being really hard to come by, we opted to just get a grab taxi to the next hotel. It worked wonderfully and the driver was lovely. 

We could find nothing online about the town as it seems everyone goes just for a day trip from Bangkok and doesn't stay. 

Dan found us a lovely hotel by the river. I somehow got a room with direct access to the pool so I was able to walk straight from my room into a small wet room and then into the pool. It was bliss. 

Our first night, we went to see what there is in the town. Very quickly we discovered, basically nothing. Its tiny. A small street of about 20 bars/restaurants and shops and that's about it. 

We had a fantastic meal in an Aussie bar and then a few beers before getting an early night. What we hadn't realized was that as soon as the sun went down, this sleep little town took on a bit of a seedy feel. Suddenly every bar was full of old western guys with young girls on their knee. It was such a shock as it was so different and family friendly in the day. 

Oh well, live and learn. This is a side to Thailand that is completely accepted and expected but always makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Especially when I see some of the age differences involved. One of the nights Dan wasn't feeling well so he and JiaXin had a night in, I went off to do some laundry and was approached by someone asking me "what do you want; men, women, boys, girls? Give me an hour and I can find it" It was quite an eye opening conversation. She then went on to offer me all sorts of drugs. All of this at about 7pm in a launderette. 

Anyway, that aside, we went down to the bridge area and went around the museums. There wasn't actually much in the way of information, it was more a collection of things from the time and that had been used by the prisoners. 

There were however some seriously sobering facts, for example, over 100,000 people including 13,000 POWs died in the construction of the railway. This is why it got the name "Death Railway." Roughly, someone died for every 5 meters of the railway that was completed. 

It's a fascinating place and many people go out of their way to make sure tourists know that the film from 1957 is nearly a complete fiction that is very loosely based on real events. 

The bridge itself is beautiful and the trains were a lot of fun (I like trains) but sadly we were not able to go on the track itself. There were very few running and we couldn't get tickets. 

Escape from China post COVID: Thailand: Summer 2023

The main goal of this part of the trip was to see Dan. It's been years and as we both live in the same part of the world it's just nuts that we haven't seen each other in so long. 

Our plan is a speedy Northern Thailand highlights tour. We met in Bangkok and with our planes both being a little delayed, landed much later than planned. 

Dan in his infinite wisdom booked a hotel in Chinatown. This cheesed me off a tad given that I have just spent three years locked inside on China but what can you do. I was in charge of the itinerary and he the hotels. In his defense, it was a beautiful hotel but so busy. Chinatown in general is a heaving place and our hotel had a snazzy jazz bar downstairs that seemed to be full all of the time. The hotel was very beautiful and 'instagram friendly' a term that I hate, but in this case it fits. Everything was covered in lanterns, there was a waterfall across one wall, a small bridge over a Koi pond to get into the hotel and everything looked to me to be an antique (or a copy of one I guess) so there were constantly people taking pictures or trying to look like they were staying there. We felt very smug every time we were waved across the bridge into the hotel itself. 

I've been to Bangkok before so I was on tour guide duty. Luckily Dan and JiaXin proved easy going and quite happy to go off on their own if needed. 

We had a lovely mean with one of JiaXin's friends in a lovely restaurant that over looked the river and the biggest temple in the city. It was really quite pretty and the food was excellent. Dan and I had spent the afternoon in the giant market and so had to get a tuktuk across town for dinner. What we hadn't realized was just how far away everything was and we ended up getting bounced about for nearly an hour. 

We spent a very short time in Bangkok, basically enough time for them to get a feel for the place and then we headed out to Kanchanaburi, which is about 3 hours drive from Bangkok and the setting of "The Bridge over the River Kwai" of which I know very little (other than the film of course). 

Escape from China, Post COVID: Ho Chi Minh Summer 2023

From Hoian I jumped a plane to Ho Chi Minh. My all time favourite city! I can't really explain my fascination with this city, most people agree it's nice but don't have the unashamed and unabashed love affair with the city. I just love it!!!!

Anyway, after 3 years, once again I was a little nervous to see what had changed and was thrilled to see almost nothing has changed at all. It is almost exactly the same. Same chaos, same people, same food, same traffic, same shopping just completely same city. I was thrilled. 

I wandered about he old opera house and post office area, which is generally considered the 'center' of the downtown tourist area. Behind the post office, I found Book street which turned out to be a  very quaint and chilled street of tiny shops and cafes. everyone was sat reading a book and enjoying the chilled atmosphere so I joined them and watched the world go by for a while. 

I spent a few glorious days wandering about all my favourite old neighborhoods and eating as much of my favourite foods as I could. 

In my final exciting news update, I found the new street food market. Last time I was here, Mam and Dad loved it and made fools of themselves dancing about while trying to eat. My first day in HCM I went to eat there are discovered that the original location had closed. Luckily the I found it on google maps in a slightly different area but not exactly far away. Now it is opposite the freedom palace. 

I did however discover that the bar street has died a death. What used to be 2 or three neighboring smaller bars or restaurants have become these larger super club type conglomerates complete with fake leather sofas, people dancing outside on tables in their underwear and lasers into the streets. It was awful and very much not what it used to be. 

It reminded me of an old school KaoSan Rd in Bangkok but before they cleaned it up. Never mind, I am a bit too old for bar streets on my own nowadays anyway. 

My next stop in this summer adventure is to meet Dan and his girlfriend in Thailand for ten days. I haven't seen him in nearly 5 years and I had never met his girlfriend. I was a little nervous but had been assured that it would all be fine. 

Escape from China, post COVID: Hoian: Summer 2023

As the title suggests, I finally made it out of China. After three years of tests, lockdowns and so many breakdowns and temper tantrums. this moment has been long awaited. Very long awaited! 

I knew I was going to have a bit of a meltdown at some point in the leaving China journey, the only questions was at what point. 

I booked a trip to Hoian Vietnam, which has long been one of my favourite places. 

Went to the airport, first time using the 'international' side of the terminal and got in line for immigration. I handed the man my passport and after a very long time of him looking at both it and I, he stamped it. I let out a little squeak of both relief and excitement and went through the gate. I know it was going to happen, I got completely overwhelmed at the huge weight lifted off me that I nearly cried in the airport. It was terrifying and so satisfying. 

So anyway, a few hours later, I land in Danang and jump in a taxi to the hotel. The same place I stayed just before getting stuck in China for extra catharsis. I know the hotel and the area so I know I love it. 

I got to my hotel and crashed for the night after a very long journey and all the emotions. 

I got up nice and early and wandered into town to see what had changed post COVID. It had been over three years after all. I found the town mostly unchanged, not unsurprisingly for an ancient town. However I did notice a bit of a change in the types of shops and restaurants. Where there used to be millions of Vietnamese restaurants of various poshness levels, many had been replaced with western or other Asian places. Makes sense, for a long time only tourists were domestic and that's what they would have wanted in the intervening years. Took me a while to figure it out though. 

Otherwise, I am very happy to report that little has changed and Hoian is still the beautiful place it has always been. I spent four days wandering about, sitting in the pool or finding small quiet little bars to just watch the world go by. Very happy, Very chilled, Very relaxed. Almost completely cured from recent events.