Ten Things to Do in Kanchanaburi Province
We spent a long weekend in Kanchanaburi province recently and it was awesome! I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Thailand - even a day trip from Bangkok is possible.
I would say it's a place that has something for everyone - history, landscape, activity, relaxation and great food!
Here's a summary of our favourite parts of the trips:
This was our activity on the first afternoon in Kanchanaburi and it was pretty indescribable. I had not really seen many elephants first hand before, I can only remember the elephants in Parc de la Tête d'Or in Lyon which, to be honest, looked pretty miserable in their concrete enclosure. I have since learned that these elephants ended up being rescued by the Monaco Royal Family after being condemned to death for suspected tuberculosis. They didn't have TB in the end but one of the elephants has since died of chronic kidney failure.
Anyway, our afternoon was spent at the Elephant Haven, where the owners have rescued many elephants from the trekking industry. I think there are also other similar sanctuaries across Thailand for former working elephants. Years ago elephants were widely used for logging but in 1989 this was banned so many elephants and their 'Mahouts' found themselves out of work. The immediate solution was for a lot of them to try their luck on the streets of Bangkok, performing tricks for money. Fortunately, those days appear to be long gone in Bangkok, although I'm sure there are still elephants working illegally somewhere in Thailand.
We only got to spend a few hours at the Elephant Haven, but we joined their mid-afternoon routine which involves covering themselves in mud, then going to the river to have all the mud washed off, then putting more mud on and then scoffing some fruit. Not a bad life all in all!
We befriended the elderly elephant who was around 62 years old and had a sunken head - this is where all the oil that's stored in the head starts to dissipate apparently. We walked with her to the river - I like to think that I helped to guide her as she was blind in one eye and had a cataract in the other but she probably already knew the way. We also got pretty intimate with the fat elephant who had a big bulge on her right side and who just lay in the water and let us scrub all the mud off her. After their bath, it was feeding time and we treated them to buckets of chopped watermelon.
The legitimacy of this bridge can be a bit complicated, depending on what your expectations are and mostly dependent on whether you've seen the film 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'. Not being all that familiar with the film, I had no expectations so I was quite happy to take everything at face value. We were told that this bridge wasn't the original and it was moved into place later. I subsequently read that this river isn't even the actual River Kwai, it's the Mae Klong, but due to people blurring reality and the film, it got renamed 'Kwai Yai', so tourists would be satisfied that a train did pass over a bridge on the river. This now explains why we were told that there were two River Kwai's, a small one and a big one.
Anyway, the bridge is nice and you can walk across it. There are also many places to buy souvenirs around here - we came home with a fridge magnet and an elephant bag that broke before we got back to Bangkok.
Learning about the history of the Burma railway was fascinating and moving. Although there were many British Prisoners of War involved in the accelerated construction during the later stages of the Second World War, I'm afraid to say I didn't know that much about it.
Hellfire Pass is the largest rock cutting on the railway line and it took six weeks to construct. The name 'Hellfire' originated because the workforce of POWs and forced labourers had to work 18 hour days and at night the scene of emaciated men through torchlight was said to resemble hell.
The Japanese wanted to accelerate the completion of the Burma railway so just threw more people at it and made them work for longer, without adequate food and medicine. Many POWs died from disease, beating, falling from a height or just plain exhaustion. Other than the unbelievable cruelty of the situation and the complete disregard for human life, the thing that struck me was just how un-Japanese it seemed. In manufacturing and logistics, you're taught many Japanese principles and methodology that ultimately all try to drive efficiency by removing waste from the process. It seems they took the opposite approach for the railway.
Our first stop on the tour was the War Cemetery which is the main POW cemetery for those held captive by the Japanese and put to work building the Burma railway. There are nearly 7000 POW's buried there, mostly British, Austrailian and Dutch, and the cemetery is immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It really struck me that there are all these graves of British soldiers so far away from home, that their families will never get to visit.
I'm not sure how much difference our uncoordinated paddling made to the motion of our two-man kayak as the current seemed strong enough to guide us down the river. We passed under the Bridge, waving at the tourists. After we disembarked (if that's the correct term for a kayak), we had a look around a nice Chinese temple.
Our second day was definitely the relaxing day of the trip. We'd started with the kayaking, then had coffee, then had lunch and our next activity was to bathe in some hot springs. The best way to access the hot springs was to take a longboat up and across the river so we were back on the water again.
No swimsuits were required at the hot springs as we were provided with appropriate garments. Chris got to wear shorts but I was pretty much wrapped in a sheet. Anyway, it covered our modesty!
There were various different pools to wallow in, with water at various different temperatures, and containing various different ingredients to tackle different ailments. One pool had those fish that eat the dead skin off your feet - I seemed to remember this being a short-lived fad in the UK a few years ago until people realized that it was pretty unhygienic.
