A day trip to Kanchanaburi

Nov 01

I had a week long vacation this time; and due to the vacation being very short, I could not to go Nepal to celebrate Tihar. So there were few options for me to go around in this free time. I had plans to go Burma (Myanmar) or Seam Reap, Cambodia. However, due to tight budget I had to abandon it as well.

Still I wanted to go some new places near Bangkok for photography. There is a train station near my hostel, Thonburi railway station. Since the day I arrived Bangkok, I wanted to take that train ride. Therefore, I thought this is the week I will make that dream trip.

Father and son headed to their destination

On inquiring I found out that the train’s last destination is Province of Kanchanaburi. I had heard a lot about it before coming to Thailand. One of my friend who studied in Bangkok a decade ago told me that, if you miss hills of Nepal then go to Kanchanaburi as it has small hills and will make you feel at home.

My purpose of this trip was for Photography. I wanted to take some portraits shots in the train of local people and go around the city of Kanchanaburi. May be this was my first trip which I made alone and without any study about that place. Regarding the photography part in the train, it was not as much as I had hoped for. I did not see many people traveling by train, but still tried to grab couple of shots.

Train ride is a sleepy ride

An elderly lady on the train

After I reach Kanchanaburi, I found out that Namtok (waterfall) is its last destination. Therefore, since I had ticket until Kanchanaburi I got off there. The town of Kanchanaburi is a very small town. It has a history of World War II when Japan captured this town. The Japanese had made a rail track from there to Burma to supply their army who were fighting with British. The labor used by the Japanese were all Prisoner of war.

The attraction of this town was to see some old railway bridge over the river Kwai, Tiger Temple and Namtok Sai Yok Nai which is 60 Km away from the town where I should have got down to save some money. From Kanchanaburi I thought of hiring a bike and go around the places, but my plans were shattered when the bike owners did allow me to hire bike, as I did not have passport with me at that time. I usually do not carry passport here as I have my college student ID. My other option was to hire a van for a single person or get a motorcycle taxi.

Namtok Sai Yok Nai

It’s fun to play with water

I went for 2nd option, fixed the price for 700 Bhat for a day long trip. Went to Namtok Sai Yok Nai. It was a beautiful place with waterfall. Seems like the place was a popular destination for picnic. The next destination was the Tiger Temple. There are some strict rules in Thailand. So if you are travelling to Thailand, it is good that you get to know about these rules prior to your visit to that place. At this temple, you cannot go wearing Red, Pink and Orange shorts. I was informed that I cannot enter as I was wearing Red short and the ticket price were too high, 600 Bhat to be exact.

Tham Kra Sae Bridge was my next stop. They call it the Death Railway. It is a railway made during World War II by the Japanese to connect with Burma. It looked too dangerous on the foothills beside the river Kwai. Ayround 4 pm, I got back to my train to Thonburi. I felt that is not fun to travel alone for person like me, for photography part; to travel with at least one friend would make the difference.

Does it look dangerous ” Death Railway”

River Kwai and floating restaurants on it’s bank

One thing I learned after staying in Thailand is that, they have promoted tourism in every aspect possible. Even for small things, they make people travelling there feel special about it and persuade them to travel there. I felt that our country Nepal is naturally gifted by so many things, and I wish our tourism authorities learn something from here and try to promote each and every small places of Nepal so that tourist feel different. We don’t need to promote Nepal just as the Land of Buddha, the Himalayas and Mt. Everest only, as there are much more things than that.