Been a long long time since I've blogged now that I have the Facebook app on my iPhone....but there are certain memories I want to keep so I decided that blogging is as good as keeping a diary.
Took a short break to Kanchanaburi and Bangkok, 5 days to be exact. Starting from a 6 am flight to Bangkok from Phuket cos we want to get as much into our itinerary as possible. After a bleary and sleepy flight, we landed at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. Anyone asking, it's pronounced "Soo-Var-Na-Poom" don't ask me why there's an 'i' at the end of the spelling.
Lucky thing for us, while we were the there, the long-awaited Airport Link has just opened, not that I was aware there was such a thing, I'm used to taking the metered cabs in Bangkok. So anyway, it really just literally just opened and was in the probation status so they were giving out free tickets, so we took the very quick airport link to town, FYI, it ends at Phya Thai station where there is a BTS station, but unlike Singapore where everything is connected, you have to get off the airport link station, and cross the road to the BTS station. So we had to carry our luggages and walk down the stairs (apparently Thais don't believe in escalators going downwards nor do they believe in elevators for public transport).
Airport Link
My bell boy carrying all the luggage to get to the Phya Thai station.
At the BTS station, where do I get to meet Ken?
Stopping at Victory Monument, site of the Red Shirt protests just a month ago. Here we took the provincial vans to Kanchanaburi province, just 2-hours west of Bangkok.
We arrived at the bus station after a stuffy ride, they really do maximise their profits by squeezing in people to the max in the van. I was stuck on the backseat initially and was already car-sick before even hitting the Bangkok highway. Once out of the city, I was lucky someone got off at the first stop so I immediately moved in front. No matter how many Super Lemons I suck, I doubt I would have lasted 2 hours. Anyway, at the station we caught a private "songtaew" which is like the local tuk-tuk to our pre-booked guesthouse for the night, for only 60 Baht (S$2.5)!!! And not per person!
VN Guesthouse. I booked a raft room for a night cos I didn't know how bad it would be...I didn't come to expect much cos this only cost THB 400 (S$18) a night with aircon and private bathroom. And floating over the river as well. I don't do too good being suspended over something, I like terra firma.
Modest, cosy, clean room
But what made it all worth it was the view!!! Despite the prison feel to this due to the mosquito netting...I actually had a private balcony over the water, but upon venturing out, we happened upon a HUGE water monitor which resembled a komodo dragon swimming in the water, and promptly decided there would be no dipping of the toes in the river. And upon using the bathroom I realise that everything goes into the river and therefore, no dipping. Preferably no contact with the river water at all.
Shower and toilet. I got motion sickness sitting on the toilet bowl....bad timing too cos a speedboat sped by, causing waves.
A Chinese pavilion in the distant, as taken from the room.
Lazy cat lazing at the restaurant
Headed to lunch at the guesthouse's restaurant, the food in Kanchanaburi is really good. And they take very spicy food too for people this up north. Usually the Southerners prefer spicy food to the Northerners. And it was quite interesting to hear the rather Chinese lilt to their Northern Thai dialect as opposed to the sing-song melody of Southern dialect. I actually like the Northern accent better than the South.
And the guesthouse actually hires Burmese workers as reception staff, and it was nice to hear someone speaking worse Thai than me. Bwahahaha. But I always find it fascinating that two strangers in a foreign land speaking and understanding each other in the local language. Who would have thought I could converse with a Burmese in Thai?
We rented a motorbike from the guesthouse for THB 200 a day (S$8), automatic Honda Click which devoured gas like crazy. Turned out that petrol was more expensive than the rent of the vehicle. Headed off to Sai Yok district as I wanted to see the ancient city.
Frankly this whole trip, I had absolutely no idea on the geography of the attractions. If I had gone with my original itinerary, we would have wasted hours going in circles. There just wasn't enough information online for me to research on where to go. They will indicate the district each attraction is in but not on the map. We managed to get a photocopied map from the guesthouse and had to figure out how to go.
Driving around, I realise that Sup is an absolutely terrible navigator. There really is no point in getting a GPS system for our car because he just cannot read maps. Trusting a voice to tell you to turn right or left is not enough for me, I don't trust that the system won't mess up and send me to Nakhon Ratchasima instead of Nakhon Sri Thammarat. Thank goodness I am an excellent map reader. But I cannot read Thai roadsigns, which made going around slightly challenging. And the map wasn't drawn to scale, so that means what looks so near on the map is in reality so freakin far away. Anyway, we eventually got to where I wanted to go and more.
