To the River Khwae and back

Its funny how you try and have the little bits of familiarity that you can in place where there is a constant feeling of being lost or at the will of others. So i right this from a computer on khao san just as i have on three different occasions. Unfortunately my time in khao san is not over. i took the bus back from Kanchanaburi this afternoon and i have a 2 hour "layover" before my night bus leaves from Ko phangan. My time in Kanchanaburi was short lived but it was a cool place. I stayed at the Jolly Frog which was right on the river. there were hammocks and chairs set in a garden shaded by palm trees where you can relax, have a drink, and read a book. O for those of you who know me and my distaste for reading, you'll be pleasantly surprised that i finished reading The Beach which is a backpacker must and now i am on my second book Bangkok Boy. Reading novels that take place around here end up enlightening you to cultural things sometimes lost in translation. Such things as why they try and keep their skin white, and the importance of body language, as well as having "face" are all things i have become aware of that are different than in my own culture. As far as the River Khwae and the war museum, it was kind of a bust. The thing that stuck me the most was other places that there has been wars or people lost have been solemn places of reflection and awareness. This was not the case as people made funny faces for pictures in front of the bombs lining the bridge and loud dance music by street vendors crowding around the entrance. It was upsetting that as much as i tried i could not focus on what i had been there to experience, which was feeling what had happened. I did get to read more on what happened during the building of the "death railway" and the museum was packed with information. the downside was that there was no rhyme or reason to any of the stuff that was in the rooms and they even clustered different wars together. It was nice to get away from bangkok and see something new as well as being in a small town where i wasnt getting heckled all the time by street vendors. Also it just so happened to be the cheapest place ive been to in thailand with my own room costing 70 Baht compared to 300 baht in bangkok. Well its time to get some food in me and prepare for the long journey south.