really nua-ing

today i got out of bed at 1pm cos i got hungry. The room on a raft didn't help with the hangover either. Sangkhlaburi is now offically out of the intinery and i wil stay here until friday morning, when i go back to bangkok.

Why? yesterday i tried to book a tour but the one I wanted was not avaliable that day so i went for another one instead. Good choice cos
1) I had not planned to see the hot springs but it turned out to be really relaxing. Nothing much to look at but I'm not complaining. Didn't bring swim stuff there but the driver lent me the shorts he was about to put on and i just went in that and my bra (thank goodness it was the one non-holey one i brought)... i have a feeling i looked a bit silly next to the ang moh women's bikinis but the locals were all much friendier to me than them. I'm sure I was the only one to smile at them for one, and i was consequently the only one they smiled at and waved to as we were leaving. Its also here that i started smiling at then talking to the rest a little. Apparently they were cool at first cos they all thought i was another guide or the guide's friend.
2) Went on the train ride over the bridge over the river kwai.
3) Hellfire pass.
4) Met lots of other people. 1 retired thai teacher, friendly to me. Offered me banana chips at the small waterfall then bought me some fried yam thing at the bridge. 1 strange, very excitable, very gay and self confessed 'eccentric' chinese guy from Shanghai. We lost him at the bridge and just went off without him. 2 belgians. The woman was friendly to me, and after that the guy too. Must eat french fries if i go to belgium. Apparently v v difficult for architects to find work there though. 2 londoners. a couple again. not very friendly, but the woman has an incredible head for numbers. Think she memorised all the numbers she saw at the museum about the building of the railway. 2 dutch and one thai. The thai is jenny, the girlfriend of one of them, from changmai. The 2 men are best friends. The driver was nice to me too. He not just lent me his shorts to swim in but also picked flowers for me to put in my hair while we were in the Hellfire Pass museum.

On the train back i talked to jen, asked her about changmai, then meet her, my guide (this little lady who looks like a 16 year old student but is actually 30 with 3 kids) and another guide ricky from the same company whose group we met halfway, for dinner and drinks after. Jen has had quite an interesting life story and it was something to hear her talk about the prostitutes around thailand, why she only goes for farang, her experience travelling for the past year, her fustration with the possessive bf... ricky also has sad story as we found out after he had a couple. Can't hold his drink. He had been abandoned by his japanese girlfriend after 3 years. anyway the guides work for 15/16 days at a time, then get a day off. Earn more then the usual shop assistant but i guess it can be tiring. You'll never guess when you watch them work though. And i was probably the only foreigner in the very nice pub. garden setting with live band. Building looks very jap modern. At the end it was only me and jen left, we went to another bar, think we were both very high, then she sent me back to my guesthouse.

More on jenny and my night out: She's been here quite a few times, and the night before she was at one of the pubs and as it was a slow night, started a conversation with a woman who she recognised as having been interviewed for some thai newspaper some time ago. Born in poor family, prostituted herself to earn money for younger siblings, met an angmoh, got set up with him as in married and had kids, then husband mysteriously disappears for ages, she again sells her body to get money for the kids, got set up with another rich angmoh with big house and all, but continues to do what she does cos she apparently enjoys it now (!). First hubby suddenly writes to her, turns out he's in jail... you know, I may have missed some stuff (like the whole point or the order of the story) out in the haze of alcohol, but i remember what struck me was the reported answer her kids had when asked how they felt about their mother's occupation. It was so.. matter of fact. Something about she did it for us, they understand that. I met the woman later, but she was busy. Lots of white men at the bar.

As we left the last bar Jen complains that 'even the ladyboy' is going to get laid, but nobody approached us. sigh. maybe it's cos we were so obviously drunk. or maybe its cos i was, as jen noted a bit pointedly at the start of the evening, dressed so 'backpacker'. or maybe it's cos she was so all over me. I guess all the kissing hugging and holding of her cig for her can be misleading, except i had to grab her phone in the middle to assure her bf that yes, she's still with me and we're safe and having safe fun...

And ricky the other guide was a bit scary. I'm so glad jen was with me. I mean, he was nice, good looking in an indian movie star kind of way, but he kept looking at me with that 'i'm interested/you're the one' look. Maybe it's just me, but hey, the rest of the girls agreed. My guide was definately trying to set the two of us up, and maybe that's why she left so fast after dinner, so I was glad jen was there to buffer, and i really appreciated her 'i'm not leaving you before he does' statement.

So that's why I am going to end up spending 3.5 days here instead of 1.5. =) Have booked another tour (public transport much cheaper but i'm feeling tired..) to erawen falls for tomorrow. And I like the view from my room and from my guesthouse' restuarant/chill area. can see the fields and mountains and the neighbour paddle to the rushes on the other side of the river to fish. They are a family of abt 5: husband, wife, kids and grandma. I can see through their rafthouse and everything in it. They sit on the edge and bathe together. This area is apparently one of the poorest parts of town since you don't need to pay rent to stay on the river (which is prob why the rooms on the raft are so cheap). It's a simple lifestyle. Not easy, but somehow idyllic, at least to a city girl like me. Though the 'disco-boats' that pass by every once in a while really spoil the mood, not to mention my sleep at night.

This place is really quiet compared to the more popular guesthouses. Only problem is its unpopular for a reason. ETs, you will freak out if you had to stay here cos the raft is overridden with lizards. as in they literally cover the walls and when you walk pass you hear a loud scurrying as they run to hide. Not in the room though. And the toilet/shower is pathetic. But i'll rather this then the nice but farang infested Jolly frog guesthouse i went to for dinner yesterday.

I have a neighbour. or rather, i had one. I saw from the guestbook when i got here that he's from new zealand. But all I saw of him the past two days were his feet sticking out of his hammock and his boots outside his door. See, when I'm up in the morning he's sleeping in his room, and when i get back in the late aft/evening/any other time of day he's in the hammock. I couldn't decide whether to approach and say hi or not. So when i woke up this morning and his hammock was not there, i was quite disappointed. Then i saw this guy in the restuarant/reception about to leave, thought, 'ooh, cute guy', looked down, and... it's the boots! now i wish i'd talked him him on the very first day. shallow, yeah, so shoot me. The present neighbours don't seem as friendly. One jap-looking middle aged man sitting at the corner table eating peanut and drinking beer who didn't respond or even smile back when i greeted him. A middle-aged couple: asian (thai? he speaks the language) man and french woman. I smile at the woman. She smiles back. =) A pair of korean boys. Somehow i don't feel any affinity for anything korean. The guestbook says there's an austrialian guy around.

Oh, and i ate chicken. satay. It was offered by jen and smelt great and I didn't want to be rude. Tasted great too.