When in Kanchanaburi
After 10 days–15 if we count the Bangladesh leg of the trip–all our activities in Bangkok were finally done. The day after all the activities have been done, when the participants are all leaving for their respective homelands, is also the day we, the secretariat staff, could finally sleep in, and later, enjoy an unhurried breakfast. But not for me. While all my colleagues were bound for Manila, I will be left behind in Thailand.
I extended my stay for several days to go on a trip with my friend Bangs who flew in from Manila. Originally, Mara was supposed to join us, too, but she had an important family matter to attend to. She was the one who suggested Kanchanaburi so when the planning of itinerary was passed on to me, I decided to just go on with the original plan. But because I was busy with work, I was only able to plan for the itinerary (for the first day only) the night before Bangs' arrival in Bangkok.
I knew she would arrive early but I still took my time before finally leaving Ambassador Hotel that was my home for the last 10 days. (Somehow, I kind of wished her flight would be delayed a bit so I'll have plenty of time to kill haha). I left my luggage at the hotel and brought only a small backpack containing my laptop (I am turning into a workaholic!!) and clothes and another handbag containing food provisions (loots from the field visit, etc. yey!!).
I took the BTS train since Nana station is just a few minutes away from the hotel, and then the connecting City Line train to Suvarnabhumi Airport. I was afraid I'd get lost, but thank goodness the train system is easy to follow. As soon as I saw Bangs at the airport, we took off and rode the same trains I took, but this time, going to Mo Chit station near the northern terminal. From Mo Chit, we took a cab to the terminal. I asked the driver to take us to the bus station to Kanchanaburi. The driver only spoke Thai language, but he did understood and brought us to a terminal where there are minibuses bound for Kanchanaburi. We paid 50 bahts for the cab. It is quite near, but not walkable.
We hopped into the bus that has the Kanchanaburi sign on it and paid 120 bahts each. The trip took 2 hours and I was able to take a nap. Bangs slept off almost the entire time. Some time during the trip, the driver asked where is our destination and he couldn't understand when I said "Kanchanaburi bus terminal". Good thing there was a local passenger who also speaks English so he told the driver to drop us at Kanchanaburi bus station. One of the challenges of travelling in a different place is whenever you are mistaken for a local because people will always speak to you in the local language.
We got to Kanchanaburi bus terminal at around 4 pm. I contacted our host who immediately responded. After few minutes, he arrived at the the meet up place with a motorbike. Their guesthouse is roughly 5 minutes from the bus station so he took Bangs first to the guesthouse and came back for me. Before taking me to our rented room, he told me where we could go to have dinner later. But Bangs and I were tired so we just bought a takeout sushi and ate some of the food I brought.
Before we went out the next day, we asked our host Johan for his recommendations on what we could do in Kanchanaburi (because I did not prepare an itinerary. All I did was to make sure we get there😁). He graciously gave suggestions and instructions on how to get to these places. He practically gave us an itinerary for the whole day. "This is why when we book an inn, it is imperative that they have a free wifi," I explained to Bangs, "so once we arrive at the place, we can still google what to do for the next day." 😁
So off we went to look for the tuktuks going to River Kwai bridge. Johan told us to go to a certain spot where the public vehicles are, but we only found the tuktuks that were for hire for 120 bahts from the market to the River Kwai Bridge. When we couldn't find the cheaper option, we decided to just walk because it seemed nearing looking at our map. 😁 But after walking for several minutes and there was still no sign of a railway which is our legend, we walked back thinking we already missed it. We were told repeatedly that it is just a few minutes walk. A tourist police noticed us looking at the map (and obviously were lost), and he approached us. We asked for the direction to River Kwai Bridge again and he gave us another instruction by showing the route through a smaller version of the map. We were on the right track after all. Apparently, the 10-15 minute walk is not the same for everyone. It took us maybe 20 minutes to get to the war cemetery. It wasn't our destination yet, it just happens to be on the way.
The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in Thailand is the largest of the 3 war cemeteries on the Burma-Siam railway. More than 6,000 foreign casualties are commemorated in the cemetery.
From there, we continued walking to River Kwai Bridge while also looking for a place to eat. When we reached the area where tourists usually stay (locals refer to it as "Khao San" in Kanchanaburi), there were several restaurants but were still closed. We were already famished we wanted just anything to eat. We even went in to this restaurant that seems to be serving just snacks such as ice cream/bingsu/halo-halo looking food, but unfortunately, they just opened and not yet accepting customers. It as already 11 am then. The area wakes up late.
