Wander with Me: Kanchanaburi

It was a trip of many firsts. Though my own country is rich in waterfalls, rivers, and mountains, I have never been inclined to visit them. As a serious beachcomber, I have always chosen the sea over the mountains, and it was a first for me to have agreed on this trip instead of going to Koh Samet, as what was originally planned. It’s the first time I’ve ever been to quite a historic place, as well. It was also the first (and hopefully not the last) trip with my man – the object of my affection, who shall be referred to from this point forward as The Object.

The Object and I left his apartment in Don Muang bright and early on Saturday morning, with the intention of getting settled in Kanchanaburi by lunch time. Unfortunately, we chose the wrong route and ended up being stuck on a bus along Phahon Yothin Road for almost 2 hours. It was almost 11 AM by the time we got to the bus terminal in Pinklao, and a further 3 hours before we finally made it to the River Kwai area in Kanchanaburi.

 

A very amiable songthaew driver recommended the Sugar Cane Guest House, and we were not disappointed at all. We were lucky enough to get a cottage on a raft right on the river. For 550 baht a night, it was absolute perfection. The resort was quite a long walk into the center of town but our floating accommodation more than made up for it. Personally, I was happy with the arrangement. I’ve been cooped up in my apartment for too long eating sugary buns. I totally needed the fresh air and the exercise.

 

But I digress. We intended to walk to the Bridge Over the River Kwai after lunch. Unfortunately, it was drizzling in what was supposed to be the second driest province in Thailand, so we headed back to the guest house and waited for the rain to stop on our lovely veranda. I amused myself by anxiously gazing into the dark green waters, hoping to catch a glimpse of any animal larger than me. I wasn’t so lucky.

Eventually, the rain subsided and we walked to the Bridge Over the River Kwai about a kilometer away. (If anybody’s wondering why I can’t just say the River Kwai Bridge or something, it’s because I can’t. Everybody calls it the Bridge Over the River Kwai, no doubt because of the movie, so I’m joining the bandwagon. Deal with it.) The Bridge, no, the entire railway, for that matter, was supposedly built by POWs back in the Second World War, The Object’s own grandfather being one of them. It’s a rather sad bit of history, actually, and I’m not about to go into a lengthy account of it in here. It’s much too depressing. The view was stunning, however, and the air was cool and pleasant.

A train came by while we were on the bridge and it was quite scary. I had a picture in my head of the bridge collapsing with the weight of the train and all the tourists and we will all plummet into the river and I’d come face to face with an animal larger than myself. Ahhh…to have such an imagination.

But once again, I digress. The Object and I made it to the other side of The Bridge (in one piece) and wandered away from all the tourists. We peered through cages of exotic birds, among them peacocks, and made our way to a grassy spot on the riverbank where we sat for a while and took in more calmness and fresh air. I honestly did not know how much more serenity I could take, but The Object seemed quite contented so I found myself relaxing little by little.

We were back on our little house boat before sunset. I showered, put on the ridiculously expensive dress I got conned into buying in Phuket, and settled on the veranda to watch the sunset. I was disappointed when I didn’t see a spectacular one. The Object was tired and wanted to rest for a bit. I did a bit of writing and amused myself by listening to our next-door neighbor going at it (you get the picture), watching the floating restaurants go past, and vainly hoping for a reptile to make an appearance. Eventually, the novelty wore off and I was bored out of my eyeballs. It was useless trying to talk to The Object because he was half-asleep and rather unresponsive, the way people who are between consciousness and unconsciousness are. The silence was deafening. I hated it because I found myself thinking of things that I did not want to think about, like where the relationship was going, how scared I was about falling, where my life was going, etc. My thoughts were too serious, too intense. I wanted to avoid that because when I think, the floodgates open and I start baring my soul, potentially humiliating myself. I think I must have, a little. I certainly know I asked a lot of questions. I can only hope that The Object really was half-asleep and therefore can’t remember much of the conversation that night. Finally, I was able to rouse him enough to convince him that he was hungry enough to walk to town with me for dinner. I found a used bookstore and the German owner gave me a discount because, according to him, I was the prettiest girl he’s seen for a long time. I didn’t know how true that was but I couldn’t complain. After dinner, we gave our next-door neighbors a run for their money. (Sorry, I couldn’t help squeezing that in.)

Again, we were up bright and early the next day. We had booked ourselves into an all-day tour (990 baht each) and we were both pretty excited. I had the best breakfast ever, the best since I moved to Thailand, and it was the perfect way to start what was to become a fantastic day. We were picked up by a mini bus with the rest of our tour group for the day. First stop, Erawan Falls, some 65 kilometers away. It was a rather scenic drive all the way to the park where the waterfalls were. Erawan Falls had 7 waterfalls, 3 or 4 of them you can swim in. We separated ourselves from the rest of the group and explored on our own. The Object is quite a nature buff and we were always stopping every so often to look for wildlife. It’s amazing how much he knows about birds, lizards, snakes, etc. It was like being in National Geographic or something.

