There appears to be a truce in Bangkok. No protest news today!
We caught the big, red local bus towards Kanchanaburi. We weren't sure if the driver went so slowly because he was 'super chilled out' or the bus could not go any faster! When we arrived at our destination the driver gave us a nod. We had arrived at the hot springs the lady at the hotel had told us about. It wasn't mentioned in our guide book so as it's a weekday we expected the pools to ourselves! As we walked 200m to the pool a dog decided to follow us, rather too closely. We couldn't tell what he was trying to do. Was he trying to bite our ankles? Usually the dogs are either really sleepy and open one eye as you pass or growl and act aggressively to protect their territory! Not this one, he eventually backed off.
As we arrived at the springs, so did coach after coach of tourists. Hundreds of them. The little pools were almost full to bursting! A lovely area, next to the river totally transformed from ultimate tranquility to a monster maul! Luckily, their time there was short before their tour left and the springs returned to a shady, relaxing spot amongst the trees!
We had several dips in the very hot pool followed by wonderfully refreshing dips in the ice cold river, that flowed by. To rehydrate ourselves afterwards we shared a huge, chilled coconut full of delicious coconut milk. Walking back to the bus stop we picked up a bottle of water for the journey and guess who we met in the shop? The same dog again! It turns out he was the owner's dog, really friendly and just wanted to lick us ... a lot!
The bus 'home' drove rather faster and got us back in no time! We picked up a few goodies from the market and then ... relaxed a little bit more.
We climbed to the top of the hill to visit a temple and enjoy the views, which were spectacular. We watched the sunset and then started descending the steps steps home. At 6 o'clock another, lower temple range it's bells. It must have been a cleverly remembered sign for every stray dog in the area (literally hundreds). At the top of their voices, they all howled along with the sound of the bells! The sound was incredible...
We caught the big, red local bus towards Kanchanaburi. We weren't sure if the driver went so slowly because he was 'super chilled out' or the bus could not go any faster! When we arrived at our destination the driver gave us a nod. We had arrived at the hot springs the lady at the hotel had told us about. It wasn't mentioned in our guide book so as it's a weekday we expected the pools to ourselves! As we walked 200m to the pool a dog decided to follow us, rather too closely. We couldn't tell what he was trying to do. Was he trying to bite our ankles? Usually the dogs are either really sleepy and open one eye as you pass or growl and act aggressively to protect their territory! Not this one, he eventually backed off.
As we arrived at the springs, so did coach after coach of tourists. Hundreds of them. The little pools were almost full to bursting! A lovely area, next to the river totally transformed from ultimate tranquility to a monster maul! Luckily, their time there was short before their tour left and the springs returned to a shady, relaxing spot amongst the trees!
We had several dips in the very hot pool followed by wonderfully refreshing dips in the ice cold river, that flowed by. To rehydrate ourselves afterwards we shared a huge, chilled coconut full of delicious coconut milk. Walking back to the bus stop we picked up a bottle of water for the journey and guess who we met in the shop? The same dog again! It turns out he was the owner's dog, really friendly and just wanted to lick us ... a lot!
The bus 'home' drove rather faster and got us back in no time! We picked up a few goodies from the market and then ... relaxed a little bit more.
We climbed to the top of the hill to visit a temple and enjoy the views, which were spectacular. We watched the sunset and then started descending the steps steps home. At 6 o'clock another, lower temple range it's bells. It must have been a cleverly remembered sign for every stray dog in the area (literally hundreds). At the top of their voices, they all howled along with the sound of the bells! The sound was incredible...