Lynn's Kitchen was the first cafe we saw that was already open so we went in and ordered (what else) pad thai. I've been in Thailand for the past 11 days yet this was the first decent pad thai I had. They served pad thai at the hotel twice, but theirs was a so-so, hindi masarap. Even the matcha drink at Lynn's was so good.
Before leaving, we asked the person at the cafe how far River Kwai is and he said, about 2 kilometers away. I was surprised because we've already walked miles and still, there's 2 kilometers left to walk. 😂 But anyway, we're powered up so we decided to continue our alay lakad to River Kwai bridge. And also because there were no tuktuks passing by. Just tourists either in bikes or motorbikes. It was scorching and we didn't even have an umbrella.
While walking, I was also on the lookout for a cold milk tea. We passed by a lot of stalls in the street selling what looks like a halo-halo (a Filipino dessert) and a cocktail at the same time so we just kept walking because we weren't sure what the drink really was. But at some point I was already so thirsty I approached one vendor and just tried asking if he sells milk tea by pointing at the can of milk infront of his cart. Fortunately, he got what I was saying and made us two big ass cups of Thai milk tea!
Powered by milk tea, we continued walking the seemingly endless street lined with inns, bars, cafes, and restaurants, some with foreigners hanging out or drinking beer. The streets were named after countries, which was my only entertainment because I was looking out for the Philippines street. (We missed it!!)
When we finally reached the bridge, we were about to faint due to the heat. (Note to self: do not go out at noon.) We rested in a shaded area for a while before walking to the other side of the bridge.
We took a tuktuk back to the terminal and walked to the guesthouse since we do not know how to ask the driver to take us directly to the guest house.
When we went out that night, our host' daughter went with us. Bangs specifically asked our hosts if their daughter can go along so we won't get lost. The young girl willingly took us to the night market and joined us for dinner. Her father also encourages her to go with their guests since this way, she's able to practice her English.
After having our dinner, Bangs bought Thailand's popular dessert, sticky rice with mango, and we headed home. I was torn between wanting to stroll around some more to burn the heavy dinner we had and going home to lie down because honestly, my feet hurt from all the walking we did that morning. We did go straight home even it it was only few minutes past 7 pm.
I extended my stay for several days to go on a trip with my friend Bangs who flew in from Manila. Originally, Mara was supposed to join us, too, but she had an important family matter to attend to. She was the one who suggested Kanchanaburi so when the planning of itinerary was passed on to me, I decided to just go on with the original plan. But because I was busy with work, I was only able to plan for the itinerary (for the first day only) the night before Bangs' arrival in Bangkok.
I knew she would arrive early but I still took my time before finally leaving Ambassador Hotel that was my home for the last 10 days. (Somehow, I kind of wished her flight would be delayed a bit so I'll have plenty of time to kill haha). I left my luggage at the hotel and brought only a small backpack containing my laptop (I am turning into a workaholic!!) and clothes and another handbag containing food provisions (loots from the field visit, etc. yey!!).
I took the BTS train since Nana station is just a few minutes away from the hotel, and then the connecting City Line train to Suvarnabhumi Airport. I was afraid I'd get lost, but thank goodness the train system is easy to follow. As soon as I saw Bangs at the airport, we took off and rode the same trains I took, but this time, going to Mo Chit station near the northern terminal. From Mo Chit, we took a cab to the terminal. I asked the driver to take us to the bus station to Kanchanaburi. The driver only spoke Thai language, but he did understood and brought us to a terminal where there are minibuses bound for Kanchanaburi. We paid 50 bahts for the cab. It is quite near, but not walkable.
We hopped into the bus that has the Kanchanaburi sign on it and paid 120 bahts each. The trip took 2 hours and I was able to take a nap. Bangs slept off almost the entire time. Some time during the trip, the driver asked where is our destination and he couldn't understand when I said "Kanchanaburi bus terminal". Good thing there was a local passenger who also speaks English so he told the driver to drop us at Kanchanaburi bus station. One of the challenges of travelling in a different place is whenever you are mistaken for a local because people will always speak to you in the local language.
