The Bridge of River Kwai and the Death Railway, Kanchanaburi

For many travelers, the main sight of interest would be The River Kwai Bridge, as the start of Death Railway link into Burma/Myanmar, as well as many associated museums.

It's not hard to image why the Thais see the province as one of the most beautiful provinces in Thailand with easy access to waterfalls and national parks.

If there's a better time to visit The River Kwai Bridge, it's going to be in the morning between 8am-10am.

Any trip to the popular bridge later than the recommended interval it should be compromised, the bridge will be filled with countless tourists attempting to capture good takes of photos of themselves with travel mates and the surroundings.

The River Kwai Bridge, Kanchanaburi

World War II scene, an important piece of time

It's clearly understood why you should wake up early when you are traveling to get the best out of your trip.

The bridge, neither the most eye-catching structure nor it's being beautifully decorated, was aesthetically significant if you understand the historical settings.

The River Kwai Bridge, Kanchanaburi

According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Wikipedia:

"The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma. Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre."

An important piece of time, the River Kwai Bridge is situated at the up river, approximately 1.5KM from where I spent a night at the rafting Sugarcane Guesthouse, I've written briefly about Kanchanaburi's historical background.

Bicycles could be rented conveniently at the price of 20 Baht for a day to get around the town.

During World War 2, the Japanese used Allied prisoners of war to build a railway from Thailand to Burma so they could supply their army without the dangers of sending supplies by sea. 

Many prisoners died suffering under appalling conditions during its construction, and the line became known as the "Death Railway".

Riding on the 3rd class train was an exceptional experience

A closer look at the railway

The tour package I booked was about 1,000 Baht, it included trip to spend the day at Erawan waterfall, elephant riding and bamboo rafting.

The last stop would end at visiting the Death railway and riding the rail for couple of stops before dropping me off at River Kwai Bridge but I chose to return the next morning.

The bridge was bombed by the Allied in an attempt to halt Japanese's further intrusion

The bridge is an important supply link to the Japanese during WWII

The bridge over River Kwai

The bridge was the frequent target of bombing raids by the Allied in attempts to halt Japanese's further intrusion where they were believed to build the link to supply the war in Burma and India.

The Japanese would force the Allied prisoners of war out from the prisoner camp to line up on the bridge and to friendly wave off the threats of bombers.

The bridge was eventually taken out by the bombers in one of the strike, taking Allied prisoners of war with it. It's rebuilt after the war ended.

Amusing Raft House in Kanchanaburi

Things are moving now, though not at its full speed but it's moving seemingly well for everyone and myself so far. I'm a happier man, nothing else more important than this.

At point of writing, it should be at the near end of my exploration weeks backpacking in Taiwan, I didn't make it, this is supposed to be one of the most exciting trip that I've been looking forward to.

Well, I'm going plan for it again next year, or maybe this year around October.

World War II

World war two, or the second world war, was considered started in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland, and ended in 1945, resulting of some believed to be around 70 millions fatalities.

The war of the Axis and Allies, which later became global with the invasion of Japan into Manchuria, was ended by the defeat of Germany and Japan in 1945, was the saddest incident that had left many in disaster and unimaginable pains to many lives.

I had been reading articles and books about WWII, it's very temperamental being able to understand the past, our grand parents' history, it's part of us.

I felt the duty to understand and learn about our pasts so we could appreciate what we have today. It was because of those warriors in the past who fought the war and defended our mother land from the intruders that we now could tell ourselves this is our home.

Sugarcane Guesthouse

I moved to stay on Sugarcane Guesthouse the next day in Kanchanaburi, it's a very pleasant and enjoyable guesthouse.

The guesthouse is located at Rongheabaoy 1 road, very much at the center where the backpackers hang out, but it's less travelers in the month of May which has the most raindrops.

Sugarcane guesthouse in Kanchanaburi

I managed to squeeze a little bit out of original rate of 500 Baht due to low occupancy of visitors at this time of the year, after checking at the room condition like I always did, I decided to take on the double single bed rafting room for 400 Baht a night with fan.

You don't need an air-conditioned room as the night usually is quite chilling. And these single bed room would ranged around 200 - 350 Baht.

Single bed room and the little garden

The staircase connects to the floating houses

I settled down quickly and rested outside my room, there were chairs outside each room, then only I realized how beautiful the river view was from the rafting room, it was believable to have such a stunning sight.

