Thread: Kanchanaburi

Now this was exceedingly Corny, maybe thats why I quite enjoyed it -



Still sweating from the Cave-



Now for the only mildly extortionate price of 150 bht pp, you can sit down and enjoy your own private monkey show. After earnestly explaining that Mrs sabang was in fact our tour guide, we agreed on 150 bht per farang only. Let the show begin.

The monkeys are actually being trained as indentured labourers in the coconut harvesting trade. According to our hosts, they can pick three times as many coconuts per day as the human ape.



This guy seemed to be the head Honcho monkey-



This monkey left no doubt as to how utterly boring I am as a human -



Michael Jordan missed this Hoop-



His slam dunks were a Slam Dunk though.



All good corny fun.

I like 'Poon' cave...not sure why though

It is not the biggest war cemetery, but it was on the itinerary so we did briefly visit a Commonwealth war cemetery. There are a few in Kanchan and up the railway.



Buried here are British, Dutch and Aussie POW's that lost their lives on the Death Railroad. Most in their twenties . I'll let the pictures do the talking.














It was neatly kept, understated and Dignified.
I could have asked for no better. RIP.

[quote=sabang;692033]This one looked pretty cool though-



quote]

We stayed in this one a couple of times, the pool is great.

I have a coupla pics from staying here I will dig out and post in this thread if you don't mind.

This boathouse was around 2,500 per night from memory.

This long tail woke me very early one morning...floating down the river driverless. Twas a cold morning.

Originally Posted by Nawty

I will dig out and post in this thread if you don't mind.

Sure, piccies & reviews welcome.

Sabang, on your way to the Allied war cemetery, did you get a chance to look at the Asian cemetery for war dead? Very small, overgrown and unlooked after. Our guide drove us past it on the way to the Allied cemetry in order to show comparison.

^ I did not darcy, my theme was not war stuff- I was there for the rivers & mountain really.

But it saddens me- around 5 times as many Asian labourers died making that railroad as allied POW's. Maybe our well funded Commonwealth War graves people should shell out some money, and give this place the respect it deserves too?

Originally Posted by sabang

^ I did not darcy, my theme was not war stuff- I was there for the rivers & mountain really.

But it saddens me- around 5 times as many Asian labourers died making that railroad as allied POW's. Maybe our well funded Commonwealth War graves people should shell out some money, and give this place the respect it deserves too?

Sabang - agree totally. There is always a lot made about the amount of British and American that died putting up the railway but very little about the much heavier losses for Thai nationals and Indian people that were transported in by the Japanese.

The rivers and mountains were incredible. We stayed overnight but chose not to stay on the raft night accommodation on the river as had a concern about the lack of lights at night and river traffic. We stayed in a small guest room and the trip was definitely a highlight, especially eating breakfast in the morning on the river before the raft sailed down the river and back for a while.

On our last visit we went from Chaing Mai to the Golden Triangle and the scenery was spectacular - particularly when you were travelling in the hills.

Here is a little more on Kanjanaburi

Kanjanaburi - a weekend from Bangkok

At just over two hours drive from Bangkok, Kanjanaburi offers a good weekend break or even a day trip for the family with pleasant views, clean air and more importantly cheap beer.

We were invited to the province by friends that live there; they had recently moved from Bangkok after they had built a bungalow on 6 rai of land for just over 1.7M baht. Their location was a bit remote with a 12km drive to town but the air was clean and the twisting country roads offered a more interesting drive than the usual straight roads I had got used to in the LOS.

On arrival in Town Friday evening we met up by the famous bridge over the river Kwai, the restaurant offered a verity of fresh fish from the river served in local style from about 70baht to 300baht a dish. A large bottle of chang was fairly priced at just 65baht considering this place is such a tourist attraction.

Saturday we were invited to go to the beach for lunch. The beach is in fact a stretch of a sandy river bank on the east side of town.

Surprisingly it was just like any typical Thai beach with deck chairs, parasols dogs, sales and massage. The food menu was all in Thai and there were no photos to help those of us who can’t read Thai. Rather than sea fish, local river fish was offered at a pleasantly local rate and a big bottle of chang was just 40Baht.