We got to Kanchanaburi bus terminal at around 4 pm. I contacted our host who immediately responded. After few minutes, he arrived at the the meet up place with a motorbike. Their guesthouse is roughly 5 minutes from the bus station so he took Bangs first to the guesthouse and came back for me. Before taking me to our rented room, he told me where we could go to have dinner later. But Bangs and I were tired so we just bought a takeout sushi and ate some of the food I brought.
Before we went out the next day, we asked our host Johan for his recommendations on what we could do in Kanchanaburi (because I did not prepare an itinerary. All I did was to make sure we get there😁). He graciously gave suggestions and instructions on how to get to these places. He practically gave us an itinerary for the whole day. "This is why when we book an inn, it is imperative that they have a free wifi," I explained to Bangs, "so once we arrive at the place, we can still google what to do for the next day." 😁
So off we went to look for the tuktuks going to River Kwai bridge. Johan told us to go to a certain spot where the public vehicles are, but we only found the tuktuks that were for hire for 120 bahts from the market to the River Kwai Bridge. When we couldn't find the cheaper option, we decided to just walk because it seemed nearing looking at our map. 😁 But after walking for several minutes and there was still no sign of a railway which is our legend, we walked back thinking we already missed it. We were told repeatedly that it is just a few minutes walk. A tourist police noticed us looking at the map (and obviously were lost), and he approached us. We asked for the direction to River Kwai Bridge again and he gave us another instruction by showing the route through a smaller version of the map. We were on the right track after all. Apparently, the 10-15 minute walk is not the same for everyone. It took us maybe 20 minutes to get to the war cemetery. It wasn't our destination yet, it just happens to be on the way.
From there, we continued walking to River Kwai Bridge while also looking for a place to eat. When we reached the area where tourists usually stay (locals refer to it as "Khao San" in Kanchanaburi), there were several restaurants but were still closed. We were already famished we wanted just anything to eat. We even went in to this restaurant that seems to be serving just snacks such as ice cream/bingsu/halo-halo looking food, but unfortunately, they just opened and not yet accepting customers. It as already 11 am then. The area wakes up late.
Lynn's Kitchen was the first cafe we saw that was already open so we went in and ordered (what else) pad thai. I've been in Thailand for the past 11 days yet this was the first decent pad thai I had. They served pad thai at the hotel twice, but theirs was a so-so, hindi masarap. Even the matcha drink at Lynn's was so good.
Before leaving, we asked the person at the cafe how far River Kwai is and he said, about 2 kilometers away. I was surprised because we've already walked miles and still, there's 2 kilometers left to walk. 😂 But anyway, we're powered up so we decided to continue our alay lakad to River Kwai bridge. And also because there were no tuktuks passing by. Just tourists either in bikes or motorbikes. It was scorching and we didn't even have an umbrella.
While walking, I was also on the lookout for a cold milk tea. We passed by a lot of stalls in the street selling what looks like a halo-halo (a Filipino dessert) and a cocktail at the same time so we just kept walking because we weren't sure what the drink really was. But at some point I was already so thirsty I approached one vendor and just tried asking if he sells milk tea by pointing at the can of milk infront of his cart. Fortunately, he got what I was saying and made us two big ass cups of Thai milk tea!
Powered by milk tea, we continued walking the seemingly endless street lined with inns, bars, cafes, and restaurants, some with foreigners hanging out or drinking beer. The streets were named after countries, which was my only entertainment because I was looking out for the Philippines street. (We missed it!!)
When we finally reached the bridge, we were about to faint due to the heat. (Note to self: do not go out at noon.) We rested in a shaded area for a while before walking to the other side of the bridge.
We took a tuktuk back to the terminal and walked to the guesthouse since we do not know how to ask the driver to take us directly to the guest house.
When we went out that night, our host' daughter went with us. Bangs specifically asked our hosts if their daughter can go along so we won't get lost. The young girl willingly took us to the night market and joined us for dinner. Her father also encourages her to go with their guests since this way, she's able to practice her English.
After having our dinner, Bangs bought Thailand's popular dessert, sticky rice with mango, and we headed home. I was torn between wanting to stroll around some more to burn the heavy dinner we had and going home to lie down because honestly, my feet hurt from all the walking we did that morning. We did go straight home even it it was only few minutes past 7 pm.
