Cycling in Kanchanaburi - Kaopo-w!

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Today it was time for a little quest. I'd made a note of a hill cave temple - Kaopoon - before I'd left the UK, which was a little out the town and a good chance to enjoy a cycle. I hired a bike and okay, to be honest bicycle, I did judge you a little with your basket and strange frame - but you turned into the perfect trip accomplice.

We rode through the town, taking diversions from my vague mental map as my eyes caught something. So we rode down Song Kwai road and Pak Praek, where we found the Wat Chaichumpon temple complex, bustling with Theravada monks, and containing the Jeath war museum and various statue tributes. The roads were decorated with thai and yellow flags above (yellow for the king - the colour of mondays, his birth day), and colourful rafts floating off the river's grassy banks. The Kanchanaburians know how to make the most of the river side.

Then it was over the bridge outta town across the Kwai. Along the way we were accompanied by mopeds with 1,2,3 passengers, and then yup overtaken quite quickly.. plus a few vans booming out Thai from their speaker humps - radio stations, adverts? I wasn't sure. The smooth road continued, sandwiched by lush, tall trees, rice fields and the occasional cafe/shop. We got to Chunkai war cemetery, one of several tributes to lives lost with the death railway construction (this was the original started by the prisoners themselves); and took the chance for a sunscreen (spray, spray) and water pit stop.

We did well bicycle. It seemed to be going on a while, still no sign of or for this temple (but plenty for others!) We then hit a railway crossing, hm. I started to have a few doubts, maybe I had veered off my map. After taking a turning judgement and heading up some hilly road, there we were - a sign for Kaopoon.

After peddling away on the roads, and being sweaty indeed, I walked through the gates to somewhere else - the atmosphere, incense fused, was so quiet and calm. I was met with a monk where we exchanged a donation and instructions, and a kind asking after my scabbed shin. There was a lot to see here, mini separate rooms - some connected, others not - through the cave. There were shrines to both Buddha and the Hindu gods especially Ganesh, crystallised limestone and time beaten statues with modern objects knelt before them (small toys, animal figurines..). Every nook seemed filled with a new tribute, a new object. It was calm, and enjoyably cool inside the cave rooms.

The most unexpected spot? A cave coloured puppy, a very long and chunky millipede? The temple is old, but there are no records of its origin or use until the King visited to worship it's reclining Buddha in 1870. The last room contains limestone formed like an elephant's head (the official line, not mine!), and you then come out the temple on the side closer to river. I later learnt this river area was used during ww2 as a nursing camp.

So there we are, it was a really calm, interesting place to come. I was now out the other side, but rather than head back out, the monk appeared and he pointed me around the corner and up. And said that I should take my bike. So off we went again. We rode and pushed eachother up the winding hill, past a lovely rock garden.
Ah ha! I could then see a large golden hat atop the hill.. we started going quicker. For the last part I went alone as the wooden gappy steps weren't wheel friendly (so I of course took some pictures just for you, bicycle) The view was amazing. And the peak a golden shrine, big and bold. Ah, the view really was special. I was grateful to my guide.

We rode back, nodding past the sights seen before in the brighter sun. We also rode around the 'athletic island' where there are cycle and running tracks by the river, yoga corners, outside gyms and aerobic sessions - I would definitely come back here. And as we went back over the highway bridge we spotted Wat Thawon Wararam and Wat Thewa Sangkharam that I'd go visit another day.



Back in the town for the evening, and tonight I did head into the blue jeans bar. Bon Jovi didn't come on until later, but in the meantime I met four lovely, fun people - Laura, Julios, Leah and Nicolas. Dinner & beers, good stories and laughs.

'Its now or never, I don't wana live for ever.. ' cue Bon jovi chat - "when waas this song?.. the older ones in France love this.. Hmm but it is kind of catchy, no? " ..



This was a good day. Kanchanaburi has been really welcoming so far, the people, the continuously seen river, the pace and activity. I could stay here a little while.

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