Tourism in Kanchanaburi really centres around the river so you couldn't get closer than actually staying on a floating raft house. We stayed at Sai Yok View Raft for one night which really was a completely idyllic setting. As the hotel really is a big raft on the river (it can and did move location previously), the rooms aren't exactly the peak of luxury, but the overall ambiance more than makes up for it.
This was the activity on our final day in Kanchanburi. We knew we had to 'hike' to the top of the waterfalls but I'd assumed this was an exaggeration and we'd just be strolling along a gentle and well-maintained path. Actually, it was a pretty arduous climb. After maybe the fourth level the path disappears and you actually have to scramble over rocks and tree roots, with the occasional rickety set of wooden steps to scale.
We decided to head straight for the seventh level in an attempt to get this pool all to ourselves, even if only for a few minutes. We were not disappointed! We reached the top waterfall, weary and incredibly sweaty. At this point, a pool of clear blue water was very welcome, and we paddled in, trying to avoid the fish who wanted to eat our feet.
[caption id="attachment_385" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Cooling down after our climb to the top...[/caption]
We had another swim, down at the fourth level where there are two big slippery rocks that form water slides. I'm not sure if this is entirely natural or there's been some human intervention to make this but it's pretty cool.
It seems most people cannot be bothered to go beyond the second level so it's considerably more crowded further down. I definitely recommend heading to the top to avoid the masses.
You cannot come to Thailand and not have a Thai massage! Well, you can if you prefer not to experience excruciating pain! I think a Thai massage is one of those things that you need to have more of in order to build up some sort of resistance.
Some bits are pleasant, but it's almost as though you have to suffer the painful parts to earn these. I treated it like a personal battle, not wanting to show any signs of pain, even when I thought my leg might be able to break!
Being next to the river was a lovely setting but it did involve had to constantly fight off biting insects who saw me as a very easy target.
This is essentially just getting a train, albeit a very old train!
We had first class seats which basically entitled us to water, cola and Oreos - very authentic Thai cuisine. The train journey mostly passes through fields and probably satisfies the expectations of tourists who have been picturing this version of Thailand in their minds, instead of a 7-11 on every corner.
It gets vaguely more exciting towards the end when you pass through the cuttings in the rocks and over the rickety wooden bridge and around the curve. Our guide had a carefully choreographed routine for switching sides of the train to get the best photos, with which we obviously complied.
Our trip was all made possible by Joe at Thailand Attraction Tour who pulled the whole trip together and entertained us throughout the three days.
I would say it's a place that has something for everyone - history, landscape, activity, relaxation and great food!
Here's a summary of our favourite parts of the trips:
1 - Bathing & Feeding Elephants
This was our activity on the first afternoon in Kanchanaburi and it was pretty indescribable. I had not really seen many elephants first hand before, I can only remember the elephants in Parc de la Tête d'Or in Lyon which, to be honest, looked pretty miserable in their concrete enclosure. I have since learned that these elephants ended up being rescued by the Monaco Royal Family after being condemned to death for suspected tuberculosis. They didn't have TB in the end but one of the elephants has since died of chronic kidney failure.
Anyway, our afternoon was spent at the Elephant Haven, where the owners have rescued many elephants from the trekking industry. I think there are also other similar sanctuaries across Thailand for former working elephants. Years ago elephants were widely used for logging but in 1989 this was banned so many elephants and their 'Mahouts' found themselves out of work. The immediate solution was for a lot of them to try their luck on the streets of Bangkok, performing tricks for money. Fortunately, those days appear to be long gone in Bangkok, although I'm sure there are still elephants working illegally somewhere in Thailand.
We only got to spend a few hours at the Elephant Haven, but we joined their mid-afternoon routine which involves covering themselves in mud, then going to the river to have all the mud washed off, then putting more mud on and then scoffing some fruit. Not a bad life all in all!
We befriended the elderly elephant who was around 62 years old and had a sunken head - this is where all the oil that's stored in the head starts to dissipate apparently. We walked with her to the river - I like to think that I helped to guide her as she was blind in one eye and had a cataract in the other but she probably already knew the way. We also got pretty intimate with the fat elephant who had a big bulge on her right side and who just lay in the water and let us scrub all the mud off her. After their bath, it was feeding time and we treated them to buckets of chopped watermelon.
2 - Visiting the Bridge on the River Kwai
The legitimacy of this bridge can be a bit complicated, depending on what your expectations are and mostly dependent on whether you've seen the film 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'. Not being all that familiar with the film, I had no expectations so I was quite happy to take everything at face value. We were told that this bridge wasn't the original and it was moved into place later. I subsequently read that this river isn't even the actual River Kwai, it's the Mae Klong, but due to people blurring reality and the film, it got renamed 'Kwai Yai', so tourists would be satisfied that a train did pass over a bridge on the river. This now explains why we were told that there were two River Kwai's, a small one and a big one.
Anyway, the bridge is nice and you can walk across it. There are also many places to buy souvenirs around here - we came home with a fridge magnet and an elephant bag that broke before we got back to Bangkok.
