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Published: September 14th 2006
The plan today was to rent a couple of mountain bikes and go exploring around and beyond Kanchanaburi but by the time we got round to the hire place it was already midday and it looked like all the bikes were out for the day. Eyeing up the motorbikes keenly, Glynn suddenly suggested we hire one of them instead. 200 Baht later and we were off on our latest mode of transport. Given my recent bad relationship with mopeds, I was glad that we were on a bigger bike with Glynn at the helm.
With no map to guide us, we simply pointed the bike in the direction of the river, found a roadbridge across (not the famous bridge btw) and rode into the jungle. The scenery was amazing with tropical tress rustling gently in the breeze with the backdrop of some beautiful rugged karst mountains in the distance. I had to resist the urge to get Glynn to stop every few minutes for a photo!
As we travelled on, we saw a sign for a cave temple that sounded exciting, so off we went. The bike bravely chugged us up a hill where we found the Khao Poon temple just off the road. Just as we parked up, a little 2-year old boy came running over and greeted us with a beaming smile. He pointed to where we needed to go into the cave. Entry was technically free but a donation was recommended. We happily paid 100 Baht and were shown the way in by the man at the desk who turned out to be the 2-year old's dad. The little boy, he said, was going to be our guide through the caves. There he was clutching a temple leaflet and pointing at a picture of the first thing we would be seeing in the cave. It was so cute, we giggled all the way down the steps and into the first chamber.
There were 9 chambers in all, each getting steadily more impressive. The first room contained a nice reclining Buddha statue plus a selection of Buddhas for each day of the week and some for certain mornings or evenings too. In the next chamber we got the chance to see some massive stalagmite and stalactite formations which sparkled in the flourescent lights wired up around the caves. The chamber led to a smaller chamber where we saw hundreds of bats hanging from the ceiling - it was so cool.
Squeexing through a narrow passage in the rock, we arrived in the next chamber with ever-more spectacular rock formations and saw the process in action with drips of water dangling on the end of pencil-thin stalactites. There was a hole on one side of the room where we found loads more bats hanging out and much as I love the cute little furry flying things, I did let out a bit of yelp when I tried to take a photo through the hole and bats started flying at me!! Glynn found it all very amusing! The latter chambers were all just as lovely with some huge columns of crystalline formations that just took our breath away. To think we'd found all this completely by accident - especially as it's not mentioned anywhere in the Lonely Planet :-)
After the temple, the man and his kid drove with us to the big fat Buddha statue about 150 meteres further up the dirt track. from there we had the most stunning views over the river and surrounding countryside. It's truly one of the mosty beautiful views we have seen so far on our travels. From the statue, we were led down a flight of steps, through a cluster of souvenir stalls and down to the railway line. The trains apparently don't run very often, so we followed our companions onto the track and walked along the sleepers. We clamboured over a rickety wooden bridge and through a partition in the rock which we think was made by the doomed prisoners of war when they built the Death Railway back in WW2.
From the track we headed down a steep bank where we found the monkey school. It's one of those tourist attractions that you can't quite understand in this day and age - monkies with ropes around their necks that get taught to do mindless tricks like riding bikes all in the name of entertainment. Needless to say we didn't go inside but instead enjoyed the sunshine and scenery of this wonderful area.
We rode around on the motorbike a little while longer after leaving the temple but when grey skies started appearing, we thought it best to head back. The remainder of the day was a washout with really heavy rain so we were glad we got back when we did. In the evening we met up with Glynn's new German friends, Ulrika and Sascha, and proceeded to have a fun filled evening chatting and drinking some of Thailand's finest beers. I have sworn off the Chang beer now as it gets me so drunk with the worst hangovers afterwards. Instead I'm sticking to Leo beer which tastes better than the more expensive and more popular Singha and it's only 55 Baht for a big bottle here, so I was a happy girl all night
. We love Kanchanaburi!!!
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mom and dad
non-member comment
hic hic
hi kids glad to see you are having fun i bet thoes caves where eary to go threw i bet leo beer doesnt taste like baileys ? my jobs is going great nice people very freindly easy to get to as well dad still of work for about another 4 weeks look after yourselfs love you both loads mom dad and lee from buster and diezel x x x x x x x