At Prasat Muang Sing, an ancient Khmer city dating back to the 12th century, located next to the River Kwai Noi. I like ancient cities and historical sites, I love being to bask in a place with a history, imagining how people once lived there, wat dramas went on there etc.
During excavation of the city, they actually discovered a pre-historic burial site dating back 10,000 years.
There had 4 main sites to see in this historical park, 2 of the sites were just piles of stones like this, and as much as I try to be romantic in my point of view, I don't see why they had to make this monument an attraction. And the description...they ought to get someone to re-write their brochure a little to make it more WOW. This was describe as "These ancient ruins are parts of a building of small scale, made of brick and laterite." Gee...
A Miniature Model of the city, the building you see is the city centre (known as Monument number 1), possibly where royalty / priesthood lives. And the grass area would be where the villages and homes would be, with the city wall surrounding it.
Part of the main city centre
This is Monument Number 2, described as "This building is also a building complex, situated to the northwest of ancient Monument Number 1, facing east." Followed by a massive description of the materials used and the structure which I can see for myself. Gee...no one wants to know what this building is made of, they want to know what it was used for.
Monument number 1, described as "This monument is a building complex comprising of wall, gates, gallery and several buildings." See what I mean, it helps nothing with my understanding of this place. Having been studying this site for decades, I'm sure the scholars would have better things to say than "This is a building with more buildings insides made of stone."
Me contributing to the general cleanliness of the place.
Back entrance of the main city centre
Front entrance, having to pass through a courtyard-like place before entering the building.
At the main entrance
Inside
Side corridors on the inside
I was quite disappointed that they didn't put more effort into describing the place or attributing any life to the place besides the obvious. Their brochure did nothing to help me understand the place. I'm sure they would have by now come to an understanding of what the city was like, what sort of livelihood was taken on by the people, how did it come to an end etc. Instead of describing it as a building made of laterite and stone and bricks, which I can see for myself, thank you very much. I hope TAT does something more, or at least get UNESCO interested so they can write a better brochure for you.
We drove around a bit on the same road and at the end of the road, happened upon this very lovely campsite, the River Kwai Cabin. We decided to book ourselves into their little cottage for the next night.
Idyllic getaway, this would be perfect for a youth camp, they even have a campfire place and plenty of space. But what won me over was the view...more of that later.
Driving back, Kanchanaburi's countryside is gorgeous with the rising limestone hills set in the background of the green ricefields. Wat I imagined Thailand would be before I got here. If you watched enough American Vietnam war movies, you would know what I mean.
That night after dinner we still have some energy left, bear in mind this is still the same day we woke up at 5am to fly to Bangkok and then travel to Kanchanaburi, so we tried to find out where the famous Bridge over River Kwai is. Apparently there is a movie based on the history of the bridge.
For those of you not into history, the short version of this was that during World War II, when the Japs have more or less taken over Asia, they wanted to build a bridge linking Siam to Burma, and so had their POWs build it. The POWs were mainly Australians and New Zealanders, with some British and some American Allies and they started building the railway from two points, one starting from Myanmar and one starting from Thailand (Kanchanaburi shares a border with Myanmar). The hardship and terrible conditions resulted in a lot of deaths among the POWs, from starvation, illnesses and other factors. Every year during ANZAC Day, thousands of Aussies and New Zealanders would flock to this province as a memorial to those who died building the bridge.
Not much to see at night so we went back again in the morning.
Self explanatory of where this is...the memorial cemetary for the Allies soldiers who lost their life building the bridge.
This guy died the same date as my birthday, though obviously not the same year.
We drove back to River Kwai cabin the next day to check into our little wooden cottage.
It was cosy and clean, and costs a little bit more since this is close to the famous Death Railway at THB 1700 (S$71) a night including breakfast, with aircon and heater.
If anyone is interested, this is their Bangkok office number. Or their Website.
And yep, this is how close we are to the railway tracks. View? Priceless.