The river was motionless, it was perfectly calm, I could hear the birds singing, it's only this moment my mind was completely shut down on literally everything, the trip itinerary, work, problems and people back home, never was I feeling so focused and relaxed.

The river was perfectly calm and motionless, stunning, I'd never feel so relaxed

If you were wondering, I wasn't having beer bottle in my hand, it's 8 o'clock in the morning, I'd be freak if I did that =)

I'd later come back for the Sunset in the evening after my day tour to Erawan National Park, elephant riding and bamboo rafting.

Opposite the river bank, there were houses and what seemingly more luxurious hotels surrounded by the greens.

Top view of rafting house

The room was spotless and clean, the wooden floor and wall intended to make any traveler feel closer to the nature.

Wifi was within range, and pretty fast, one of the condition I must say would determine whether I was going to take on any room.

It's rather common to have Internet connection accessible in the room or at least at the dining or resting area, which was to me a facility that a budget hotel would have conveniently provided to any travelers nowadays.

Clean & spotless bed of Sugarcane guesthouse

400 Baht twin bed rafting house with fan

The toilet wasn't spotless but was ok enough for me to take the room.

The bathroom was ok, never mind the spots

Sunset was beautiful at the river front

The restaurant served good european food, though I haven't tried other than omelet for breakfast, it was fantastic! The price was quite fare for typical backpackers,

Crispy omelet served at Sugarcane guesthouse

That night, after a satisfying spicy Tomyam soup with beef rice for dinner at The Frog restaurant (no frog was served for your information), I was invited to join for wines and beers with a group of expats' wives, it was a retreat to get away from busy life in Bangkok.

I always liked random invitation and the occasional free drinks, those mothers, they were awesome, and strictly no photo!

I was told they didn't understand why people including their kids love posting pictures on Facebook, they felt their privacy was taken away.

Indeed, Facebook exposed our privacy, and you don't know when suddenly a random unpleasant photos of yours being posted and tagged and before you know it, your mom, husband or wife, bosses and thousands would have seen it!

Next, I'd be working on my last post of Kanchanaburi before moving on to edit some amazing Ayutthaya pictures for posting.

Erawan National Park, Kanchanaburi

Sprained my ankle playing basketball on Saturday, it was bad and I don't intend to post a picture of it! I have to act OK in front of my mom which was the toughest thing to do with the striking pain, luckily she never asked me to jump to prove I wasn't acting in front of her.

Great... Now I have my shoulder and ankle to worry and no basketball for at least two weeks, that's also why I was staying home over the weekend.

My aunts and cousins came to visit this morning, it was sweet seeing their kids, now are between 3 - 8 years old, very lively but shy to communicate with their uncle except this sweet 3 year-old little kid, I thought he like me. He sure had a lot of fun playing with Vivi, my 6 year-old schnauzer.

My first week in action in my dad's company, it's mixed feeling. I'm new to this company but I feel comfort. I thought I'd feel bored about this business but I'm fully motivated to keep things going. To say it's in my blood I'm not exaggerating, maybe after all, it's my father's legacy.

Kanchanaburi

Visiting Kanchanaburi wasn't as mundane as I was expecting, surprisingly, it was rather exciting to find so much history from the World War II by the Japanese. I have a more introduction of Kanchanaburi that have some detail information on how to get there and which guest houses I stayed in earlier post so I won't need to write again.

I left Bangkok from Thonburi train station to Kanchanaburi, I remembered having the delicious noodle soup before paying 100 Baht to take the cab to the station in the morning.

The experience traveling to Kanchanaburi on train was unforgettable one, the ticket was available for only 100 Baht, reaching the destination in less than four hours.

I took the tour package for 1,000 Baht from the tour agency on the street, pretty decent price I paid for any day trip that include transportation to ride the elephant, bamboo rafting, Erawan waterfall, visiting the Death railway and finally dropping off at my guest house after short visit to the Bridge of River Kwai, and lunch of course.

The elephant riding was bumpy and uneasy, but once I synced with its rhythm it was going fine, such a great experience particularly when the elephant went into the river.

The elephant was as calm as the water

Going to get soak!

A shot with the 70 year-old elephant

Bamboo rafting was at the other part about 10 minutes drive from the elephant spot.

The water was cold, the sight of the calmly surrounding was just relaxing, I took a swim alongside the bamboo raft, but you better be sure to stick around though the current wasn't strong, safety first.

