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Published: September 14th 2009
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I first would like to thanks few people for the input they had in this entry...and who have helped us preparing another wonderful week-end. First, our fellow members from Travelblog, Sophie and Dale. We may not have done the same trip, but their entry on Kanchanaburi was the inspiration for this weekend. Second, I want to thank Olivier who gave me the advise for our lodging.
It's impressive how much you can pack in a single week-end. This is maybe due to the fact that on Friday, Leslie finishes school at 2.30pm...and this is the beginning of our week-end. I hold 2 driving licences from 2 different asian countries...I've lived in Asia for 14 years...but I had never drove a car in Asia, I know it's tuff to believe. We are alive, and I did rent a car for the week-end, and returned it safely. I did also indulge in renting my first GPS...and this was more than a good idea on the bangkok roads...outside of Bangkok this is not a must, but for a non-thai reader, or speaker, it was a relief to have this efficient co-pilot with us. The car is safely back at the rental
company...and I will rent more of those, speacilly at around only 35usd per day, including insurance and GPS...not going to complain!
Kanchanaburi is a provincial capital 120km west of Bangkok, in the direction of Burma. Well....this is basically all I can say about it, because beside going across it, I've got no idea what Kanchanaburi look like.
Our first stop was for the night, at the Hintok River Camp on the Kwai River...guess what, it is 90km further than Kanchanaburi...so do not plan like me, and do allow more time to drive there. Well, we could not have left Bangkok earlier due to Leslie school, but we did get caught in the legendary huge Bangkok traffic jams. The camp has 30 tents in the middle of the jungle, all of them on stilts, with private shower and toilet. Really a fun experience, and the first big Wow for Leslie. Too sad we arrived after the sunset as the sky was of an amazing pink few minutes before. Only 4 tents were occupied (isn't it the crisis!). We had a quiet thai delicious dinner before enjoying a last drink in front of the camp fire....and an early night.
The next morning, and our first action day. First stop was only few kilometers away to visit the Memorial at Hellfire Pass. You may have seen the movie, Bridge of the River Kwai. POW, prisonners of wars, and Romusha, asian slaves were not only used to build the bridge, but a full supply rail line between Bangkok and Burma during WWII. 200,000 peoples were used in the less than 2 years construction. Out of these, 12,800 prisonners of war died of harsh treatments and inhummane conditions. But the Japaneses had also used nearly 200,000 asian labourers, mainly from Burma and Malaya. These were promised high salaries and good living conditions, but they instead became slaves, and 95,000 of them died. The POW were mainly from Australia and Britain, most of them got there from Singapore. But they had also few Americans and Dutchs.
The Memorial is a beautiful and sober museum. There to remember and never forget the price some paid to build a railway using mainly light tools, should I say inadequate tools in the hand of barbaric captors. It is interesting that Leslie is becoming of age where he does understand all this. I did show him
the movie few days before we came to give him a better sense of understanding.
After the vist, we made our way to our second stop. The Jungle Rafts Lodge ON the River Kwai. There are a lot of these lodges all around, but the one we chose was a masterpiece of "eco-resort". The resort is 15 minutes by long tail from the pier of the Resotel, or around 10 minutes itself from Resotel hotel. Interesting enough, I was not explained the difference by the reservation employee....and when we made it by the back door to the hotel, the staff couldn't believe we made it by ourself with our own car here...I could only thanks the GPS!
From there, it was 20 hours without electricity, mobile phone coverage or internet. The rafts are set on the river, next to a local Mon village. You can clearly see that the lodge is properly giving back to the community and this was a very interesting stay. We did wander around the village, by the temple and the school. But no elephant ride for us...I still find those a little too kitsh to my liking (and Leslie did it already!).
We spent our afternoon walking around...and lying on our terrace, looking at the water going by...I could not do that for 2 days, but an afternoon is fine. Well, we still made it pretty early for the aperitif to the main terrace. Dinner was another nice thai experience...all this done only at the light of oil lamps.....romantic. After diner, some of the villagers and some staffs are performing dances for 30 minutes...Bed time for Leslie, and more last drink for us, and it was time...for a good night sleep.
On Sunday, another pack day...breakfast by the river...and than we drove to the Erewan Waterfalls. These are beautiful, we did not bring our swimsuits as we had a limited time to do a LOT of things. Nevertheless, beautiful place...but maybe a tad too crowded for a Sunday for me!
Next, the Tiger Temples. Some loved it, so hated it. For me, it's better than most zoos to keep these big cats. I will not enter the arguments. Leslie had a blast, it was fun and interesting. We've got some great pictures with us. The tiger where indeed most of them half sleeping...but isn't it normal at nap time?
You
can only visit between 12pm and 3.30pm, and if you do go to a zoo at the same time, all the big cats are sleeping also.
Next, our last stop, the Bridge on the Kwai River. We did not stop by the museum as we had to drive back home and it was getting late for Leslie. For me, HellFire Pass was way more interesting and better presented to the public. The bridge was more like another zoo, but it was a good way to end of week-end
that Leslie will remember for years to come.
Next week-end, Leslie is flying alone to Saigon ( he won't write about it), and we are going north for more action!
So in the meantime, love from three of us in the Land of the Smiles...life is good...isn't it!
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TravelDani
Danielle Lloyd
wow!! Those pictures are immense, I am deffo adding this to my Thailand itinerary!