We wanted to take the train to the last stop and come back again, but the guy at the reception gave us the wrong info about the timing of the train, or perhaps it came early, but we missed it by about 5 minutes. I have never taken a classic train like this before in my life, only the modern trains like MRT or LRT, so I really really really really really wanted to take the train. Going over the dramatic bridge perched against the mountainside somemore~!!! So we decided to walk up to the next stop to catch the train on its return route for 1 stop back to our original station. Better than nothing.
Now walking across the bridge over River Kwai to the next station is not for the faint-hearted. It is a 30m sheer drop on either side with no handrails and you can only pray that the train doesn't come your way while over the bridge cos the only option is to jump down 3m onto the bridge supporting pillars. The walkway is made of wooden planks loosely laid out so I prayed that it would hold my weight. Rain, soggy woodwork = very nervous. YOu get a sense of vertigo as well once you are on it cos there is nothing on the side, nothing to hold onto. You just keep looking at the walkway and put one foot in front of the other.
Occasionally I feel brave enough to take a photo.
Terra firma again....
This sign, next to the bridge, says that water level once reached up here. Apparently the date is Sup's birthday right to the very year. So we figured that when he was born, there was a massive flood in Kanchanaburi Sai Yok district.
There was a cave temple next to the raiway line as well.
View of the bridge from the cave, see what I mean about sheer drop on both sides?
Looking back at our campsite, feeling proud of the accomplishment.
We waited about 30 minutes for the train to come back from the last station. So excited!!!
It was just a 5 minute ride back for 1 stop but oh so worth it. The view is spectacular and it just blows me away that this train is on the very platform I crossed earlier.
I am a fantastic photographer and I managed to get this shot of Sup with the train going across the bridge.
Him? He took a picture of me with trees.
After the train ride we rode out to look for elephant camps.
Inquisitive one.
We took an elephant trek at 100 Baht per person~!! That's S$4 per person for a 30-minute trek!!! THe prices in Kanchanaburi continues to surprise me especially when compared with Phuket. An elephant trek for 30-minutes in Phuket costs THB 750 (S$32) per person! 8 times the difference?!
We even went into the river for the elephant to play a little.
You can also bathe an elephant for THB 650 (S$27) which gives you an up-close experience with the gentle creature. This couple was climbing up and down the elephant and the cheeky elephant kept moving side to side to try to topple them, and once it used its trunk to spray water at them. It was a heartwarming sight to see the elephant so gentle and so full of character.
We also went bamboo rafting. Actually this bamboo rafting was different from what I expected. THe pictures I see are of a narrow bamboo raft with a person steering with a long bamboo stick.
This one has shelter and is wide, very wide. There were 3 groups of us, so they tied us together and used a motorboat to drive us to the top of the river, then release us to let us float back down with the current. We had our own bamboo raft for THB 100 per person. It was very peaceful going down the river, lush forests on both sides, the peace and quiet, hearing forest sounds and river movements. Unfortunately it was that moment I got a crisis at work and my office called me and I was anything but peaceful for the moment. Wasted really.
Back at the campsite, watching the next round of train coming back
Back at the campsite, we had a late lunch, then Sup convinced me to go ATV-ing. It was...an interesting experience, my first and most probably last time at ATV-ing. I'm not very good with this whole driving thing, my brain gets confused with the multiple buttons, one hand on brake, other on accelerator, the foot on the gear. Check gear in neutral, hand on brake, start the engine, released brake, test accelerator, hand on brake again, engage gear, release brake and accelerate. Took me 15 minutes to coordinate all these movements together and I know I will forget everything the trainer taught me once I panic. And there's the reverse gear somemore! I was about to give up cos I cannot get the accelerator and gear thing together, my foot and the gear don't seem to meet so in the end I had to use my hand to change gear, and you know how filthy the gear is?! Well, it was raining a lot and someone had used the ATV earlier and the entire thing was just filthy and muddy. Anyway, I decided to just go for it, if I die at least I died trying. We went off, trainer first, me, and Sup following behind. It was tough terrain, made worse by the muddy conditions. Many a times I panic at a bumpy turn and forgot what I had to do and I just pressed everything, so essentially I was braking and accelerating at the same time and sent a spray of mud flying in Sup's direction. THe muddy terrain was also slippery so my ATV slid and the back wheel got stuck a couple of times. The trainer told me to just accelerate to the fullest while she tried to lift me out and my back wheel squealed with the exertion and I felt so bad cos mud was just spraying all over her. We bought a half hour package for THB 250 (S$11) per person and it still felt too long to me cos I was absolutely terrified and exhilarated, if that makes sense. The power I feel riding on the ATV coupled with the bumps and sharp turns that threaten to toss me off...But I was relieved when we finally left the forest and onto the main tarmac road where I can control the ATV better. But I feel so proud of myself for managing it. Will I try it again? Probably in a dryer season when there is not so much mud around. I was absolutely filthy at the end of the day.
