Greetings from Kanchanaburi, home of The Bridge Over the River Kwai. I arrived yesterday via mini-bus from Bangkok and befriended the only other passenger, a really lovely Swiss girl named Franziska. We decided to share a room at the Jolly Frog Guesthouse right along the river and spent yesterday evening and all of today exploring this history-steeped town.

Quick factoid for anyone who's never read or seen "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" or is up on their WWII history, but the bridge here is a reconstruction of the original, which was bombed several times in 1945. It's a significant landmark because 16,000 POWs died during the construction of the "Death Railway to Burma," a project to create a supply route for the Japanese conquest of Burma (now Myanmar) and surrounding countries. Many died while working on the train bridge. The bridge is actually called the Death Railway Bridge, but we know it by its more famous name. There's an informative museum next to the bridge that contains some disturbing translations such as in reference to the Hiroshima bombing, "the bomb destroyed most of the city in a jiffy." Add this to the emaciated papier mache models of POWs complete with alarming anatomical details under their loinclothes and you have the makings for an utterly bizarre museum experience.

We saw the bridge at sunset yesterday followed by the best meal I've had since I arrived, red pineapple curry and a banana milkshake, at a restaurant owned by a wonderfully friendly Thai man who lived in the Bay Area for a number of years. We chatted quite a bit and he shed some light for me on Thai socio-economic classes. It's frustrating that someone with such talent is running an unsuccessful business and is struggling to get out of what he calls 'the poor class.' He says it's nearly impossible to build customer loyalty when most of your customers are backpackers in town for two days. I guess unless the locals know you or Lonely Planet gives you a stamp of approval, it's tough to compete.

Franziska and I share an interest in photography and we wanted to get some photos of the bridge with no people around, so we agreed to wake up at 5 AM to watch the sunrise over the bridge. It was worth the sleep deprivation and we had a nice moment of solitude and got some nice photos to boot. Afterwards we headed out of town on a really uncomfortable but cheap local bus to a nearby 7-tiered limestone waterfall in Erawan National Park. Some of the limestone formations made for good waterslides and I had a blast plunging into the cold blue-green pools with a group of Thais egging me on.

On the bus to the falls, Franziska and I laughed as the bus driver honked at pretty much anything that moved for the duration of the trip. I took some photos of three adorable Thai children sitting behind me and then offered them some of my banana chips. The smallest girl waied me (prayer-like gesture of thanks and greeting) and then took the entire bag. I watched with envy as she ate them and thought to myself that next time I will put them in a separate container.

Back to Bangkok yet again tomorrow and then it's off to Laos with Tyler.