On our last day at the River Kwai we booked into a tour visiting the the Hellfire Pass about 50 miles north of Kanchanaburi. Here we learnt even more about the Burma-Thailand Railway and the suffering that went on there. Hellfire Pass was the name given to it by the PoW's because much of the work was done at night under torch light. Before this, our tour included a visit to the Erawan Falls. It was a fairly strenuous two hour work out as we climbed up and down the 7 tiers of the falls. It was very beautiful and lots of people stopped off to bathe in the pools on the way up. After lunch and a further hour on the minibus we arrived at the Hellfire Pass Museum. This repeated to some extent what we learned in the museum visits in Kanchanaburi. We then descended some steep steps from the Museum down to the old railway track bed that led after a short walk to the Hellfire Pass Cutting where the conditions were particularly bad for the men who worked there., We were then taken to the Thamkra Sae station half an hour away for a 30 minute train ride on part of the 130 km railway that still functions today. After a brilliant day we arrived back to our Hotel at 5.45 just in time for sunset.
Today has been the first of our two full days in kanchananburi and having scheduled stuff in the out regions tomorrow we knew we had to cram in all the local visits today. We started with an early morning stroll across the famous River Kwai Bridge which is right next to our resort - at 8.30 am we had the bridge pretty much to ourselves. Here English is not as widely spoken and maps provided were not to scale so sorting out our itinerary for the day was a challenge. So we hopped on an open taxi and for a couple of pounds were dropped at the Allied War Cemetary and spent a good amount of time paying our respects and walking up and down the rows of graves beautifully maintained by the the War Graves commission in the uk. The Cemetary was overlooked by Death Railway Museum which was brilliant and consumed 2 hours of our time - both these visits in all a very emotional experience. Later in the day we visited 2 other museums and the Chungkai War Cemetary which had even better flowering shrubs than the first. Our visit to Chungkai was via a speedy long tail boat that you will see pictured here (yet again proving water to be the best mode of transport in Thailand). Tomorrow we are on an organised tour which takes the pressure off us planning and filling our day.
10.00 am pick up from hotel, short transfer to Chaing Mai airport and an on time departure to Bangkok. The flight was little more than one hour but we were still given a meal. We were full from our hotel breakfast and the free crab puffs and chocolate brownies in the Bangkok Airways lounge. The transfer from Bankok Airport to Kanchanaburi (River Kwai) was a 3 hour trip. There was heavy traffic in and around Bangkok and road closures in the City due to the political unrest. We arrived at the Felix River Kwai Resort at 5.20 and set about exploring. It's fabulous here the resort is right by the River Kwai Bridge. Some early pics below.
As it was our last full day in Chaing Mai we had to see the Wat Phra That Temple which is regarded as the main tourist highlight. The temple is perched near the top of the Doi Suthep mountain that overlookes the City. So after lunch we piled aboard a 12 seater mini bus for the 40 minute trip the last half of which was on a steep narrow winding road to the summit. Our Thai tour guide told us the mythology of this important Buddhist site going back to the thirteenth hundreds when a strong white elephant, carrying the remains of a leading monk, died on the spot so the temple was built there. We went up in a funicular to the temple - Very busy as you can imagine as the leading tourist site with believers there for worship mixing with masses of other tourists. After time in the temple and descending the ornate stairway of 300 or so steps to the car park, we were whisked even further up the mountain to see a hill tribe with Chinese origins for the final part of the half day trip. Then we were back in the bus fighting our way through the City's rush hour traffic back to our hotel for gin and tonic before going out for our last night in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow we move on to Kanchanaburi (River Kwai) for three nights.
Yesterday we went on an organised tour to Chaing Rai province and the Golden Triangle. It turned out to be a tiring and eventful day which included a 30 minute wait at a pick up for a couple that didn't show, a 180 mile each way white knuckle ride in a minibus which was also damaged at one of our stops (while we were still in it) by a runaway truck with brake failure! Our first stop was at the White Palace seen here which is a fairly recently constructed temple and cultural centre, very busy but not to be missed. We then drove to the Golden Triangle (so called because of it's previous focus with the drug trade) where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar (Burma that was) and Laos converge. After lunch it was off for our trip on a Mekong River boat which included a 30 minute stop in Laos (no passport required) to buy wares at a riverside market including tasters of local whiskey fermented with cobras, snakes etc. Then it was back across the river to Thailand for viewpoint and other picture stops before heading back on our long trip to Chaing Mai. This was broken briefly by calling in to see the long neck Karen Tribe, driven out of Burma apparently but now making a living in Thailand as a tourist attraction. Arriving back in Chaing Mai at 9.15pm we stumbled into a pub near our hotel for 'refreshment' leaving at 1.00 am!
Wow what a day we have had! Within 45 minutes of climbing aboard a communal taxi outside our hotel we were inside the big cat compound at The Tiger Kingdom. Once we had signed their "don't blame us if they eat you form" we had just a few minutes wait before it was our turn to go in face to face with 3 big ones protected by just one trainer and some instructions not to touch their heads, paws or make any sudden movements while at the same time being told they liked their tummies and tails to be stroked hard. In turn we lay down with the beasts stroking them and lifting their tails etc while the other took an array of amazing photos a couple of which are shown here. Near the end of our 15 minute slot a couple of the beasts started to have a playful tussle right in front of us temporarily blocking off our exit. The cats seemed in beautiful condition and if you believe the blurb were not in any way drugged but reasonably docile as they were bread in captivity and well cared for. The whole event which way exceeded our expectations cost just £4 for the taxi ride there and back and £8 each to get in! After being dropped back near Chaing Mai City Centre we booked trips for our last 2 days here in Chiang Mai before moving on. We finished up strolling around the Market known as the Sunday Walking Street.
Went to a Thai cooking school today. First they take you to a local market to see and explain all the main ingredients used, then off to a farm for the day where all the cooking is done. Steve cooked and I took photo's. Really good fun and informative. We ate everything we cooked. Steve learnt some new skills and will be trying them out big time when we get home. The first photo is in the farm garden with instructor Fon choosing fresh ingredients. It's been a long day so just chilling with a Gin & Tonic before we go out for the evening.