The Beach also offered Jet Ski, boating and swimming. The Jet Ski 600cc Yamaha was reasonably priced at just 500baht for 20min, (1500baht in Hua Hin).

The friendly locals just fell in love with my son

While others showed me a large snail

A train crosses the famous bridge

Well nice- I never got to see this, or any river beach. Seems a decent price for your friends bungalow- again, I'm kinda surprised Kanchan does not have a bigger expat community.

Sabang,

Directions – as you approach the town from Bangkok there is a large Wat on your left just prior to big T- junction and traffic lights. There is a large Thai restaurant with a big car park on the opposite side of the road (right side)

Between the Wat and at about 50m from the junction on the left there is a police station and traffic control with a tiny soi immediately after that leads to the beach

something about that part of the world touched me, i asked me missus[ozzie girl], what part did you enjoy the most? [her first trip to los, 06/08], 'ploy' kanchanburri, and i gotta say, that whole 3days were so restful, i,ll be back

Originally Posted by sabang

A boat trip along the Kwai, with various stops, costs a very reasonable 800 bht to hire the boat, and we set off at 8am the next morning from our resort. I reckon this is a must do, unlike the Train scam.

You aren't the only one that thinks the same way, and it ruins the tranquility of staying at a resort on the river with tiny groups of tourist bombing up and down the river on longtail boats every 30 seconds. I wish someone would set up a large tour boat instead that runs every 30 minutes, but of course that would be too efficient by putting lots of small boat drivers out of a job so will never happen.

Looks like very few changes since I was there 10 years ago, I must go back during this visit

There is a fairly large expat community in Kan. Thing is, they don't come out after dark & hardly frequent the bars down the "strip" due to drive by shootings & stray bullets.

Originally Posted by Sputnik

There is a fairly large expat community in Kan. Thing is, they don't come out after dark & hardly frequent the bars down the "strip" due to drive by shootings & stray bullets.

Not my experience of it at all and I found a lot of the ex-pats frequent the "strip" up to the bridge every single night. Rascals, No Name bar etc.

Great thread, some great pics.

Always good to see more people visiting Kan - the most beautiful part of Thailand

My Thai Nephew drove my wife and I to Kanchanaburi yesterday. My first time back there in 22 years.

The city of Kanchanaburi is much larger than I remember and seems almost completely westernized. Very clean and modern. The city itself does not seem very crowded.

Visited the main cemetery, the bridge, and the war museum. The cemetery is an emotional venture. Had to hold back tears. The war museum was interesting. The bridge, however, was dangerous in my estimation. It would be very easy to fall through one of the many openings in the steel girders. Many people walking past each other on the bridge with little regard for safety. That being said, I tried to envision the workers actually constructing the bridge itself. I imagine many fell into the river, with it's very swift current and probably an undertow. My understanding is that the authorities have placed nets a few hundered yards down river in the event someone falls into the river and is swept downstream. Those nets did not exist in 1940 and I'm sure many of the workers drowned.

All in all IMO it's, unfortunately, become a tourist trap. it's also an extremely hot place. It was 39 degrees celcius at 1 pm. I don't know how the locals survive it.

Originally Posted by Floridathunderstorm

it's also an extremely hot place. It was 39 degrees celcius at 1 pm. I don't know how the locals survive it.

It does seem to get really hot there. When I lived there we nicknamed it "Death Valley". Looks like Im moving back there as well, 36 in the shade yesterday at a friends house.

Great photo journal, Sabang. Well done! It is quite the beautiful country, isn't it?

It certainly is.
I expressly wanted to avoid this in my visit, but on the river trip we were plonked in this smallish war cemetery. By Kanchan standards.
I wandered thru', I read names- mostly in their 20's.
The names blur in the end, even the Home towns, many of which I knew.
After a while, I was just reading the regiments. Lot of Argylles and Derbyshires buried there.

I left with tears in my eyes. Oh, the futility of war.
I have tears in my eyes now.

Great pictures, and travelogue. First time I see this thread.

I went for a drink in that 'no name bar.' Had some good 'no name' cocktails in it.

Lovely place, and it looks like you saw a lot more scenery than I did.