The manned bamboo rafting

The rare sighting of me, thanks to my rafting companion

Erawan Waterfall, National Park

Erawan National Park was designated in 1975, it covered 550 km of high mountains and attractive valleys.

Erawan National Park

Erwan Waterfall

The 7 tiered Erawan Waterfall

The 7 level of this stunning waterfall was surrounded by beautiful trees, monkeys and orchids. There was a small trails up to the 6th and from there you have to scramble your way up the cliff to reach the 7th level which I managed to go as high as 6th tier due to time factor.

It required some stamina to do the hiking, it could be the possible key factor too that I wasn't reaching the top, haha.

The trail to the top tier

The wooden bridge

The sight of the tumbling water and free fish spa experience was simply awesome, though tinglish but it was quite fun to sit by the slippery rock and put your feet into the water so the fishes could perform the magical foot massage for you.

Free fish spa

There were a few interesting people I met that took on the same package and trip with me, particularly this English at his early 60s, who was retired and earned his living creating friendly neighbourhood website for folks around his town and traveling Asia first time.

And a lovely couple from London working for Apple who were planning to visit KL in August that I'd be the host if not of my father's condition.

There was plenty of combination to take on for the tour package, if you like to spend more time at the waterfall you can do so. The group usually ended up meeting each other at lunch discussing about how great the experience was and planning on traveling together on next destination.

Trust me, it must be good after long hour of exhausting hiking

Next, I'll be working on the Death railway and the Bridge of River Kwai post.

Train to Kanchanaburi and The Rafting Guest Houses

It is my last day today with XM-Asia, the digital company was also my client back then I first engaged with after selling off my start-up in year 2007.

If you are following me closely I'm going to get my hands on my dad's security business, I have a few plans, but the uncertainties await.

Life goes on albeit the uncertainties, that's the general story that I've been telling everyone and everyone's telling me it's going to be fine. Thank you.

Throughout the years, I learned to share, good or bad. Many had shown some encouraging kindness and spoken about some considerably good advices, more so just kind words and later forget about it, I thank you all for listening.

Kanchanaburi

Muang Kanchanaburi is located 150km at the west of Bangkok, The Golden City has a very dark past where the Allied prisoners of war were enslaved by the Japanese army to build the death railway and the bombing of the Bridge of River Kwai during the infamous World War II.

Ten of thousands of prisoners of war died as the result of brutal treatments under the Japanese fearful force. Many died of malnutrition after working day and night with little food supplied, and deceases that spread across the camp that were never treated properly due to lack of medical care for these unwanted labours.

Kanchanaburi is very much for cultural focused tourists, it's definitely not the most famous tourist spot for party goers as the nightlife is rather calm and no beach to be found but the serene and relaxed river awaits.

Beautiful rafting guest rooms at Khancanaburi

Taking The Train to Kanchanaburi

Don't bother to walk to Thonburi train station from Khao San road unless you know exactly where you are heading to, and if you do, it's going to be in the morning. I almost made it to Thonburi by foot at night to get the train ticket, sadly I got lost and paid extra Baht to get a taxi only to find out that they don't sell next day's ticket..

The attempt was in the evening and the night walk was not something unusual for such an unwise daring character like me, but the confident always wore off in the end I just had to rely on the local taxi drivers.

Thonburi train station

The railway

The fan train to Kanchanaburi

Settling down on the train

The train usually was very punctual at arriving and departing, there were still some time and I decided to go off the train.

Emo shot

There was a market across the station and I took some quick bites.

Street food across the station

Traveling with the non air-conditional train was particularly exciting, usually filled with local passengers but it didn't get filled up at least until halfway through the journey to Kanchanaburi. There were food and drink sellers coming up and down.

There were very little tourists traveling from Thonburi station, I wondered if it's because it's low season month.

The goings and scenery were fascinating, the train passed by temples, houses and padi fields and were very original. I got worried a bit on which station to stop, was very alert after traveling for two hours as I knew it's getting nearer.

The goings scenery on the train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi

My worries quickly eased off after a traveling Thai girl offered to alert me to make sure I get out of the train when we reach Kanchanaburi, she probably realized what's on my mind from my stressed face after traveling some two hours and half.

The Rafting Guest Houses

I quickly settled down at the first friendly guest house, the main street was just 10 minutes walk from Kanchanaburi station. I still had in mind to check out the Sugarcane guest house that was recommended by my travel book and some Internet blogs that I came across researching.

