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Published: February 9th 2011
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Our hostel in Kanchanaburi 1
Little bungalows in the River Kwai. Our trip back to Bangkok last Tuesday was surprisingly unspectacular. The only thing that had apparently gone wrong was the booking of our bus. We had asked one of the employees of our hostel to book the bus for us two days in advance, and he did it, but he warned us and said that two days in advance might be too far in advance and that something might go wrong. And something went wrong: The bus company had overbooked the bus, so apparently someone else had our seats. Therefore, the bus company put us onto a minibus, together with some other people (tourists and locals). The minibus went around town to pick up all the passengers, which took about 1.5 hours. But finally, after driving around Sihanoukville for 1.5 hours, we headed off towards the border. It is only about 200 km from Sihanoukville, but the journey takes more than four hours because you can't really drive fast on the roads in Cambodia.
There was a little break at a restaurant in Koh Kong not far from the border, where we also joined the passengers from the bus we would originally have been on. From there, we were taken
to the border. Some locals took our luggage across the border, so it was an easy walk for us. We were quite suspicious that there would be more scams, like when we crossed the border from Thailand to Cambodia. But everyone was extremely friendly, they let us pass quickly, and within not even half an hour, we were back to Thailand and could not believe it had been that easy.
Another minibus took us back to Bangkok, which is about 300 km from the border. We arrived at our hostel around 8 p.m., after a twelve hour trip. Twelve hours for about 500 km...
The next morning, we caught a bus to Kanchanaburi, about 120 km west of Bangkok. During World War II, the Japanese built a railroad from Bangkok, Thailand, to Rangoon, Burma, in order to transport supplies to Burma. They needed these supplies for their troops there. Japan's goal then was to control Southeast Asia, and they had already conquered quite a few of the former colonies of Western countries there. The railway runs 415 km through difficult terrain. The workers who built the railway were prisoners of war from Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, and the
Bridge over the River Kwai
... with the train crossing it. USA, and natives from Southeast Asian countries who were forced to work there. More than 10,000 people died during the process of building the railway, being treated in an extremely cruel way by the Japanese and having to work under horrible conditions. That's why the railway is called
"Death Railway" .
In Kanchanaburi, there is a good museum that explains the history of the railway, and also a beautifully maintained cemetery. At the end of the day, Mizzi and I were once more shocked by how cruel and incredibly inhumane humans can be. And we felt sorry for all those who suffered and died during the construction.
The next morning, we took a tour because there is quite a lot to see that is not easy to reach without a car. And the tour was like tours around Kanchanaburi are described in our travelguide: You do a little bit of everyting in a hurry within just one day. That's exactly what we did: The tour started at eight with a trip to the famous bridge over the River Kwai. There is a movie called "The Bridge over the River Kwai", which is supposed to tell the story of the construction
Cemetery
... for the prisoners of war who died during the construction of the Death Railway. of the Death Railway.
After this, we were taken out of town for bamboo rafting on the river Kwai. A speedboat took us upstream, where we boarded a bamboo raft that took us back to the spot we had come from. Then we went elephant trekking (which was not too specatcular because again, we did not sit directly on the elephant's back, but on a seat attached to his back. Then our guide took us to Nam Tok, the place where the rails of the Death Railway had been removed by the Allies after the Japanese had been defeated so that it could no longer be used. There is also quite a nice waterfall that we spent some time at.
After lunch, we continued to Hellfire Pass. This was the part of the railway that had been most difficult to build and therefore cost a lot of lives. The rails are not there any more, but the track is still there. And there is another museum. After this, our guide took us back to a section of the Death Railway that is still in operation so that we could ride the train across a spectacular wooden bridge. Then
Wat Arun
Temple on the west bank of the river in Bangkok. he took us back to the bus station, and we caught a bus back to Bangkok.
I don't have many photos from that day because the batteries in my camera were flat. But I will upload some of Mizzi's pictures as soon as I have them.
We started our last day in Bangkok slowly and slept in, then had the most expensive breakfast of our whole trip in a shopping mall by the riverside. After breakfast, we caught a boat that took us up the river and from which we had a nice view of the city. We got off the boat to visit the Khao San Road, THE backpacker road in Bangkok. Some scenes for the movie "The Beach" were shot there. We had something to drink and just sat there for a while and watched all the different kind of people. And we were glad we had not booked a hostel there. Far too touristy!
We caught the boat back, and then, as highlight of the evening, we had a sundowner in the Sky Bar, a bar on top of a skyscraper. The bar is outside, and it offers a fantastic view of the city.
Khao San Road
THE backpacker road in Bangkok. We really enjoyed it there.
Then it was time to head back to the hostel. I had a shower, packed my stuff, and caught a taxi to the airport. My plane left at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. I flew through Beijing again, landed in Frankfurt, and caught a train from there to Hamburg. I arrived here after midnight.
Mizzi stayed in Bangkok for one more night, then flew to Brisbane on Saturday evening to see her friends there. I hope she'll have a great time there.
Thank you Mizzi for a fantastic holiday, traveling with you was good fun!
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