Of cheaper internet rates, pigeons and River Kwai!

Finally, I am able to connect to the internet at 'only' 1 baht per minute. The last week I had been connecting to the internet using Singtel Broadband on Mobile thru AIS GSM. I shudder to think of the cost that has been incurred but if my previous trip to Fraser's Hill (about $200+ just for internet connection thru mobile internet!!) is anything to go by, it should be about a hundred bucks! But I had to wait for the mainbody to arrive before finding out that I can actually use the Thai SIM card to connect to the internet either using just my E51 or using my laptop with the E51 as a modem. I bought the Thai SIM card for 300 baht which, using the exchange rate of 22 baht for 1 SGD, cost about SGD$13.60. So I called 1175 and after waiting patiently for the Thai part of the recording to finish, I pressed '2' for English and waited to talk to the operator. She asked for my phone model number and said that I will receive an SMS with the settings. Once I received the SMS, I just saved it and that was it! The setting was all saved for me and I could surf the net from my E51.

The Guest House that I am staying in has good amenities. In fact, if I were to compare the Army Hotel I stayed last year in Hanoi, this is much better! There's even a cleaning lady who comes everyday to clean our rooms and change bedsheets just like in a hotel room! Just hang the "Please make up my bed" sign outside the door! There's a balconey outside our room that we use to hang our laundry. When we were there the first day, we saw a pair of pigeons just outside the balconey. When we woke up the next morning, we realised that there was a nest just behind the aircon (yes...there's aircon in the Guest House! A godsend in hot Kanchanaburi!) compressor below our window! With an egg!! We were even more excited when, on the second day, the female pigeon laid another egg! I was worried that the pigeons might be too frightened to come back to its nest but no, the pair (I can't really tell which is male and which is female) continued to sit on their eggs. So I am quite careful to not to make too much noise when hanging my laundry. I found out that the gestation period for pigeons is 16 to 18 days so in another 10 days time, Chewbacca (my room-mate!) and me will be surrogate 'parents'! Here's some pics of the pigeon and its eggs... Let's hope that the eggs hatch safely. Watch this space for more updates!

One of Kanchanaburi's most famous landmark is the Bridge over the river Kwai. It is found in Kanchanaburi Town or just K-Town to the people here. In fact, just behind our Guest House runs Mae Nam Kwai Noi which joins to its more famous cousin, Mae Nam Kwai Yai. 'Mae Nam' is river while 'Noi' is small and 'Yai' is big.