Road Trip to Kanchanaburi

Kanchanaburi is famous for the “death railway” and various National Parks. But how do Thai experience it? And how do they get there?

By bus of course! Early in the morning about 35 of us packed into the bus and sped off across the Ang Thong and Suphan Buri countryside in the general direction of Kanchanaburi. Across the dead-flat plains with the smell of burnt stubble always in the background. In my last blog I mentioned the panic that Thai feel if they are going to be separated from food for more than a few moments. But not to worry, we stopped for lunch boxes, then at a 7/11 at the rest stop a little later. No one went hungry. And there was plenty to drink…

I am slightly puzzled that these “fun busses” (my term) have (according to the writing on the side) 330 HP, a multi-KW sound system, but no air conditioning. Never mind, I’m sure 35C heat is good for us…

After that heat it’s good to cool down a little. We spent a tranquil few hours at Namtok Sai Yok Noi (Little Sai Yok Waterfall). Nice walks with nice views and some caves.

It was nice to be away from Bangkok, where you sometimes feel that Farang are seen as an easy source of income. Out here I was somewhat of a novelty, but in a pleasant, friendly, sort of way: “Hey, Farang, come over here and swim with us…”

Late afternoon it was time to head for our accommodation, which turned out to be a barge that was towed up and down the river by a small boat.

As we loaded the barge with various food and drink supplies there was a huge downpour. This did little to dampen the sprits, and was a welcome respite from the heat.

The bat above flew in sometime during the evening.

The barge was equipped with a sound system that would put a 1960s music festival to shame. I can’t understand why the entire nation is not completely deaf. It is a strange contradiction that the soft-spoken Thai have such a penchant for megawatt sound systems.

There appeared to be dozens of similar barges out on the water and sometimes they would drift close to us. Particularly notable was a raucous barge populated mostly by exhibitionist lady-boys, but good taste prevents me from going into details…

After partying into the night we “parked” by the side of the river, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Well, there was a shower block, and some food for sale in case we were still hungry. Everyone eventually flopped out on the mats on the floor of the barge. Thankfully, the music finally stopped, since I find it difficult to sleep when my whole body is vibrating.

The next morning was idyllic, and the trip back to the town was very pleasant.

We stopped at various places, including Wat Tham Mangkon Thong, famous for the “floating meditating nun”. Unfortunately, due to some misunderstandings about timing, I missed out on the performance, but I had a nice walk up the hill. I believe the photo below is from Wat Tham Phu Wa, which has more interesting caves.

Finally we were back in the town of Kanchanaburi. After loading our things back on the bus most of the Thai headed off to the markets (and the restaurants) but I took the opportunity to see “The Bridge”. It’s a lot smaller than I expected, nice stroll across the river.