Narrowboatboy’s Big, Bad Blog...Narrowboat & Travel blog based on Lancaster Canal

Pisa has been a very enjoyable, compact and an easy going place but now it's time to step up into the boiling pot of culture and art they refer to as  Florence or Firenze, depending on what you fancy calling it...God knows why? The 10.32 from Pisa central pulled away on time and set off through the green Tuscan countryside on its way to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the towns main station and the starting point for the intrepid, capricious day trippers to venture forth for a dose of indiscriminate cultural snobbery. First stop, a glass of wine then we happened upon some shiny warthog in the Mercato del Porchellino. A quick rub on its hooter and years of good luck will be bestowed upon us. Fun was next had watching two fat Americans trying to park and get off a couple of segways before a glass of wine ensued at another Enoteca...Mmmm even better....Now, in the thick of it, with tremendous amounts of tourists following the flags of freedom, the culture started to unf...

The first cheer of the evening rang out from the Piazza die Cavalieri, the old political centre of medieval Pisa, as Italy went 2 nil up. A little later, as the wood fired Quattro Stagioni was being washed down with a fine vino Rosso another jubilation filled the air ... This time it signified that the mighty footballing nation of Iceland had ejected England from Europe, for the second time in only a week!  Obviously, by putting Bjork up front and having Magnus Magnussen play just behind Sigur Ros had worked a treat and had secured a great Icelandic victory. Either that or the thick wind-bag kickers had listened to BoJo last week and had misunderstood when he had asked them to leave Europe! After breakfast the following morning inside the Royal Victoria, one of Italy's oldest hotels overlooking the banks of the central River Arno it was time to explore. Pisa isn't a big town so the best way to do it was to ride around it so we badgered the bike mechanic at the bik...

A journey starts with a single step...a journey also starts due to getting a bit fed up with the inclement British weather being mostly rubbish and an underlying need to quantify 'summertime' by spending a little of your short miserable life in some quality sunshine; a concept which seems to be lacking within the constraints of the British Isles.  It's time to Brexit... ...stuff the pockets full of depreciating euros and head into the much maligned euro zone not knowing if we will ever be able to return past the UK Border-force Agency Gestapo. It's not because i've become an overnight racist, euro-sceptic xenophobic bigot having had my limited brain lobotomised by all the scaremongering political clowns' rhetoric, it's because it's about time for another adventure and this time, under EU Directive 2016/000001 we're heading for Italiano...Tuscan hospitality, full bodied vineyards and the sun scorched land of the old Roman Empire, a have...

Ok, time to wrap this blog up... We packed our trunks and said goodbye to the beach at Ban Krut by taking the  09:00  train up to Ban Pong and then the local bus on to our final destination of Kanchanaburi. The reason for heading here was twofold, one to see the bridge over the River Kwai, the war museums and the cemetery and       secondly, a highlight.....we had a hot overnight date with some big old nellies....! The aptly named 'Good Times' resort looked after us in luxury, nestled on the banks of the famous river. From here were collected and taken by minivan the 10km out to Elephants World.  Elephants World had been started by a Thai veterinarian a few years ago as a sanctuary for old nellies that had been rescued from all over Thailand. Most of them are very old and have unfortunately had really tough lives, having been used for many years logging forests, trekking or lately being used to earn money from strapping clueless fat western...

Monday morning started with work... Meeting up with the local 'Trash Heroes' who operate a weekly meet to give the beach a spring clean and keep it looking as nice as it is. The beach has been wonderful for us all week so it's a small effort, by way of thanks, to give some help to the locals and donate an hour to help a very worthy cause. A bit of temple worship was next. The Wat at Ban Krut was undergoing a bit of a makeover so we headed up the hill to Phra Mahathat Chedi Phakdi Prakat. A huge golden Buddha image in meditating pose and an impressive stupa above with panoramic views over the coastline of Bang Krut from the fishing village below all the way to Bang Saphan. Once again, a Neil Young track from the album of the same name.

Still in Ban Krut Still 32 degrees in the shade Still, the orphans are doing fine... Track by Nick Drake

One of the sounds of Thailand is 'swishing'. You hear it every day, from morning till night. On the beach, the streets, the garden, the front porch....adept at cleaning every nook and cranny they are used everywhere. Made from coconut palm fronds, everyone owns a 'swishing' brush...probably purchased from a mobile purveyor of fine swishing brushes like this guy... Thais love cooking,cooking, cooking and eating, eating, eating.... The streets are the best source of fab tasty food and its all ridiculously cheap.  Moped street stalls congregate at most places from about 6pm and cook til late. Sat down on the little plastic tables with the locals you can enjoy every taste sensation Thailand has to offer, from noodle soups, pad thai, spicy som tam papaya salads, grilled fish, squids, green curry, fried chicken with sticky rice to pork and chicken combinations with rice or noodles.  If your eating out, the best way is to have a walk round all the stall...