We’re back, but now we are in the Thai jungle. No longer are we surrounded by the towering sky scrapers of Bangkok. We are journeying down rivers and visiting markets. Dinner happens outside with a whole lot of bug spray protecting us from the mosquitos. This is Kanchanaburi, our second stop through Thailand.
Almost 7 years ago (I know 7!!) I went on a school trip to Thailand the summer after my junior year of high school. You may have read my post about Bangkok. If you haven’t go read it because I am writing them in the order of how they happened. After Bangkok we took our bus and headed west. This was probably my favorite part of Thailand. I absolutely loved the jungle and the stops we made here.
Day 1
To keep in this in the same format of my Bangkok post, here is a snapshot of our itinerary for the day. This was am EF Tour which are some of the best planned out trips I have been on. There was never a dull day.
Day 5 of Tour: Bangkok | Ratchaburi | Kanchanaburi
– Travel to Ratchaburi.
– Visit the Damnoen Saduak floating market.
– Travel to Kanchanaburi.
– Visit the Death Railway Museum, which is
dedicated to the victims of the Death Railway
Bridge. The museum houses displays on
the history of the railway, as well as detailed
descriptions of the lives of the prisoners
who built the railway itself.
The day started early, like out of the hotel at 7 am. We spent a lot of time in our bus in Thailand, but it never was not adventurous because you were always surrounded by the beautiful landscape and unique villages of Thailand. This first bit was spent traveling an hour and half to Ratchaburi where we would visit the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. You may have heard about Thailand’s floating market. If you haven’t, it is exactly what you would expect. People park their boats full of the goods they are selling on the river edge of a market building. It is really one of the coolest experiences and the best part is how we got there.
We went on a boat through canals for a little while and eventually made it to the market. This was my first bargaining experience. I wanted a bracelet, but the lady wouldn’t lower the price, so I walked away. I did buy a dress/skirt thing. I think I got a good deal for it. – June 10th, 2019
Yeah I wasn’t too great at bargaining. I am an introvert, so I don’t like to be in any sort of situation that feels conflictual. There is also the fact that I don’t want to undervalue someone’s craft. As the owner of a small baking business I always get bummed and uncomfortable when people make comments about my prices. It is a different culture in Thailand though. In some places it is not the norm to have set prices on goods in market. I probably got taken advantage of as an obvious tourist, but no matter what, it all was cheap for me, because everything is so cheap in Thailand.
At the market not only did I get to barter and enjoy the atmosphere of a floating market, but I also got to try a few fruits that our guide got for us. We tried both a durian, which is a pretty controversial fruit, and lychee which easily became one of my favorite fruits there. The trick is just being able to open and peel it.
After we went to a different part of the market (the non-floating portion). We tried coconut pancakes, a sugar taco thing, a poppyseed wafer, and coconut juice. – June 10, 2019
Please excuse my description. I apparently had no idea what foods I was eating at the markets on this trip. My mom and I did enjoy drinking out of a coconut though. It felt very on theme. Along the way I also ended up buying an anklet that was much cheaper than the bracelet I was looking at earlier.
Then we hopped back on the bus for another 2 hours. It was definitely a long day. Luckily our guide provided us with a little snack, some little Thai bananas he picked up at the market. I ate so well on this trip! We got to Kanchanaburi just in time for lunch. We ended up at a super cute outdoor cafe. They fed us soup (I know, in this heat!), veggies, fish, chicken, Thai pork and rice, eggs and noodles, and some more fruit for dessert. It was family style so we could take what we wanted and however much we wanted. Some foods definitely went faster than others. I wasn’t picky though.
From here we hopped back on the bus to visit the Bridge Over the River Kwai. Yes, this is a movie. It’s something I didn’t know anything about when I visited. I honestly didn’t even know what it was until my mom was telling everyone about our itinerary and everyone seemed to know about this River Kwai. While the this bridge is famous mostly from a fictional book and movie, it is based off the Japanese use of POWs in building the Death Railway during World War II which I will explain a bit more in a minute.
After we went to the cemetery and Death Railway museum. The cemetery held the graves of Australian, Dutch, and British men and women who died in Thailand. The museum was interesting but long. There was a lot of information. – June 10, 2019
Luckily after such a long day we were given free time at our hotel which actually was more like a resort. I was going to go to the swimming pool and had my swimming suit on walking into the pool when the boys found a scorpion in the pool. This became the story of the trip. We talked about this all the time that next school year.
Then it was dinner time and this was the scene I was trying to set for you at the beginning of this post! Not only was it an amazing setting and atmosphere but it was the most amazing meal. We were served soup and salad along with green chicken curry. I love curry! Then we of course got more fruit for dessert. After dinner was bed time, because it really was a long day!
Note: Snakes are sacred. If you dream of a snake that means you will find love really soon (within the week). Also, its a jungle out here… bugs… – June 10, 2019
Day 2
This next day was probably the most fun of all our days in Thailand. I think that is because while we had an epic itinerary, we got off it a little bit on this day with all the wiggle room we had.