3 - Walking through Hellfire Pass
Learning about the history of the Burma railway was fascinating and moving. Although there were many British Prisoners of War involved in the accelerated construction during the later stages of the Second World War, I'm afraid to say I didn't know that much about it.
Hellfire Pass is the largest rock cutting on the railway line and it took six weeks to construct. The name 'Hellfire' originated because the workforce of POWs and forced labourers had to work 18 hour days and at night the scene of emaciated men through torchlight was said to resemble hell.
The Japanese wanted to accelerate the completion of the Burma railway so just threw more people at it and made them work for longer, without adequate food and medicine. Many POWs died from disease, beating, falling from a height or just plain exhaustion. Other than the unbelievable cruelty of the situation and the complete disregard for human life, the thing that struck me was just how un-Japanese it seemed. In manufacturing and logistics, you're taught many Japanese principles and methodology that ultimately all try to drive efficiency by removing waste from the process. It seems they took the opposite approach for the railway.
4 - Visiting the War Cemetary
Our first stop on the tour was the War Cemetery which is the main POW cemetery for those held captive by the Japanese and put to work building the Burma railway. There are nearly 7000 POW's buried there, mostly British, Austrailian and Dutch, and the cemetery is immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It really struck me that there are all these graves of British soldiers so far away from home, that their families will never get to visit.
5 - Kayaking on the River Kwai
I'm not sure how much difference our uncoordinated paddling made to the motion of our two-man kayak as the current seemed strong enough to guide us down the river. We passed under the Bridge, waving at the tourists. After we disembarked (if that's the correct term for a kayak), we had a look around a nice Chinese temple.
6 - Bathing in Hot Springs
Our second day was definitely the relaxing day of the trip. We'd started with the kayaking, then had coffee, then had lunch and our next activity was to bathe in some hot springs. The best way to access the hot springs was to take a longboat up and across the river so we were back on the water again.
No swimsuits were required at the hot springs as we were provided with appropriate garments. Chris got to wear shorts but I was pretty much wrapped in a sheet. Anyway, it covered our modesty!
There were various different pools to wallow in, with water at various different temperatures, and containing various different ingredients to tackle different ailments. One pool had those fish that eat the dead skin off your feet - I seemed to remember this being a short-lived fad in the UK a few years ago until people realized that it was pretty unhygienic.
7 - Staying at a Floating Hotel
Tourism in Kanchanaburi really centres around the river so you couldn't get closer than actually staying on a floating raft house. We stayed at Sai Yok View Raft for one night which really was a completely idyllic setting. As the hotel really is a big raft on the river (it can and did move location previously), the rooms aren't exactly the peak of luxury, but the overall ambiance more than makes up for it.
8 - Climbing to the top of Erawan Falls
This was the activity on our final day in Kanchanburi. We knew we had to 'hike' to the top of the waterfalls but I'd assumed this was an exaggeration and we'd just be strolling along a gentle and well-maintained path. Actually, it was a pretty arduous climb. After maybe the fourth level the path disappears and you actually have to scramble over rocks and tree roots, with the occasional rickety set of wooden steps to scale.
We decided to head straight for the seventh level in an attempt to get this pool all to ourselves, even if only for a few minutes. We were not disappointed! We reached the top waterfall, weary and incredibly sweaty. At this point, a pool of clear blue water was very welcome, and we paddled in, trying to avoid the fish who wanted to eat our feet.
[caption id="attachment_385" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Cooling down after our climb to the top...[/caption]
We had another swim, down at the fourth level where there are two big slippery rocks that form water slides. I'm not sure if this is entirely natural or there's been some human intervention to make this but it's pretty cool.
It seems most people cannot be bothered to go beyond the second level so it's considerably more crowded further down. I definitely recommend heading to the top to avoid the masses.
9 - Getting a Thai Massage Next to the River
You cannot come to Thailand and not have a Thai massage! Well, you can if you prefer not to experience excruciating pain! I think a Thai massage is one of those things that you need to have more of in order to build up some sort of resistance.
Some bits are pleasant, but it's almost as though you have to suffer the painful parts to earn these. I treated it like a personal battle, not wanting to show any signs of pain, even when I thought my leg might be able to break!
Being next to the river was a lovely setting but it did involve had to constantly fight off biting insects who saw me as a very easy target.
10 -Taking a Train on the Death Railway
This is essentially just getting a train, albeit a very old train!
We had first class seats which basically entitled us to water, cola and Oreos - very authentic Thai cuisine. The train journey mostly passes through fields and probably satisfies the expectations of tourists who have been picturing this version of Thailand in their minds, instead of a 7-11 on every corner.
It gets vaguely more exciting towards the end when you pass through the cuttings in the rocks and over the rickety wooden bridge and around the curve. Our guide had a carefully choreographed routine for switching sides of the train to get the best photos, with which we obviously complied.
Our trip was all made possible by Joe at Thailand Attraction Tour who pulled the whole trip together and entertained us throughout the three days.
Comments
Post a Comment