The tracks our ATV left as we emerged from the forest. Sup went crazy trying to create a rubber track with the ATV. He almost tipped over at one point when he made a particularly small circle.
We cleaned up and went on a ride around the Sai Yok district.
Man fishing in River Kwai
Enjoying the cool evening outside our jungle hut
Was a nice night to end our stay in Kanchanaburi. Next morning we headed back to Bangkok for some shopping and pampering. Heading back to Bangkok, the traffic was a killer. Got stuck on 500m of road for 20 minutes?! Whoever does the traffic light system in Bangkok ought to be fired! Imagine a crossroad, traffic heading in the north-south direction has to wait 4minutes at the red light, meanwhile traffic heading the east-west direction keeps going and going, with super poor coordination, the traffic light further up east or further up west turns red so that the cars start accumulating so much so that when it's green light for the north-south traffic to go, they cannot go because cars from the east-west traffic are stuck in the junction due to the red light further up. When the east-west traffic traffic finally clears, the light has changed already for the north-south traffic so they have to waste another 4 minutes waiting for the light. WHy are their traffic lights so long??!!!
Thanks to a lovely friend, we got a room at Dusit Thani Bangkok for a very very reasonable rate, can't say how much cos it's private staff rate, but let's just say it was less than 20% of their normal BAR rates.
And we got upgraded to a Dusit Grand Suite!!!!!Two TVs!!! One in the living room and one in the bedroom means Sup can watch his World Cup in the living room while I indulge in my Discovery Channel in bed.
The Super Huge Bathroom. And a toilet without doors. Which I don't like....the bathroom has two entrances, one from the bedroom and one from the living area, and no lock, so while sitting at my throne I worry about people walking in.
View of Sala Daeng from my room
View of Dusit Thani Bangkok from Lumpini Park. During the REd Shirts protest, the Reds were in the park looking into Silom area. They fired a M79 grenade at Dusit Thani from here as well.
Lumpini Park. Thailand recovers well from crisis. Just a month later you see no signs of the violence that took place earlier.
That evening we went to Sup's auntie place on the outskirts of Bangkok, a good 1 hour drive away. I hate city commuting.
We went shopping the next day, starting from Chatuchak Market, then JJ Mall, then Siam Square, then Siam Centre, Siam Paragon, then MBK then I lost track
On a tuk-tuk from Chatuchak to Siam Square. BIG Mistake. Sup never took one of these 3-wheeled tuk-tuks so thought we'll try, but bad bad decision. We were caught in a typical Bangkok traffic jam for a journey tat would have taken us 15 minutes on BTS but took us 40 minutes instead, and most of all, the noxious fumes!!! Never again...
We also saw the famous ZEN World, part of the Central World complex that burned down after massive looting by the REd Shirts. It was quite a sight as ZEN world is huge, it must have taken a long time for the building to be burned as much as it did. THe Red Shirts blocked the fire-fighters from coming in to fight the fire, which is why so much of the building was destroyed. Whatever they were thinking when burning this down?
Another burned building on Siam Square. To aid the shopkeepers whose shops burned down or were destroyed or whose buildings are not safe to enter, there is now a walking street for these vendors to sell their wares. Prices in Bangkok are not as cheap as before. Shopping was not as lucrative as I thought, there was this shoe shop which used to sell shoes for 199 baht but now they costs 299 baht. What I would pay 150 baht for now costs 250 baht. But the weather and the pollution and the walking really took a toll on me and we got back to the hotel at 9pm. Then did the walking street down Silom until my feet really could not take it anymore. I was willing to be dragged back to the hotel at the end of the day.
It was a good trip, probably felt longer cos we covered quite a lot of places, but glad that I finally managed to make my way to Kanchanaburi since studying it for Secondary School history. Next stop, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son.
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