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.

The Jim Thompson House in Bangkok

There is a lot of uncertainty judging from the latest development of what I believe to be entering second half of the Andrew Lee's life.

I'm quitting my job, not because of traveling, but to try to focus on getting my dad's security arm force company back on track before venturing into other optional startups that I've been planning for some time.

It's going to be challenging years ahead, really, a lot of things to be picked up from where they were left some time ago. But I'm just going to be tougher and being myself once again, the Andrew Lee that was once vocal and confidently taking on all challenges into bed with him every night.

The Jim Thompson House

The Jim Thompson House is a museum in Bangkok, just 5 minutes walk from Lub.d Hostel. It a complex of various old Thai structures that the American businessman Jim Thompson who helped to revitalize the silk industry in 1950s.

That morning, I got up at 10am, later than expected, I think was because of clubbing till late at RCA. RCA was awesome, great sound systems, great music, hot chicks, full of fashionable clubbers. I like it very much.

The weather wasn't really good, gloomy sky.

The food from the roadside was looking particularly nice, and me and the girls just decided to settle down for breakfast. It was awesome, but too spicy I sweated like a pig, wait, does a pig sweat? I don't know.

Fried pork, chicken? I didn't bother too much

There was a cute girl, I was just taking shots at the food and thinking, what's wrong with making her my photo collection?

Not kidding, but super spicy delicious breakfast, the pork was chewy and the vege super spicy

Jim Thompson collected from all parts of Thailand in the 1950s and 60s and putting them together form the art of this museum. It's one of the most visited tourist spot in Bangkok according to wikipedia.

The Jim Thompson House is located on Soi Kasemsan (2) Song, opposite the National Stadium on Rama I Rd.

Opening Hours: 09:00 to 17:00 everyday with the last Guided Tour at 17:00 according to its official website.

Jim Thompson House's entrance

The well preserved traditional old Thai structures

The art gallery houses all the finest silk products of all kind

One of the tour guide reading on some book, they generally speak good English, and Japanese

The flooring, just took some random shots while waiting for the tour before it started

The main hall of Jim Thompson's house

The front yard that is facing the river

Some fine arts in the museum

The signs of years, some duplicate copies are available for purchase

Jim Thompson's conspiracy. He came to Cameroon Highland, Malaysia in 1967 and was disappeared shortly after taking an evening walk.

He took a way at noon, and never returned. Malaysian police forces conducted a thorough search over the jungle but their efforts were futile, he was never found.

His disappearance became a mystery, many books had been published since then, but there were no concreate conclusions and solid facts to back the claims.

As many theorists had try to come to conclusions on the conspiracy of why Jim Thompson had disappeared, his contribution to the silk industry had never been forgotten.

Jim Thompson's foundation continued to operate and expand on the businesses that he owned and his house was preserved and opened to the public for visit.