A Step Off The Beaten Path

Our time in southeast Asia is quickly drawing to a close. So we’ve begun making our way back up to Bangkok, where we’ll embark on the next leg of our journey. In the meantime, let me catch you up on what we’ve been doing.

If you’ll recall the last post, we had been mostly lounging on the island of Ko Yao Noi. The easiest route we could take to Bangkok seemed to run through the island of Phuket. Indeed, Phuket is the largest island in Thailand. But it’s so large and essentially connected to the mainland that you don’t even feel like you’re on an island. Famous for its beaches, Phuket has long staked a claim as one of the country’s primary tourist destinations. We tend to avoid these types of places and so only planned on staying for 2 nights (time enough to plan our next stops on our way northward). But we felt so comfortable at our guest house (and its air conditioning!) located very close to family-friendly Karon Beach that we stayed for 4 nights.

Enjoying the sunrise at Karon Beach

Have I mentioned it’s HOT here? That’s really saying something coming from me! Temperatures regularly top 100 degrees and the humidity is through the roof. Lori noted that she’s taken cold showers for 3 straight weeks. At this point, we’ve given up on the experiment of trying to “get used to it” and now make it a prerequisite for our accommodation to have AC.

That includes buses. For our overnight bus trip from Phuket to Bangkok, we decided to splurge and take the fancy VIP bus. Supposedly the most luxurious bus transport available, these double-decker buses seat most passengers on the top level. They look and feel top heavy. From the moment it left the bus terminal, I could feel it rocking and swaying back and forth as though I had boarded a boat on turbulent seas. Miserable. As soon as we reached Bangkok, we immediately boarded another (much better) bus to take us to our final destination, Kanchanaburi, a smaller town 2 hours west of Bangkok and noteworthy for its historical significance as well scenic countryside.

During World War 2, the Japanese used Allied prisoners of war to build a railway from Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma so they could supply their army without the dangers of sending supplies by sea. Did you know that their ultimate goal was the conquest of western Asian countries including India? Many POWs (mostly British and Australian, but some US solders as well) and a staggering number of Asian laborers died under appalling conditions during the railway construction and the line became known as the ‘Death Railway’.  It was immortalized in David Lean’s 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, which centers around one of the line’s main engineering feats, the bridge across the Kwae Yai river at the north end of Kanchanaburi. Allied bombers did destroy a piece of the bridge, but it has since been repaired, and still carries regular local passenger trains from Bangkok as far as Nam Tok (another 2 hrs north of Kanchanaburi).

I even downloaded the movie for us to watch in anticipation of our visit this site. Turns out that the movie is mostly fiction (and not all that entertaining at that). Far more dramatic is a visit to Hellfire Pass. Located about 80 km (50 miles) north of Kanchanaburi, the Australian government has cleared several kilometers of the old track-bed on a section of track no longer in use as a memorial to the 13,000 allied prisoners and 90,000 Asian laborers who died building the railway.  The site includes the Hellfire Pass cutting, where Japanese soldiers forced workers to cut through a solid rock mountain by hand using primitive tools for long hours and under horrible working conditions. At some point, the Japanese implemented a “speedo” pace to move up the project’s completion and conditions worsened.  The site takes its name for the way the site looked at night by fire light.

Looking down Hellfire Pass from above

A separate, but equally worthwhile activity is to ride the Death Railway from Nam Tok to Kanchanaburi. Along the way, you get to ride along the Kwae river on several occasions (very pretty) as well as over the Wanpo viaduct, which was also built by POWs.

On the death railway. Note the Wanpo viaduct nestled along the cliff edge to the left. The train gets so close, you fear it will collide with a jagged edge and topple over.

Anna looks out over the River Kwae. No, it’s not actually the River Kwai and it’s correctly pronounced “quare”.  Kwai, as we’ve been calling it, means buffalo, which I’m sure causes the locals to chuckle 🙂

On Saturdays, Kanchanaburi features a fun night market where you can sample all kinds of strange and interesting foods. The kids discovered a new dessert treat they called sugar tacos (see the video and pic below)

Get your sugar fix with these sugar tacos. Just stuff your green sugar tortilla with the colorful cotton-candy-like sugar filling.

Gage enjoys sweet sticky rice and beans cooked in a bamboo husk

Before heading back to Bangkok, we cooled off in the waters of Erawan Falls, a 7-tier waterfall located within the Erawan National Park, another 1.5 hr drive west. The drive is worth the effort as the park is beautiful and well maintained. Shaded trails take you from tier to tier and each has a lovely swimming hole to take a dip. I took Gage (just kidding!). As a bonus (depending on your point of view), the waterways and pools come loaded with carp-like fish of varying sizes that insist on nibbling at your feet. That’s right, free foot massage! They took a particular interest in Lori, who willingly indulged them until a swarm of larger, more aggressive fish freaked her out. But we certainly enjoyed the exercise, the beautiful surroundings, and the opportunity to stay cool on another hot day.

Tier 2 at Erawan Falls

Free fish massage!

We get to revisit Bangkok for our last 5 days in southeast Asia. Then, we’re fortunate to spend our “Spring Break” in Sydney, Australia and catch up with old friends! More soon . . .