Introduction:
Kanchanburi is 130 kms west of Bangkok and is along the banks of River Kwai.
The weather is just about cooler than Bangkok .
How to get there:
Most convenient to take the bus from Thonburi (Southern Bus Station)
Bangkok. Buses leave every 20 minutes from 5 am to about 11 am. Costs you less than 100 Rupees for a Aircon bus.
Alternatively, you can catch a train from Thonburi (Bangkok noi station)
Accommodation:
Plenty of places to stay in every price range. You could even do a “not so fancy floatel” for 300 Rupees a night! Nothing great but clean and decent to crash. You could also go for a nice evening boat ride from your floatel. Most of these floatel owners have their own little boats. There are quite luxurious floatels and resorts too. A good resource for checking the rates and booking is www.asiahotels.com
Day 1:
Kanchanaburi is a 2 hour drive from Bangkok. We left Bangkok at 06 AM and reached Kanchanaburi at about 10 thanks to the numerous stops and delays. Normally it doesn’t take this long.
We checked into sugarcane guesthouse - mentioned in Lonely Planet Thailand and got ourselves a room right on the water.
After a good sumptuous lunch, we went boating on River Kwai to witness the sunset. Must say was quite an experience. The bridge looked quite stunning with the sun setting in the background.
The water isn’t that clean but then after living in Bangkok for 2 years, have rather gotten used to dirty canals .
After the short trip, we went to see the Jeath Museum, which is in quite a dilaptated stage. It has an interesting history. Wouldn’t call it well kept but those who are interested in history could go there for a peek. It shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes to go around. This museum is an open air. The structure itself is a reconstruction of a typical prisoner of war hut and was set up during the late 1970's, mainly to collect various items connected with the construction of the Death Railway by the prisoners of War (PoW's) during the Second World War, 1942-1943. It looks like an extended bamboo hut with the collections of knives, photographs, drawings of the POW’s
JEATH stands for the six countries that were involved during the railway construction on river kwai which are; J-Japanese, E-England, A-America, A-Austria, T-Thailand and H-Holland.
Next Day:
After breakfast, we went to the memorial of the POW’s who died when the 'death railway' was being built. When the Japanese invaded Thailand in WW2, they needed to get supplies from the gulf of Thailand and deliver them in to Burma. Hence a railway line. The Japanese used prisoners of war (POW) to build it and over 100,000 of them died over a period of time building it. It was bombed so many times, that the Japanese took to putting POWs in the bridge hoping that it would stop the allies from bombing it. Despite all the efforts, it was eventually bombed.
Then it was time for an elephant ride! Wouldn’t recommend that much. It seemed like we were right behind someone s backyard. But what was exciting was when the elephant got into the water .Some action!
After the elephant ride we were taken to the famous River Kwai, where we boarded a bamboo raft for a short trip upstream. That was quite exciting. Also, those more adventurous can go for river rafting on River kwai.
Now the real fun !
Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yanasampanno or simply the Tiger Temple), in Saiyok District of Kanchanaburi Province is a must go .Here you can pat tigers. Yes you heard it right! and play with monkeys at an animal rehabilitation centre run by a group of Buddhist monks. Everyday at 3:30PM, the Monks of Wat Pa Luang Ta Ma Ha Bua bring out the tigers from their cages and let them walk around in the animal sanctuary. There is a 400 Rupees donation to get into this place. There are also other animals freely walking around, horses, cows, peacocks, and goats. You cant pat the tiger for too long but its still the excitement of being next to the wild cat that made the whole experience a memorable one.
Next Morning before setting off to Bangkok we went to the famous Erawan Waterfalls
The most famous must-see of the National Park is its waterfalls. The Erawan waterfall is 1,500 m in length and has 7 tiers. On level 7, at the top of the waterfall, the water overflow takes on the shape of an elephant head, which is why it is called the Erawan Waterfall (The Erawan elephant is a 3-headed elephant from Hindu Mythology). We only made it to level 5, because of the steep climb and the heat, but even then it's still worth the visit.
All in all a great Experience !