The room I took for 350 Baht at Maenamkwai road, which is the main street where all tourists stay, was a rafting room that floated quietly on the calm and serene river. Occasionally there were these noisy motor boats carrying raft restaurants passing by.

And yes, again, like usual, I took the twin bed that I didn't need to.

That's the twin bed I took that I didn't usually need to

The bed

Clean toilet

The flooring had some holes that leak

The chairs outside the door could be useful for drinks at night

Calm and quiet surrounding

It's very quiet in the month of May in Kanchanaburi, the bars and restaurants were mostly empty but it's definitely one of the best time to travel here if you want a bit of the peacefulness from the heritage town.

Make sure you pay a visit to the night market at the Sangchuto road beside the railway station, there were a lot of good local food for takeaway, I brought them all back to my guest house resting area, and I bought more food than I could eat.

Potato fries

Sticky rice with choices of dishes

It rained that night, the smell of the rain made me so comfortable and soothed on a swing chair, the mind was so relaxed but it wouldn't feel complete if it was without a few bottles of Singha beer, if only the wooden swing chair was powered to swing on its own.

The next day was a full day on tour package to Erawan Waterfall, elephant ride, visiting at the Death Railway before taking the train and stopping at the famous Bridge of River Kwai. I'd recommend anyone to visit the bridge early in the morning, it's very busy in the evening. I'll cover this on my next post.

12 Days Thailand Backpacking Itinerary

I had been acting on a few very taxing roles for the past months tirelessly, an employee in my agency, and taking over the role of my dad making every decision with the board in his security arm force business, a grown up kid who was seemed to be capable of making all the toughest call in the family, a runner to keep track of all my dad's personal matters, etc.

Feeling that I was running out of steam eventually I made a decision that I could really use a break during this defining moment to decide what needs to be decided, plan what needs to be planned, and do what needs to be done especially after dad had fallen sick two months ago.

I almost couldn't make this trip, after speaking to mom, I knew she wanted me to be around when she needed me most, I had to go on the trip and she understood. It's not an easy decision, trust me. It's been two months from initially in and out to hospital, dad was finally home when he was at 25% consciousness.

Now, he's at 70%, we are a bit relieved.

Synopsis of My Thailand trip

My original itinerary for Thailand was a mixed trip that include some of the most experiential cultural explorations, quiet exotic rural villages set towards the northwest border of Thailand, and vibrant busy Bangkok city schedule, and a little moment at the famous Koh Chang.

I've kept half of the original list of places to visit, and dropped some at the very last minute every time I was on the brink of leaving each town or city. Not because they weren't worth visiting, just some impromptu adjustments due to weather and other considerations like travel mates.

After spending a few days in Bangkok for shopping and clubbing, I went on west to rather quiet town Kanchanaburi, it was low season, hardly saw any travelers on the main street otherwise going to be busy town.

Vibrant and busy city traffics in Bangkok

The maddest food at Khao San road

Death railway at Kanchanaburi

Cemetery of the prisoner of war in World War  2

Ayutthaya, the ancient city of Siamese kingdom that existed between 1351 - 1767 was as amazing as told by all the sources I have heard whether from the mouth of the backpackers or the Internet.  

Ancient pagodas' remain in Ayutthaya

The amazing Wat Chai Watthanar

The amazing Wat Chai Watthanar

I was back to Bangkok for transit to Koh Samui, spent couple of night at Chaweng beach. It's the weather at the beach I worried so much it turned out to be better than expected unlike in Bangkok where it rained every day. 

Sunny day on Chaweng beach, Koh Samui

And came home on a super comfortable bus (each passenger has his/her own TV) through Hatyai, Sadao and passed the border Dan nok and Bukit Kayu Hitam back to Kuala Lumpur.

Thailand Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrival in Bangkok
Day 2 - Bangkok
Day 3 - Bangkok
Day 4 - Bangkok > Kanchanaburi
Day 5 - Kanchanaburi
Day 6 - Kanchanaburi > Ayutthaya
Day 7 - Ayutthaya > Bangkok > Koh Samui
Day 8 - Koh Samui
Day 9 - Koh Samui
Day 10 - Koh Samui > Hatyai > Dan nok
Day 11 - Dan nok
Day 12 - Dan nok > Kuala Lumpur

View [Thailand] Backpack sampler in 2011 in a larger map