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Category — Temples

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

by Gregory Brine

We arrived in Bangkok at 6am on the overnight train, and made a dash across the city to catch the train to Kanchanaburi - still using cabs and not the suicidal tuk-tuks. I really enjoy train journeys, and the overnight train makes long overland journeys so much more comfortable. Then, moving onto the local train was also great - despite the wooden seat. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start writing down the numbers, but there is something very, well, pleasant about train journeys.

There was a rumour going round that all the guesthouses were full, but thankfully that turned out to be wrong, and we ended up staying in the C&C Guesthouse which is a collection of huts set around a garden next to the river Kwai, run by some very helpful people.

Bridge over the river Kwai, ThailandKanchanaburi is most famous for the Bridge over the River Kwai. To be honest, it’s just a bridge to look at, but all the history surrounding it suddenly makes it all the more interesting. It also looks great done as a silhouette at sunset. You can walk across the bridge as there’s only 4 scheduled trains a day that use it, but the hoards of people make this frustrating. One thing that did detract from the visit though is the number of ‘tourist trap’ shops and stalls in the area. But that’s to be expected, and they did sell highly refreshing coconuts.

A pride of tigersAnother place I’d heard about was the Wat Pa Lungtu Bua Yamnasampano Forest monastry (ok, Tiger temple for short). Here, you get to stroke tigers. The place itself is nothing special, just a series of open areas with some rescued animals wandering around - the horses were quite friendly though. The tigers themselves appear to be dozing. There’s several schools of thought on this one, some saying they’re drugged, others that the monks have a calming effect on them, others point out that big cats sleep for 20hours a day anyway (I know a few people that do that too). Personally, I would have liked to see them more active, but stroking them felt slightly safer with them sleeping!

Erawan falls, ThailandBut, saving the best for last, the highlight was the Erawan falls! Apparently, if you see a photograph of a waterfall in Thailand, it’s probably these falls. They were breathtaking! The pools of water were so blue and clear, and the waterfalls couldn’t have been any prettier. We took some snaps, but to be honest, couldn’t wait to jump in. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but swimming in fresh water is one of the best, most refreshing experiences! We had 5 hours there, but it seemed to fly by! In the water, little fish swim around, and nip at your feet cleaning them, which is slightly disconcerting initially, but you soon grow to like it till a big one joins in. There’s 7 levels, and we made it up to the 7th which was worth the effort as there was hardly anyone there and it blew the other levels away.

As part of the tour we took to the falls, we also took a ride on the Death Railway, riding it along the Wang Po Viaduct. The viaduct itself was an impressive feet, built from wood, and rising high over the river. Our train rolled across it very slowly, which didn’t really fill us with much confidence in it’s strength. But it was an experience to see it!

Once again, we’d been lucky with the people on our tour, and met in the Jolly Frog backpacker’s guesthouse for dinner with everyone. Despite only in Kanchanaburi for 2 nights, it was more than enough to see everything in the area. Our next stop is a quick rest in Bangkok, before heading down to Koh Tao island on the sleeper train to get our PADI certification.

Links

Tiger Temple

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February 28, 2006   No Comments