Kickin’ it in Kanchanaburi
Sawatdee khrap. Emily and I took a break from posting for the last two months. We had many other endeavors to focus on aside from traveling outside of Bangkok. That said, we recently used one of Emily’s personal days to have ourselves a nice three day weekend away from the bustling city. We traveled northwest to the third largest province in Thailand called Kanchanaburi. Despite only being there for about two and a half days, we packed in a lot and had a blast. And as we dive into our travels, we will share some of the rather dark history behind Kanchanaburi as well as some of our updated thoughts on traveling in Thailand.
Our journey began by being one of those individuals who tells the cab driver, “We are going to be late!” to which the driver proceeded to tell us, “Okay, then let’s go fast.” The taxi driver started weaving in and out of traffic expertly. We tipped him well and arrived with only a few minutes to spare. It was a good thing we had those extra minutes because the front desk lady didn’t give us very specific directions on where our van was going to depart from in a sea of vans and buses. Thais being the considerate folk they are, saw two farangs frantically trying to find the right bus and guided us to many wrong buses. Thai people are always considerate, although not necessarily always helpful. Fortunately, the van driver had to use the bathroom and we were able to find the van minutes after it was supposed to leave the station.
The drive to Kanchanaburi only took about three hours including a bit of Friday traffic exiting the city and almost no terrain change. It stayed flat with a seldom hill or two in the distance.
Once we arrived in the city of Kanchanaburi, we headed to our accommodation called Thai Guesthouse. Then we headed down the road to get a late dinner. Our stay was near the train station and by a long strip of restaurants and bars. It looked like a happenin’ area. There was lots of foot and vehicle traffic around. Unfortunately, many of the establishments were either empty or closed. Those that weren’t were filled with young Thai women and ancient bald headed farangs.
Soi Dogs
We seemed to be the only tourists in the area, which we always do love taking advantage of. We headed to Mangosteen Cafe and Bookshop. It had one of the higher ratings in the area and the food from photos looked decent. We were met by the petite owner, Nat, who was closing shop until she saw two hungry people. She was excited to seat us and we had ourselves a small feast with Singha to drink. Nat recommended her Burmese curry which I read about online. She even had apple pie and ice cream which Emily enjoyed.
We were pleasantly surprised by how good the food was and really enjoyed ourselves there. If other meals didn’t work out later on this trip, we knew we could count on this place to serve us a good meal.
JJ Night Market
Next, we walked to JJ Night Market which was only a few minutes away. We were very surprised at how many local people were out at this market. The vibe was uplifting and we found ourselves enjoying more food and taking it all in.
We easily could have continued our night by heading to one of the many bars near our stay (including one that proclaimed, “Come get drunk for 10 baht”) but we knew we had an early start the next morning so we decided to head back and get some rest.
First on the agenda was to find a moto to rent so that we could drive to Erawan Falls and Phra That Cave a little over an hour northwest of where we were staying.
Boom. Moto found and paid for. And we were off!
Sure, it is slightly cheaper to take a songthaew or van to the waterfalls but having the freedom to travel as you please is well worth it. I love riding a moto whenever I get the chance and Emily has gotten used to riding on the back. Because the falls and cave are on the far end of Erawan National Park, it was great to drive along the river and see lots of rolling hills and small mountains as we drove.
We arrived at Erawan Falls, a seven-tiered collection of waterfalls. It is advertised as seven-tiered but as you make your way up, it is clearly more than seven tiers. At the first three tiers, people are allowed to swim in the water as they please. Lots of families were at these first three tiers. There were lots of fish both big and small at these tiers too.
Emily and I rested at each tier and enjoyed the views. One thing we did not expect to find was all the different kinds of butterflies all around the falls. Even having been to a mariposario in the jungle of Peru, there were a lot of butterflies here. It was lovely.
As we made our way past the first three tiers, signs made it clear that no one was to swim or go near the waterfalls for the remaining tiers. We stopped to enjoy the views each time and then continued forward. Towards the last three tiers there was some construction going on and lots of makeshift platforms to walk on. They were building better viewing areas for each tier.
As we started to approach the last tier, we heard rustling above our heads. We stayed quiet and then saw monkeys making their way towards us on the branches above. I know monkeys can be very forceful with taking things from humans so the “Run! sound effect” came into my head and we bolted to the finish line. (Click the link to hear what I mean).
We could hear and see several monkeys behind us as we scurried to the end. The group seemed to stop just short of the waterfall. Phew.
There were a few monkeys who were at the falls already that didn’t seem to mind us near them and they made their way up the side of the falls towards the ridge above.
The sun was definitely looming overhead and the heat was getting to us (especially since we had not eaten yet) and we made our way back down the trail to the entrance.
There were a few stalls near the entrance and we decided to eat lunch at ร้านบ้านมุก ซุ้ม5. Their fried rice was the star of the meal.
After filling our bellies, we drove another 20 minutes northwest to the entrance of Phra That Cave, which is also part of Erawan National Park. From the photos and description it seemed as if this cave was quite large. At the start, a sign stated that there was a 600m trail to the entrance. Boy was this trail steep. We finished it in just under 15 minutes but we were huffing and puffing the whole way.
