Life is a Journey - a SE Asia TR

[viaggiamo]

Awesome! We love Thailand, have been 12 times. And we love Hua Hin. It's very relaxed with a great thai feel.
Loving your photos and report x

 

[PrincessInOz]

Awesome pictures from and on the bridge! Love it.
Sunset looks very pretty.

 

[zanzibar138]

Awesome! We love Thailand, have been 12 times. And we love Hua Hin. It's very relaxed with a great thai feel.
Loving your photos and report x

I think the next time we're in Thailand, I'll be tempted to make a stop at Hua Hin.

Awesome pictures from and on the bridge! Love it.
Sunset looks very pretty.

Thanks! The sunset was awesome over the river every night!

 

[zanzibar138]

Day 4: Our first non-travel day!

We had organised an 8am pick up this morning, so there wasn't much time for dilly-dallying. We woke up with our alarm and headed off to check out the breakfast spread. It was pretty good, with plenty of continental style offerings including pancakes and French toast, and you could also order a cooked breakfast from the menu.



There were both 'adult' and 'child' yoghurts.



While we were enjoying breakfast, we saw another train coming across the bridge. It really was amazing being so close with a view like that!



After breakfast we packed some things into a day pack and awaited our driver's arrival. Since we were driving a fair distance today, we'd decided to go with an actual car rather than a tuk tuk. The driver was pleasant enough, although he didn't speak much English at all, and the car was very comfortable.

First on the itinerary for the day was Erawan National Park and its namesake falls. It took us nearly 1 1/2 hours to get there. DH and I really didn't know what to expect here, and had actually been planning to go later in the day so that we might feel a bit more like swimming. Going there first up, we really thought we'd just wander to the falls, look around for 5 or 10 minutes, then be ready to leave. When our driver suggested we meet him in 3 hours, we were a bit floored! He seemed pretty adamant that we would need all that time, but we managed to talk him down to 1 1/2 hours. We decided to head straight to the falls first, then come back to the visitor centre if we had time.





The falls ended up being 7 tiers of waterfalls over about 2km, with small pools in between suitable for swimming. We suddenly realised why our driver had been so adamant that we take more time, and realised we'd talked him down too much lol! We decided to head straight to the top, and stop for swimming etc on the way back if there was time.



There was about 500m of pretty flat path to get to the first tier, and we were lucky enough to have a brief wildlife encounter! I still have no idea what this creature is, but I think he's pretty cute.







We quickly bypassed tier 1, and headed straight up along the track. There was a small kiosk before the next level, where we had to check in any food items (we weren't carrying any), and pay a refundable deposit on our water bottles. I thought this was a fabulous idea and I can think of a few other places where they should implement something like this!

We made our way up the trail, briefly pausing to take photos along the way. The trail started out well maintained and easy underfoot, but towards the top of the trail it got a bit rough with bridges that were getting a bit dodgy, and quite a bit of rock scrambling involved. Now and again there were a whole heap of clothes laid out around trees - we figured they were 'pop up shops', but we never saw any vendors. We were fairly early though and the path was nice and quiet most of the way.



















We didn't quite make it all the way to tier 7 - we thought we'd run out of time if we tried. This was at about tier 6.5 lol!



I couldn't go all that way and not try out one of the little pools, especially when I read that they had foot spa fish in them!





We could only spare 5 minutes before having to make the trek back down the hill. It certainly was a rather rushed visit, but nice nonetheless! The trail was starting to fill up by the time we got back down to the bottom tiers.

















We collected our water bottle refunds with no issues, and noticed how busy the tier 1 waterfall was. If you're going to go, definitely go early! Back at the visitor centre, our driver was waiting for us with 'told you so' look in his eyes lol!

 

[PrincessInOz]

You.......talked yourselves down to 90 minutes????
What's that first rule of travel??? Always listen to the locals????? Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!!



Breakfast sounds great.
Glad you got your fist spa.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Hmm seems like I've gotten a bit behind on things here...


Out of interest, what did you imagine the hotel to be like?

Perhaps less modern, more rustic, not sure. The area is more "tamed", more prettier, more rural, more tourist orientated as well I guess, than I thought it might be - I confess I hadn't thought about it all that much though.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Sunsets were gorgeous and the hike to the waterfalls and through the forest looked good too albeit a bit rushed!

