More of Thailand

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Dec 10,11,12 Pranburi Dolphin Bay Resort

We are now on the south western side of the Gulf of Thailand at a small family resort. It was a 4 hour drive to get here, an hour of that was just getting through the city. This place isn’t as nice as Ko Chang, but it is much nicer than Bangkok. It is hot out here so we are just sitting around, enjoying the water and sunshine.

Dec. 13, 14 Kanchanaburi

Pranburi was a nice, quick little retreat from Bangkok but then it was time to get moving again. We hopped on a local bus in Pranburi - no one spoke English - and headed back to Bangkok where we made a quick change of busses. We barely had time to find a ticket booth - it’s a big terminal - and buy the tickets before we were whisked away to the next bus. This next bus was actually a mini van and what a ride that was. Darrel is still talking about it. The driver drove as fast as he could, weaving in and out of traffic and making liberal use of his brakes. All in all, it was a rather scary ride, but we did make it to Kanchanaburi in record time.

Kanchanaburi is the home of the famed Bridge Over the River Kwai. For those of you too young to remember, there is a famous 1957 movie about the POWs who built this bridge. After our hair raising trip here we were met at the bus terminal by a tuk tuk of sorts. This one was a motorbike with a sidecar with bench seats along the outer edges. We have ridden in so many different types of vehicles on this journey that nothing (other than excessive speeds) phases us anymore. Anyway, back to Kanchanaburi, our guest house was nice enough but the bathroom was rather interesting - it was an open air one with the shower being under the stars. Would have been even better if we hadn’t had to fight off mosquitoes and keep an eye open for the chameleons.
Next day we took a tour out to the local sites. We started with a quick stop at a pretty little waterfall, Saiyok Moi Waterfall, and then headed to Hell Fire Pass Memorial Museum. This museum is one of the passes that the British and Australian POWs, along with many local people, built during the building of the ’Death Railway’ in WWII. The pass which is 500 meters long, and 26 meters deep was excavated using hand drills, picks and shovels, baskets and dynamite, and was completed within twelve weeks. It also cost many lives - the whole railway cost approximately 115,000 lives. Seeing the pass and the adjoining museum was sobering indeed.
From there we headed off to the Min Dad Hot Springs, with its 37 - 55 C. waters, where we enjoyed an hour or so. Needless to say, during the construction of the railway, this was favorite spot of the Japanese.
Next was a stop at the Tham Krasae Railway Station where we walked out along the wooden viaduct that was originally built as part of the railroad. This viaduct is 10 to 15 meters high, made of wood, and had a narrow rail bed. Walking on it would never be allowed at home, but at sometime wooden boards had been placed between the rails for walking on which made the walking easier, except for the rotten ones. It really was a long ways down. Across the tracks near the one end of the viaduct is a cave that the POWs used as a hospital, or basically, a place for the workers to die. Next, we hoped on the train had a short ride along this famed railway.
From there it was back to town with a stop at the famous Bridge on the River Kwai. The first bridge, the one portrayed in the movie was a wooden bridge that was only meant to last until the steel bridge could be constructed. Both were built during the war years and both were badly damaged by the bombs. Today the steel one is the only one remaining.
All in all, today has been one huge history lesson, which we both found immensely interesting.
The next day, while waiting for our mini van ( a different one that brought us here) we wandered through the Rail History Museum. This museum had a lot of information about the building of the railway, and it also overlooks a POW cemetery. Again, interesting.
Dec. 15 Ayutthaya

This is basically a stop over before catching the train to Pichai. We came by mini bus because it meant we didn’t have to head back to Bangkok and transfer. Ayutthaya has quite the history with temples and such but as we drove in to the hotel we saw a few of them. That was enough. Early night and early rise in the morning.

Dec 16 ,17, 18 Pichai

We took the morning train here which adds to our experiences. The train was an older one…one with hard ‘soft’ seats, and all the windows wide open. A few fans helped keep the air circulating. The train was very similar to the tourist one we road in Kanchanaburi. Peddlers got on at each stop and constantly hawked their food items. Occasionally a beggar would make it on board as well. Most of the passengers where local people who used it for short jaunts between stations. We were on this train for about 7 hours but did enjoy the novelty of it. I should mention that whenever a conductor asked us where we going, he would look at us in wonder and ask why.

Murray Bromley was at the station to meet us once we arrived at Pichai. Considering we didn’t really know him, we had a good visit. Pichai is a very small farming community in the north central part of Thailand, and we got to experience the ‘real’ Thailand. Murray has build a nice home for his Thai wife, PL, and himself. They took us around and showed us the area; took us to ‘restaurants’ for dinner…places that Darrel and I would never have entered on our own as they were not much more than a table and plastic chairs under a roof. Very basic but the food was wonderful.
The second night we went to a party for a friend of PL’s who was celebrating the opening of her curtain store. This party started at 5pm and was over by 10pm. This is the norm as people need to be up early the next day to work. At least half of the couples there were foreigners with Thai wives. I was the only Western female. We had a good time partying with everyone, even though very few people spoke English, just the foreigners. One of the girls sitting near me kept reaching over to touch my arm, - using the excuse to see if I was cold. Then when I finally got up and danced - only the women where dancing - I think nearly every person on the floor reached out to touch me. Sure hope I brought them all the good luck they were looking for.
Did I mention that it rained today? And that at 17 C. this was the coldest day on record for this time of the year. Nice to know we haven ‘t lost our touch.
Then on our last day in Pichai, Murray and PL, along with a friend who knew the way, took us to Sukhohai, which is another ancient city with temple remains. Pretty, but after Angkor, that is all it was.

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Photos

Dolphin Bay Resort
Nice, quiet retreat

Bananas
Right outside our rooms window.

Hell Fire Pass
Original rail tracks.

Hell Fire Pass
Hand dug - 500metres long and 26 metres deep

Hell Fire Pass
Looking from above

Rock Bin
Hell Fire Pass - bin used to move rock from pass construction.

Viaduct along Death Railway
Kwae Noi River 55 km from Kanchanaburi.

Tham Krasae Viaduct
Yes, we walked across the whole thing.

Tham Krasae POW camp
Used as a kitchen and as a hospital.

Bridge Over the River Kwai
Built at same time as the wooden one in the movie - wooden one is no mmore.

Comments

[Ken & Sheila uehlen]

Looks like your having to much fun
Nice photos guys, have you any of Murray and his wife, ay Hi to them for us Ken & Sheila

[Debra & Doug]

Merry Christmas
Hey you two! I hope you are well! Janise your hair is so blond. Lots of sun?

[thunder]

Terry and I are on our way back to Kitimat. Our 2 weeks in Edmonton went fast, we did renos for Catherine and Brian in their new home. We are now looking for a little rest. James and Cass are doing well. Our flight from Vanc is leaving @ 1235 to Terrace. We are going to Tom and Amanda's for supper which will be very nice. All the best, Gloria Hope you both had a good Christmas, and Happy New Years.