And I'm not talking about those stupid car insurance commericals...

As I write this post, I find myself back in BKK with my tail between my legs, to a certain extent at least. Last Monday found me in Sangklaburi, a little town in Thailand's wild, wild west, only about 19 km from the fabled (or at least it sounds to me like a place that would be considered fabled) Three Pagodas Pass (Phra Jedi Saam Ong in the local parlance). However, in the 24 hours or so that I spent in Sangklaburi, which has a population of about 10,000 or so of mixed Thai, Mon, Burmese, and Karen ethnicity, rain did not cease for even one minute, at least that I was aware of. You can get a sense of the scene from the photo below. As I was fighting off a sickness (I received some anti-biotics from the first doctor whom I've ever seen that I've suspected is younger than me at the ER in Kanchanaburi), and spending a day on the Burmese border in the pouring rain didn't sound like a great way to recover. The Three Pagodas pass has been there for centuries - it will still be there when the rainy season is over.

Also, there was a bus between Kanchanaburi and Sanklaburi. This is a good thing, as learning to drive a motorbike on this steep (yet spectacular) mountainous road in the pouring rain would've almost certainly been a great way to have a massive disaster. It was a beautiful drive, by the way, and I'm looking forward to seeing it sometime when the visibility is somewhat better than it was when I was there.

In Kanchanaburi, there is a temple that has live, wild tigers living inside of it. They are all orphans whose mothers were killed by poachers. While a noble idea, I decided not to visit this temple, where one can have one's photo taken with an actual wild tiger, pet them and so on. I decided that one of two things is happening in this case. Either a.) this is a plan to have a massive disaster or b.) these tigers are being drugged. I don't want to be a part of the former, and I don't approve of the later, so I decided to stay away. Wise or otherwise, I don't know. But it could have been interesting...

In other news, I've just lost loads of respect for Willie Nelson, due to his appearance in the Jessica Simpson video which is playing as I type on MTV Thailand in the internet cafe where I am typing...

So now for the title of this posting. On my first night in Kanchanaburi, I went to bed in my guesthouse at about midnight. The bed was tremendously uncomfortable, with a very thin matress and a massive ridge in the middle of the frame. In addition, I heard a variety of noises, from boats passing by on the river to all sorts of noises from the creatures of the night in the city surrounded by jungle. At one point, I was sure that I heard some sort of creature crawling throug the wall. Hearkening back to my experience at 1029 Jennifer Street, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703, USA, I was certain that I was hearing rats running through my walls. Naturally, I could not sleep, as those creatures put me off like nothing else does. So, after a sleepless night, at about 6 am I decided to have a walk about the city. I had heard a calle of "gee-koo" once or twice during the night, but didn't really think anything of it. As I was getting ready to head out into the city, I looked up at the wall and saw the guy in the picture below. For an appreciation of how long he was, those are average-sized cinderblocks. I tried to go around the other side and snap a better picture, but he scurried down into the wall. Anyway, despite the uncomfortable matress, I slept much better the next night knowing that rats weren't in my walls, but instead a rather large gecko was eating all of the cockroaches in there.

And by the way, the early morning walk around the city was spectacular. I could not have pulled off such pics of the bridge at any other time, as it is usually crowded with tourists...

Hail progress!