 

[zanzibar138]

You.......talked yourselves down to 90 minutes????
What's that first rule of travel??? Always listen to the locals????? Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!!



Breakfast sounds great.
Glad you got your fist spa.

We had good reason to rush at the waterfall... we wanted plenty of time at Hellfire Pass.

Perhaps less modern, more rustic, not sure. The area is more "tamed", more prettier, more rural, more tourist orientated as well I guess, than I thought it might be - I confess I hadn't thought about it all that much though.

Sunsets were gorgeous and the hike to the waterfalls and through the forest looked good too albeit a bit rushed!

We were actually surprised at how untouristy the area was. But yeah it definitely wasn't the middle of the jungle or anything.

 

[zanzibar138]

The next stop was Hellfire Pass, about an hour away by car (both to the west of Kanchanaburi though, like a triangle). Our driver obviously thought we must have somewhere to be, as he told us to meet him in an hour. We managed to negotiate that out to 2 1/2 hours. So for the record (and this is a very common day trip from Kanchanburi), most people get 4 hours between the 2 sites, and will usually spend 3 at the waterfall and 1 at Hellfire Pass. We wanted to hike the whole 8k trail at Hellfire Pass, so needed a lot more time there. By this time it was around 12pm, and we were both getting pretty hungry, but there really wasn't anywhere around to buy food. DH had bought some snacks as we were leaving Erawan, but in hindsight we should have really tried to eat something a bit more substantial there.



DH briefly went into the museum to pick up an audio tour. I preferred to just pay my respects at the memorial, but focus more on the actual walk to avoid making myself too depressed. He was given a little map with his audio tour, which we tried to follow to find the start of the trail.





We followed the trail a way down, and found the first of the audio points down a shortish flight of stairs. It actually turned out to be the last point, and we spent about 5 minutes debating whether we should keep going or turn around and try to find the other way. In the end we decided that since we were fairly short on time, we'd just keep going.

Although the trail followed the old railway line, the museum was at the top of the hill and there was a bit of a climb involved to get to the railway line part of the trail. The scenery wasn't what I'd expected at all. I'd expected lush jungle greenery with a shaded canopy the length of the walk. What we got was a bit of dry scrubby bamboo, which had fairly recently been back burned.



We made it over the hill and down to the railway line, coming out at the memorial area and actual Hellfire Pass. There are plenty of other passes on this trail, but Hellfire was of course the deepest and hardest to make.





There were a few props around the area, and DH wandered around to the various points listening the audio tour.



After the memorial section is where the trail starts following the old railway line. Being a rail trail, we were expecting the walk to be easy and flat, with gentle footing. What we actually got was a fairly undulating trail (because there were a lot of bridges, none of which are still around), with a hard covering of large rocks which was difficult to walk on. DH gave up on his audio tour. It was too hard for him to follow having gone the wrong way at the start.









There were glimpses of views through the scrub, but for the most part, there wasn't really much to see. There was one lookout point along the way.



After the lookout, there was a sign posted for people who were part of a tour group. It advised that they wouldn't have time to go any further along the trail, and they should turn back now. DH and I were pleased that we had done this trip independently and could go as far as we liked. After that point, we didn't see a single other person on the trail. Even before then, I certainly wouldn't have called it busy or crowded - there were just a few groups wandering around the memorial area.

















We were pleased to get to the 'pick up' section of the trail, about 2.5k in, where there was an access road for people to be picked up from. The map that DH had been given also had a toilet and water sign here, and I thought both of those might be handy. Unfortunately we were met with this sign.



We were glad that we weren't dying for water or toilets, because neither of us had thought to organise access back at the information centre, and we didn't have phones with us. We decided at that point that it was getting fairly late, and without being able to fill up our water bottles, we didn't really want to go much further. Then we looked across the road and saw this.



Apparently the rest of the trail is on land that has been re-possessed by the government for use by the military. It looked like a fairly permanent change, but there was no mention of it in either the map we were given or the information centre. In fact, according to the map we'd been given, there were still a few audio tour points on that section of trail lol! Since we had decided to head back anyway, it wasn't a big deal for us.

