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Published: November 22nd 2006
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After Bangkok we went to Kanchanaburi, which is a little town on the borders of the River Kwai and in the foothills of the mountains. Our guest house was right on the river and was very picturesque (and only about 3 GBP for a room with a hot shower and fan!). This area is famous because of the railway line which was built from Thailand to Burma by the Japanese in WW2. Thousands of allied prisoners of war, as well as about 200,000 Asian volunteers, built the railway under appalling conditions - over 100,000 died and there are lots of mass cemeteries here.
Kanchanaburi is particularly famous as it is where the railway “bridge over the river Kwai” was built. We went to two museums around here, including the famous “hellfire pass”, so named because the prisoners of war and volunteers were kept working throughout the night in order to dig a hole about 20m deep through solid rock for the train to pass through (they did not have any machinery to dig tunnels). The fires at various levels going down the pit apparently resembled Dante’s inferno. It was a thought provoking day.
On a lighter note, while still
in the Kanchanaburi area, we visited the beautiful Erawen national park, the main attraction of which was a seven tiered waterfall which you walk along over a couple of kilometres. We had a fun swim in one of the very deep pools which was great, if a little cold! James also got eaten by the fish, which is apparently very good for you…
We really liked Kanchanaburi and so stayed there for a few more days. However, we also decided to make the most of cheap accommodation prices and stay in a 4* hotel (still probably less than a youth hostel in Australia so just about justifiable…) Didn’t do much there about from swim in their two pools and read, very relaxing. We also hired a motorbike for the day to explore more of the surroundings, which James particularly enjoyed.
After a total of 6 days in Kanchanaburi it was back to hectic Bangkok to sort out our tourist visa - it was very unfortunate that we hadn’t realized that you could only stay for 30 days without a visa when we booked our flights! Still, we managed to sort everything out relatively easily after a morning in
Pool of posh hotel!
Possibly the best pool we've ever been in, plus there was a separate 20m lanes pool too. the immigration office and reluctantly handing over about 30 pounds each to the bureaucrats. Vanessa decided it was time for a spot of blitz solo Christmas presents and clothes shopping and managed to buy quite a bit in an hour! (Seems to be impossible to escape from English Christmas carols, even here). We also saw the new James Bond film (in standard seats this time), which was excellent.
Having a few days left before our flight, we’re now at a beach resort near Bangkok - Hua Hin. After our recent extravagances we decided that it was time to travel third class on the train, which was quite an experience. You certainly don't risk going hungry as numerous people try to constantly sell you unidentifiable food, although by the end of the first hour most of these 'caterers' seemed to be a little tipsy on their own supply of beer!
Back to Hua Hin: It is very different from the beaches in the south. For a start the sea is not turquoise, transparent and calm but is deep green and messy. There are also numerous very expensive hotels and so the number of rich guests far outweighs the tight-arsed
backpackers like us. Vanessa also unfortunately managed to book us into a hotel in the red-light district, which she is most distressed about. However, despite these drawbacks it seems quite a laidback place and a suitable place to spend our last few days in Thailand.
On our second to last day in Thailand we hired a motorbike from our hotel in the red light district in Hua Hin and trundled south along the coast to the beautiful Khao Sam Roi Yot national park, about 70km away. (Adam would be particularly excited about it as it is very good for bird watching.) It took a good hour and a half to get to our destination, and although the motorbike was a good one, it felt nice to get off it when we arrived! Indeed, the ride had been an eventful one as at one point we had had to scoot around some oncoming cattle, and another point try not to run over a big group of monkeys on the road.
On arrival we climbed up to a huge cave, which had some impressive stalactites and stalacmites. Unfortunately we didn't have a torch and so stumbled around using the little
The pool where we had a swim
By the way, the podgy chap in the waterfall is not James red light on Vanessa's camera! After some lunch we got on a boat for a scenic cruise a little way up a nearby river. On board, were only the driver and us - he gave us the controls for most of the way back, which made it a particularly fun trip. We also climbed up a steep track to a high-up viewpoint. This was tough going in the oppressive heat and we sweated buckets (well, at least James did as everyone knows that girls don’t sweat). However, the view from the top and our feeling of achievement made it well worth the struggle.
The only other notable event in Hua Hin has been James commissioning a pair of handmade leather work shoes that he is very excited about as it is difficult for him to find shoes for his funny shaped feet in England (we get to see them tomorrow).
Looking back at our time in Thailand, I suppose a lot of it has been spent relaxing and reading and generally absorbing the beautiful countryside (and food!). We're hoping to have a much more active time in Sydney, Tasmania and New Zealand with lots of long treks, although
James's hip and back have been playing up recently and are starting to be a bit of a concern. I'm sure a few more days relaxing will sort that out though!
Off to Sydney on Friday 24th November and so will next write from there.
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Emily
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Hello!
Hi! Glad to see you're still having a brill time - it's great to hear from you and to see all your amazing photos. We're off on holiday tomorrow - will write a proper email with news when we get back. Have a good trip to Oz!!