When we got to the top there was a young military man who spoke zero English. We put on our headlamps and he guided us through the cave. To enter the cave, you had to squeeze your way through the smallest pathway but once you passed it, the cave itself opened up into a huge room. It was unlike anything we have experienced. I have a quality Black Diamond headlamp and even that was struggling to shine light through the depth of the cave. We were in there for nearly twenty minutes walking along a walkway enveloped by this enormous cave. The stalactites and stalagmites were so beautiful and almost unreal at times. The only time the guide paid attention to us was to show us how some of the stones/structures were translucent or sparkly.
I tried taking a video of the cave but because it was basically pitch black the whole time, it was impossible to see much. There was a soi dog (cave dog in this case) that followed us inside the cave which we thought was pretty cool. It is 100% worth the trek up to this vast cave.
The dog escorted us out of the cave and down the trail, back to our moto. From there we headed back to the city to grab dinner.
We found ourselves on the riverfront next to the River Kwai Bridge at Keeree Tara. It definitely seemed to be one of the fancier restaurants in the city from what we could tell. We got to enjoy the lovely view as we watched party boats, jet skies, and other river passerbyers as we ate a wonderfully delicious meal.
We knew we wanted to go to the weekend night market and check out the scene there. As we were moto’ing there, we were distracted by big bright lights and loud voices on microphones. As we turned to see where it was coming from, we saw what looked like a carnival from afar.
Emily and I wanted to check it out. Yep. It was for sure a carnival-type looking fair event, but on a much smaller scale than what we are used to at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair. There were rides and carnival games. There were animals to feed and food a ’plenty. Even down to the apathetic workers who couldn’t care less if you won the big prize or not.
It was quite the sight to see. We have yet to see anything that would resemble this in Thailand as of yet.
The Walking Street Market was also packed with people. Kanchanaburi seems to know how to throw events together. The streets were crowded with people as is expected when a market is open for two nights out of the week. After spending some time people-watching, we felt too exhausted to continue our night. Having walked the majority of the day, we needed to sleep.
We learned that there is only one train that goes from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok on weekdays. With this information, we had to pack in as much as possible on this last day since we would be waking up and getting on the train early in the morning.
With that in mind, we were off.
You can almost always expect there to be really cool wats (temples) anywhere you go in Thailand. We had found what looked to be a huge wat twenty minutes outside the city called Wat Tham Suea (Tiger Cave Temple). Taking a back road to get to it provided nice scenery along the drive.
We passed by a rather large Chinese cemetery on our way to visit the temples. These gravesites were quite different from what we are used to seeing in the US.
Come to find out, the weekend we were there was also the time of an annual Chinese holiday called The Qingming Festival, which is a time to honor ancestors, loved ones who have passed away, and celebrate spring. It is common to leave offerings for the dead, clean and decorate the gravesites, and spend time remembering loved ones. This made sense as to why there were so many people at all the gravesites.
“One of my Thai-Chinese students told me about this holiday the week before because he was going with his family to return to a rural province in Thailand to celebrate this holiday and honor his grandfather as well as other loved ones who had passed away.
This holiday reminds me of Dia de los Muertos and the beautiful ofrendas that are arranged to honor dead loved ones in Mexican culture. It also reminds me of the fleeting and taboo topic that death too often is in American culture. There isn’t a holiday directly comparable to this and I find myself wishing that there was. I think remaining connected with those who have passed on is important. Taking time to remember and honor them is important.”
-Emily
Once we arrived at Wat Tham Suea, we were able to see just how immense the temple was. At the entrance, we were met with a large steep staircase that we had to walk up to get to the temple. Since not everyone can walk up it, they also provide a rickety cart that goes up at the same steep angle. To be honest, the cart at that angle seemed quite dangerous and we opted for just climbing up the stairs.
Straight ahead is where the large buddha sits. To the left, you can walk through the campus (without shoes) and see many views of the surrounding area. One section even had paintings around the entire room that told stories of war and rebellion. We found ourselves alone on many of the floors to soak in all that was around us.
Knowing we had a full day of activities ahead of us, we carefully walked back down the steep flight of stairs. Emily told me to stop the moto for a quick pit stop to another wat that had a dragon coming down from the surrounding mountain called Wat Ban Tham. It was a pretty cool sight to spot from far away.
After this quick pit stop, we drove another 40 minutes west to check out Prasat Mueang Sing Historical Park. Here, we were able to explore what once was a Khmer temple and burial site.
It is a park that features the remains of two ancient Khmer temples that date back to around the 13th and 14th centuries. It was considered an official historical park in 1960. The structures are created primarily with laterite, a clay-type material that is made from soil and rock that is considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas.
We enjoyed taking in the ancient ruins and learning a bit more about the history of this area.
At this point in the day, it was getting quite hot and we hadn’t eaten yet, so we decided to leave early after seeing the main ruins and headed back to the city to eat lunch.
We settled on Zab Zab near our guesthouse for lunch. It was a standard but well done and tasty Thai meal.