We made our way back to the memorial area, then took the trail through Hellfire Pass back to the information centre. This was the trail we were supposed to have started with of course. I had offered to take the backpack from DH and he decided to take me up on it for the last km or so, including the steep climb back up to the information centre. It was heavy, and it was immediately much more difficult to get up the steps. By the time I got back up to the information centre, I was absolutely beat. We still hadn't eaten anything, it had been a decent hike basically in full sun, and I was starting to feel a bit sick. I sat on the bench outside trying to regain my composure while DH looked through the little museum part. After a short rest, I just had the energy to go and check out the Peace Vessel, and remind DH about the time.





Of course, even after I reminded DH that he needed to be quick, he lost track of the time and I had to go back in and get him when our driver started looking for us. Usually I wouldn't have minded so much, but I had to take off my hiking boots to go inside, which was quite a lot of work in my state lol!

Eventually I managed to get DH and we took off for the next part of the adventure.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Lovely looking walk; but it doesn't sound like much fun without food!

Hope you felt better soon.

 

[Zosha]

Wow, how sombre and special to visit Hellfire Pass. That doesn't look at all how I imagined it in my head. I don't know what I expected, just not that. It makes me feel emotional just looking at the photos. I can't imagine being there. On a lighter note - the waterfalls look beautiful!

 

[zanzibar138]

Lovely looking walk; but it doesn't sound like much fun without food!

Hope you felt better soon.

I felt much better after my little rest at the end of the walk, but we were both pretty pleased to find food at the next stop!

Wow, how sombre and special to visit Hellfire Pass. That doesn't look at all how I imagined it in my head. I don't know what I expected, just not that. It makes me feel emotional just looking at the photos. I can't imagine being there. On a lighter note - the waterfalls look beautiful!

It was a lot different than I was expecting too. I was definitely pleasantly surprised at how few people were there. It always makes it more special when it's peaceful and you have some space to take it all in.

 

[zanzibar138]

It turns out there was another small waterfall that our driver was planning to take us to, which we literally had to drive straight past to the get to the train station. However, we told him to give it a miss. We were both keen to sit down with a cold beverage and some food! Luckily, that's exactly what we found when we arrived at the station.





After a lovely leisurely lunch, we went to buy our tickets for the famous Death Railway, and found some seats. I remembered the advice I had read to get a carriage at the end, and sit on the right hand side for the best views. I figured we'd have to get there pretty early to get good seats, but the train was surprisingly empty, and everyone in our carriage (looked like a small bus tour) was able to have a whole booth of 4 seats to themselves lol! The seats were just wooden benches, and the only 'air-con' was the open windows, but once we got going, it was surprisingly comfortable.





As we slowly set off from the station, the ticket inspector came around. Some of the ladies in the front of the carriage wanted to pose for photos with him. Obviously not wanting anyone to miss out, he then systematically posed for photos with all the ladies in the carriage lol!



To start with, we just had pleasant rural scenery, which was punctuated by tiny stations. We had to stop at each one.



We briefly met the river a couple of times, with some nice mountain views.



To our surprise, at one of the tiny stations, there were a couple of bus loads of people waiting to get on! That was the end of our spacious seating arrangements, and to our annoyance, DH and I ended up with someone opposite us in the booth.

Imagine then, how we felt at the next stop, when there were several more bus loads of people waiting to get on! Our carriage was heaving at the sides. There were even people left standing! We soon realised the reason for the extra passengers as we met the river once again, and crossed the famous viaduct, with amazing views both up and downstream. I had to wonder what the people standing in the aisle were getting out of the experience.





This was quite a built up area, with park like riverbanks, and what looked like a watersport/leisure area with all sorts of watercraft for hire.



At the next station, there was a ropes course. A few people got off, but not as many as I'd hoped!



At the next station, one of the bus loads of people got off. There were no longer people standing, and there was even the occasional spare seat. We got back into nice peaceful rural scenery. The man opposite us got into my good books by offering to take a photo of us.





A couple of stations later, just about EVERYONE got off the train. There were about half a dozen buses lined up at the station!



