KanchanaBuri & SangklaBuri Trip – Day 2

Kanchanaburi and Sangkhlaburi Trip – Day 2

Day 2 (28 August 2004) Around KanchanaBuri

At 8 AM sharp the tour van was already waiting at the lobby area. I have a lot of respect for most Thais whom I have met for their professionalism. No matter how small a job they do, they always do their best. The van then picked up a Dutch family at Sam Guesthouse and 2 Japanese ladies from a posh resort hotel.

The Dutch family consisted of a farang father, his Thai wife, a girl of about 12 and a boy about 9. They are from the Netherlands and were back here for the holidays. All spoke Dutch while the Mae Farang could speak Thai. The kids too have some command of mother tongue Thai. I am not too sure if the Farang is the kids’ biological father. They are a very loving, noisy and cheerful lot and it was fun travelling with them.

The Japanese were a reserved lot. One of them was studying Law in the U and another one in Business Administration. It was fun too to have them. I am still communicating with one of them occasionally after sending her their digital photos. I used to work part-time for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the 80’s and could thus speak some Japanese.

And not forgetting the nice lady tour guide, Bee. Bee studied Tourism at the Maha Vithialai Songkhla Nakarin (Prince of Songkhla University – I hope I got the transliteration right). She also has a good command of English and a cheerful disposition. She’s good.

Our first itinery was an elephant ride in a village nearby.

Elephant Ride Station

The next stop was water rafting nearby. Everyone enjoyed themselves very much here.

Bamboo Rafting

The group was then transported to the NamTok Station, which was only one stop away from the famous River Kwai station. Here the view was spectacular.

Finally, the famous River Kwai was in sight.

Composite photo

The Train finally stopped at the River Kwai Station for the passengers, mostly tourists to get down. After the train had stopped, the station become chaotic with tourists walking on the tracks for photo sessions.

Bridge Over River Kwai

Before the end of the tour, we invited the group to join us for the SangklaBuri trip. We needed at least 8 persons for the tour company to agree to arrange the trip using the tour van. The Japanese had to go back due to work commitment. The Dutch, after some family discussions, accepted our offer to join us to SangklaBuri.

As Bee had done a good job, she deserved to be tipped. I could not remember how much we gave, but it was a generous one. Squeezed the boss on the tour fare and gave the savings to the tour guide as an act of social justice? Unfortunately, Bee could not take us to SangklaBuri.

The night was uneventful.

More pictures can be seen on page 2…