By the end of our meal it was starting to lightly rain. We knew that a lot of rain was forecasted for this weekend and we were fortunate that up until this point, it had barely rained. Based on how the rain was beginning to come down, we figured it was going to get worse. We drove back to our guesthouse just two blocks away and by that time, the rain started to come down much harder. We were lucky to have gotten back just in the nick of time.
We rested and rinsed off the sweat from the day and waited till the rain was back to a light sprinkle before heading back out.
We had many museums and more historical ventures on our to-go list but with our time being cut short, the rain clouds above, and places closing early, we had to move. We first drove to the River Kwai Bridge.
Maybe you have heard of some of the films based on the history of this area - The Bridge on the River Kwai, Return from the River Kwai, or The Railway Man.
While there are many museums and historical buildings that showcase the history in depth of this area, we visited the JEATH War Museum (named after the primary nations who were involved in constructing the railway — Japanese English Australian American Thai and Holland) to learn more about the history of Kanchanaburi’s role in various conflicts over the past few centuries.
Because of the rain, I believe we were the only occupants at the museum at that time. Half of the museum was about the history of warfare between Myanmar and Thailand and the other dealt with the history of WWII in Kanchanaburi.
To speak to the former, Kanchanaburi was established as a “defensive outpost” by King Rama I to defend against possible Burmese attacks from the west. The conflicts between Thailand and Burma (now Myanmar) were mainly over economic issues and trade. From the 1500s to the 1700s there were various wars between the two nations. There were many murals in the museum depicting these conflicts.
In the 19th century the British colonized Burma and this stopped any future wars. After WWII, diplomatic relations were established in 1948. Today there is political dialogue between the countries; however, tensions still remain.
A bit more about WWII and Kanchanaburi…
In December of 1941 Thailand, then named Siam, was invaded by Japan. This would lead to Kanchanaburi being under Japanese control in 1942. It was here that Allied Prisoners Of War as well as thousands of civilians from Southeast Asia were forced to work and construct the now well-known Bridge over the River Kwai and Death Railway. Almost half the prisoners working to build the bridge and railway died of disease and maltreatment. Japan used this railway to access Burma which it also occupied between 1942-1944.
According to culturetrip.com it is estimated that more 60,000 POW were enslaved on the Death Railway, almost 13,000 were believed to have died. Also, at least 90,000 Southeast Asian civilians were forced to work as well. This is how the Death Railway gets its name.
The JEATH War Museum provided great insight into Thailand’s past as well as showcased the tools, weapons, vehicles, and many images from that time. They even had part of the original wooden railway made by the POW. The grey skies pair well with the solemn tone the museum held.
Since the rest of the museums we had planned on visiting were closed by this point in the day, we dropped off the moto and walked to Mangosteen Cafe to eat dinner. We had such a good experience the first time we figured we would go back again one last time. Nat was very thankful and we had another great meal.
We followed this up by walking to JJ Market again and enjoyed some street food while we walked in the sprinkling rain. After another day full of walking, we headed to bed to relax and rest before leaving early the next morning.
We woke up at 6:20am to make sure to allow time to troubleshoot unexpected issues at the train station. This would be the first time I would be riding an actual long-distance train on train tracks! (The Southshore doesn’t count.) It was a bit of a blast into the past with the creaks and open air windows. A cross off the ol’ bucket list for sure.
With our weekend vacation coming to a close, Emily wanted to share some thoughts and reflection on traveling:
“I really enjoyed this trip to Kanchanaburi, and in many ways it has felt different from the first couple of trips we've made since moving to Thailand. First, we have been living in Thailand now for about 7 months which makes it so we are overall more familiar with navigating Thailand. Also, I am more comfortable with some of the aspects of travelling here - getting used to riding on the back of a moto, catching a bus, finding a good-location accommodation, and getting used to what smaller Thai cities look and feel like. Sounds like simple things but I realize now how important they can be. I had a few moments where Kanchanaburi reminded me of other places we have travelled in Thailand, and that felt really great to feel like aspects of our trip were familiar, instead of feeling like every single thing was new and foreign.
What I predicted to be one of the biggest challenges of living abroad for me was the unfamiliarity and the stress that would bring. I think that prediction has come true. Although, I am beginning little by little to feel more comfortable and aspects of Thailand are becoming more familiar. With that comes some easing of the mental and emotional stress, which leads to more relaxed and enjoyable time spent here. My experience so far hasn't necessarily been negative, just has required a significant adjustment.
Also we had a few strikes of good luck, which really helped!
1. We thought we were gonna be late to the van station but somehow our taxi driver was a beast and dropped us off with five minutes to spare. 🤩
2. We made it to almost all the places on our list to visit.
3. The rain only came a few times for short periods of time and didn’t completely derail our plans.
4. The restaurants were very tasty.
Only bad luck was that we got the closing time wrong for the Death Railway Museum which was a bummer. But at least we got to go to the bridge and the war museum.”
Kanchanaburi treated us well. We only have positive things to say from our short trip. The people, food, and activities were all certainly worth the trip. We hope to make a few more long weekend trips to the surrounding areas before the school year ends. Stay tuned!