We pretty much had the carriage to ourselves then. There was one man across the aisle from us (who unfortunately kept feeling the need to light up a cigarette), and a couple of girls in the front of the carriage.



A little while later, we stopped at a relatively major looking station, and didn't move. DH was looking out the window and suddenly exclaimed 'our engine is taking off!' lol! Sure enough, there we were, with no engine. We watched proceedings with interest while trying to figure out what was going on. Seemed like we switched engines with another train that was going the opposite way.







We saw a lot more rural scenery, and a small section of river views before finally approaching the Bridge over the River Kwai.





We waited for a few minutes to cross the bridge, then went over nice and slowly.







We got off at the River Kwai station and bought some ice-creams to eat on the way back to the hotel. We had massages booked and didn't want to eat dinner until afterwards, plus we'd had a pretty late lunch! After our amazing Thai massages, we headed down to the terrace for sunset drinks and 'tapas' (ie ordered a few entrees to share).





It was a lovely end to a lovely day!

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a great train ride! Amazing scenery and I bet it was lovely to just soak it all in.

 

[zanzibar138]

The train is definitely the best way to get around! It's not the fastest or most reliable form of transportation, but definitely the most enjoyable

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Hellfire Pass and surrounds weren't what I imagined either. How long (time and km) was the train trip? It sounds quite a decent time with all the little stops. I keep wondering what the tour buses were doing next and the point of riding the train that distance! Organised tours (shudder! which is why China will take some organisation before we go, we just aren't tour people either). The massage, tapas and drink watching the sunset sounded a nice end to the day.

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm going to estimate the train ride was about 80k and took pretty close to 2 hours. It wasn't a fast journey by any stretch of the imagination, but very pleasant.

Those tour groups definitely try to cram as much in as possible to present the best 'value'. I'd guess most of them would have been day tours from Bangkok, and they probably would have done the waterfall and then Hellfire Pass like us. They would have needed an extra 2 hours travel time on each end though, so it would have been very rushed, and they wouldn't have had time to catch the train the whole way. I guessed that they were probably going to Kanchanaburi next to maybe quickly check out one of the cemeteries or something before watching the train cross the Bridge over the River Kwai and then hightailing it back to Bangkok. They may have even tried to squeeze in some ancient ruins out that way. They wouldn't have gotten back to their hotels until 8ish. I much prefer our touring style

 

[zanzibar138]

Day 5: More Around Kanchanaburi

On our overnight train ride, DH had found some information about a historical park with some Angkor style ruins in the area, and was keen to check it out. For the first (and last) time this trip, we got up in our own time and started with a nice leisurely breakfast, then headed into town to find someone to take us to this park. Our timing was impeccable. Just as we were browsing at the little market by the bridge, we saw a train approaching.





After watching the train cross the bridge, we headed to the 'taxi rank' to talk to someone about going to the historic park. There was just one tuk tuk there, but the driver gave us a great price, so we were happy to go with him. As we headed back to the market area, he was flagged down by someone else, who just happened to be heading out to a hotel that we would literally be driving past. He got a REALLY great price, and he and his wife joined us for part of our journey. The driver even stopped at a 7-11 for us to pick up some water and snacks for the outing.

The other couple were getting nervous the further out we got, and when we eventually arrived at their hotel, were pretty devastated about how far out of town it was. I wondered if they had thought to look at google maps before booking! It looked very nice anyway, and I hope they did enjoy their stay in the end. They had been good entertainment for part of the journey, but their stressing towards the end was getting us down a bit, so we enjoyed the rest of the trip on our own.





Our driver dropped us off at the front gate and told us to take as long as we wanted - he would just wait there for us. He was such a nice man! We paid our minimal entry fee, got our maps, and wandered in to see what there was to see.

There was just the one main temple, with large park like gardens around it. There were a few other minor sites along the way which we also visited, but it was just a lovely peaceful place to be. We saw a handful of other people but for the most park, we had the place to ourselves.

 

[PrincessInOz]

OOh! Love when the place is almost deserted.
Nice looking jackfruit.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Agree with PIO. The statue looks very fierce. So lovely and peaceful. Yes you do wonder sometimes about people blindly booking - they probably had a travel agent organise it for them though and trusted them, and some agents have no idea.