Good times travel

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Today I was up early for a trip with the local Good Times Travel - to the Erawan national park with the 7 tier waterfalls and then the death railway. This trip was done very well.

We arrived at the national park as one of the first people, and were given four hours to just go as we wish. Through the national park route there were 7 waterfalls reaching higher up, where some of the pools could be swam in.. Excellent! I set off, and enjoyed the contained, natural forest noises about me as I tried to keep ahead of the crowds (I know, to be honest the competitiveness set in and I was eager to get high quick, whilst telling myself that it would be much better to get there then do the swimming and chilling on the way back).
Of course, there was so much nature to enjoy - interesting trees, rocks to climb, fish to spot, streams to follow and waterfalls to watch - that it would have been silly to rush. So some parts I really drifted about in and enjoyed the sounds and sights.. Sitting on rocks by pools and walking along fallen trees.

Some of the waterfalls were really cool and at different turns and steps up you could get different waterfall perspectives - the gliding water over rocks, the gushing drops, the wide rock plates of water that seemed to disappear silently at the edges like shaken off cloth. (Some pictures below) These are apparently the most snapped waterfalls for Thailand postcards and other souvenirs.. and sure enough there were some pretty serious looking photographers stationed at some points, rolling eyes at any intrusion of their perfect shot, whilst there was also the occasional tree manned stall of colourful clothes along the way!


On my way back down I indeed relaxed in the water pools, they were perfectly chilled and it was so nice to move around the layer sets of the falls. In some of the pools were feet nibbling fish.. the kind that became big in spas and high street units across the UK some years back, except these were much bigger, I guess they were more munchers. It wasn't unpleasant, but I tended to shake them off.. if you kept moving they waited fussily for other feet. Some rocks were like slides down into lower pools, or you could sit in shallow water on the white limestone with your feet in deeper, wiggled about of course. Some would jump or horizontally dive in and sit under the falls. Plus the occasional swimwear clad selfie shots.

After a yummy stirfry for lunch we headed to the death railway point of Tham Kra Sae. Here the Japanese military exploded dynamite into the rock to build the track alongside the rocky cliffs and allow the trains to cling to the mountain and continue further along the river. Now in its place is a Buddha in the cave with a memorial to peace. A reminder of the human and social tragedies of war. There was information on how forced local labourers and prisoners of war would hack out and carry the rock, assemble the wooden trelices for days and nights on end.. of how the 415km railway was built in just over a year and operated to supply the Japanese army in Burma during ww2. The new Death Railway and Jeath War museums back in Kanchanaburi town would tell this story in more detail another day, and pay tribute to the approx. 90,000 forced Asian labourers and 16,000 prisoners of war who died during its construction.
I generally found that the town's memorials and information was more focussed on the prisoners of war from Europe and Australia, an unfortunate and unfair skew where so many more were degraded and discarded by the war mission and families lost, overwhelmingly unknowing of their loved ones fates. This is largely a result of p.o.w survivors and family members being able to come back, trace their path and set up memorials; whilst there were some incredible stories of military p.o.ws creating innovative radio and record systems under the army's eyes and ears.

It had a strange feel, walking amongst this tragic history set in beautiful surroundings.

The railways bridges and curving track could be walked along before we later rode a train itself. It all had a horrific past, the wood you walked along built by unfree hands and carried upon imprisoned shoulders. There was a line that each trelice (each few steps) represented one life. And yet walking along the track and taking in the views was enjoyable, I can't deny.

On board the train, our group's guide suggested that I go stand at the open train door between the carriages, I think you'll like it she said with a knowing smile. Yeah, it was fun. Looking down from the steps and out at the carriages ahead and the river and hills, the drop below.. as we took the tracks around corners and then halted at the next station.

In the evening I took a motorbike ride up to the Kwai bridge, it was unexpectedly very quiet and good to see in the dark night. Walking along the track the water was black below, a few lights of still restaurants and you could just make out the bridge arches and wooden watch towers. I then spotted some rehearsals for the upcoming Kwai bridge festival, on a stage with tool props and military outfits, that I would be coming back to, interested to see how the story is told.

The Good Times Travel guides were brilliant today - Kobkhunka

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