Day 6: Kanchanaburi
– Travel to the Erawan Waterfall and National
Park. Nature-lovers will delight in the deep,
blue-winged pittas, limestone wren-babblers,
wild pigs, and tiny Kitti’s hog-nosed bats
that inhabit the dense, deciduous forest
around the waterfall.
– Experience a train ride on the Death Railway
One of the best parts of the day you may ask? Well that would be sleeping in! I woke up at 8:30 am which wouldn’t necessarily be considered sleeping in by a 17 year old Emma, but when you are waking up at 6 am everyday, it feels like a rest day.
We left out hotel at 10:30 am. This morning we went to the Death Railroad. We arrived at the station. We bought some salted banana chips, which were really good and hopped on the train. We rode it to the last station so there were a few stops. The scenery was beautiful. There was absolutely no way to capture anything we saw. It really was an amazing experience. – June 11, 2019
I can’t even explain in words what this experience was for me. I have always loved trains and I wasn’t quite the regular train rider that I am today. Then you throw in the fact that it is a Thai train, so everything was in another language and the outside looked so unfamiliar to me. I literally stared out the window the entire time. I didn’t want to miss a thing. And then to top it all off, it was the Death Railway. I hardly knew anything about Thai history going into this trip. Most of what I know I learned there. I did end up taking a big interest in the Pacific side of World War II that prior school year, so when I learned about the Death Railway and everything Japan did in Thailand during the war, I began to geek out. Its like seeing any other attraction that you have built up in your head for its significance.
After we headed to lunch where we had the choice between three different kinds of chicken. There was chicken curry, pineapple chicken, and sweet & sour chicken. From the buffet we could also have veggies, rice, and fried banana for dessert. It was wasn’t like any of the other bananas I had on this trip though. It was served with ice cream and was absolutely amazing.
Then we drove for awhile to Hellfire Pass. Hellfire Pass was part of the railroad. It was built by the POW (Prisoners of War) and Asian servants. The Australian Government wanted to preserve this area and they put a lot of money into making it into a museum and memorial. The museum had crazy beautiful views of the jungle and mountains. We all got super wet and sweaty from all the walking. This humidity is bad in the jungle.- June 11, 2019
After enjoying the scenery that had become my screensaver for many years and getting in our history for the day, we headed to our last stop, Erawen Waterfall and National Park. Now I just want to make a disclaimer that EF’s itinerary only included visiting the national park to see the waterfall and other wildlife. We decided individually with our time there to go out on the water, so that is not a EF planned excursion they are responsible for.
We paid extra money to go swimming and ride a raft. The raft dropped us off in the middle of the river and we floated down to the second waterfall using our life jackets. We were all scared of the critters living in the water. Once we got back to the raft we got to play in the waterfalls. Some people even jumped in. After we all dried off and changed, we went back to the hotel. – June 11, 2019
This is an experience that would stay with us forever. The unplanned swim easily became a highlight for everyone. And we were all happy we didn’t get any diseases from the water. My mom was freaking out a little bit, but I managed to get her to go in with me. As long as you don’t drink the water and there aren’t any dangerous animals in the water, it is fine! We got our group picture and headed back to the hotel. We had dinner in the dark. Because of Thailand’s proximity to the equator, it gets dark at 6. Many people from our group did not eat though. Many people were starting to experience Bangkok belly, also know as traveller;s diarrhea, but it gets this name because it is a common occurrence for westerns visiting Thailand as they are not used to the food. I never got sick though! I was on my second dish of chicken curry for the day along with some tofu soup and I tried a duck salad.
It was another early night. Not because it was that long of a day, but because we would be waking up at 6 am once again.
Note: Thai music is the good American pop songs redone by Thai singers.
Day 3
For this day I can’t give you my itinerary, because EF has changed it since, which makes sense because that was 7 years ago.
We left early with an hour and a half ride to our first stop, the 100 years market. You may be wondering what a 17 year old with no cell service does for multiple hours on the bus on a school trip. When I wasn’t bugging my mom, I was either reading Crazy Rich Asians which I had downloaded on my IPad or watching one of the many shows and movies I had downloaded. I also was perfectly content just staring out the window listening to the same few songs I had dowloaded again and again. Now they remind me of this trip, even though I was going through a French music phase.
We stopped at the 100 year old market. We didn’t buy anything, but we ate a lot of food. We tried taro, coconut sugar juice, which tasted like syrup, tapioca, pork balls, and my favorite of the all, lime and spices wrapped in a leaf.* It was really good. I also got to release fish, eel, and turtle in the sea for good luck. – June 12th, 2019
*I have since discovered this is called Miang Kham
I think this is the point where I will leave off this post. Because after another three hours on the bus we arrived at our next destination, Phitsanulok! Also there is no better ending than ending it with some good luck. In reality, this whole trip was just me living out my luck. I had to be the luckiest girl in the world the spend these two amazing, life changing weeks in Thailand.
That concludes our adventures through Kanchanaburi. Stay tuned for our next stop, Phitsanulok.
The Journal of Wanderlust 