RECAP Days 15-17

July 15- The longest day ever. 3:45am came really damn early. We took a bus to Kanchanaburi at 5am and arrived at 6:45am. Really didn't even remember the bus ride. We booked a tour with Apple Noi's Guesthouse and then headed to the Jolly Frog to book a room. Great place with a killer lawn, complete with hammocks and a view of the Kwai river. We had a quick breakfast and then set out on our tour. First stop was elephant riding, which was actually really miserable. Our elephant handler was the spawn of Satan and kept hitting me with the elephant prod instead of the elephant, because we didn't let him use it to guide the elephant. At one point he grabbed a goat and picked it up by the horns and dragged it to the front of the elephant so they could have a go with each other.. sick sick man. We were happy to be done with that. We went bamboo rafting afterwards and Jack and I took turns paddling the raft down the river. Lunch was at the base of Erawan National Park, the most visited one in Thailand. The waterfalls were absolutely breathtaking and we swam and slid down the falls and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Totally gorgeous and a must see on any trip to Thailand. We started to fade shortly after this and took a trip down the Death Railway to the Bridge on the River Kwai, really just running through the motions because we were ready to fall over. A short nap and then dinner was a fabulous mix of curries, spicy beef salad and spring rolls, followed by early bed. Long day...
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July 16- Woke up at 9am and headed to the bus station to take a bus to Ayuthaya, but when there weren't any direct ones we instead took a local bus to Nakom Pathom to see Phra Pathom Chedi, the tallest Buddist monument in the world. Kinda like the Yangzhong of Thailand... No English and very rural folks. We ate the most amazing pad thai of the past two weeks in a very dirty market stall next to a big rat. MMMM. It was incredible pad thai though. Lunch cost $1.50 for two dishes and two Cokes. Unreal. We got on a train to Bangkok and arrived here around 5pm. Jack, Leif and I had a wonderful dinner at a Thai/Chinese seafood place near his apartment and stuffed ourselves fully with crap, scallops, shrimp, sea bass and other yumminess. Ended the evening watching Braveheart and lounging on the couch....

July 17- Jack and I lazed around reading and eating a late breakfast before heading out to do some last minute shopping on Khao San Road. Some fisherman pants and papaya salad later we trooped home. Dinner was Indian food- That comes delivered in little baggies. I did the holding as Matteo cut off the ends of our bags and we sloshed the gooey food into coffee mugs to use as serving bowls. It's amazing how 4 20-somethings can still giggle about food looking like the poop of various animals... Or maybe it's just travelers in general that can talk with no shame about poop... or medical students... **Funny note, we did a "how long does it take from ingestion to excretion" experiment with some corn on a stick... Jack swore 2 days (says the medical books)... and yes... it took almost 2 days exactly... Regardless, the food was delicious. I took Jack to the airport at 8 and after some teary hugs we said goodbye. It was so nice to see a familiar, friendly face. We had such an amazing time and it made me really miss my friends and family.