On the 4th tier, people were sliding on huge boulders into the water and it looked like so much fun. An unbelievably fat Western woman in an unbelievably skimpy bikini was about to slide. She changed her mind halfway through and tried to climb back up the rock while her bikini slipped and exposed half of her huge ass. She was thrashing and screaming and by the time she plummeted into the water, locals and tourists alike were in hysterics. That was one of the tackiest and most pathetic things I’ve ever seen.

I finally convinced The Object to take a dip with me. The water was cool and it felt so good. I think the fish felt quite good too. They were certainly having the time of their lives eating (or should I say, sucking) the dead skin on my ankles, toes, and, umm, butt. Both of us weren’t very good swimmers, so we had to stay close to the rocks where the fishes congregated. Indeed, The Object and I made our contribution to the environment by being fish food.

After we’ve had our fill of the water, we attempted to climb further into the 5th tier. We never made it, though. It was much too muddy and I was sensibly wearing flip flops. The Object and I decided to make our way back into the park to rendezvous with the rest of the group for lunch. In an effort to dry myself out, I didn’t put my shirt back on and was walking around in my bikini top. It was a miracle I didn’t get stoned to death. Apparently, Thai women don’t wear bikinis, even in beaches. I never knew that until then and when I thought about it, I realized that I was the only Asian woman shamelessly walking around half-naked in Phuket, Phi Phi, and Ao Nang. That explained the dirty looks I’ve been getting. After all, nobody can ever tell I wasn’t Thai until I opened my mouth. I wasn’t about to be deterred by that revelation, however, and I carried on like normal, impervious to the dagger looks I was getting. Why? Because I’m shameless that way, that’s why.

After lunch, we drove on to our next destination. We cruised on a wooden raft along the river Kwai Noi and it was quite pleasant. It ended too soon, though. I felt that if we carried on a bit longer, we might have seen something exciting, like maybe a crocodile swimming alongside the raft or something.

My disappointment didn’t last long, however. We were going on the elephant trek next, and I was looking forward to that more than anything. I’ve seen quite a few elephants in the area where I live in, but they’ve always looked so sad that they just break my heart each time I see them. This time however, I was going to see elephants that, though captive, were in their own natural habitat. I was quite sad to see wounds on one of them but all in all, they looked quite happy. The elephant The Object and I were on was quite special. She was a massive and healthy-looking female. I was quite apprehensive when her handler left us on her while he took our photographs, but I need not have worried. She was very obedient and she actually posed once or twice. It started drizzling again and I was handed an umbrella. I was on an elephant with an Englishman and what could pass for a parasol. All I needed was a gown. I felt so colonial, indeed.

We left the Wang Pho Elephant Camp shortly thereafter and we were driven to Krasae Cave and the Death Railway. The Cave was used as a medical barracks of sorts back in the war but it was now a Buddhist Temple. We took a walk on the rather precarious railway. It was uneventful. Nobody fell off or anything, but The Object did refer to me as his “lady” on a phone call with his friend. There I was precariously dangling 50 feet above a river on a rickety railroad track with the most depressing history imaginable and I was ridiculously happy. We then rode the train over the same rickety track, got picked up by the mini bus a couple of stations away, and were driven to the Bridge Over the River Kwai, where The Object and I had a leisurely cup of coffee.

Dusk found us on our veranda once again waiting for a sunset. There was one, but it was mostly obscured by thick clouds, so, once again, I was disappointed. We passed the time talking and this time, I wasn’t the only one opening up. It’s amazing what silence could do. I didn’t have all of my questions answered, but I found out enough to know that The Object and I were on the same wavelength all along. There really might be something good here, something that only time will really tell.

We had a late dinner in a bar called No Name and I was introduced to proper English food. I had a steak and mushroom pie and the most amazing mashed potatoes I’ve ever had in my entire life. A proper English meal with a real Englishman – what more could I ask for? The food was fantastic, the company even more so. I was quite sad that we were leaving the next day.

The next morning, I ordered the same breakfast because God only knows when I will ever have eggs, bacon, and toast again. We have since decided to take the train back to Bangkok because we’ve both never done it before. To do that, we had to catch the train from the River Kwai station to Nam Tok near the Burmese border, wait for about 10 minutes, and take the same train back to Bangkok. The train was late, and after a grueling 8-hour journey, we finally pulled into Thonburi station. Though it was pleasant at times, none of us is going to try that again in a hurry.

It was one of the best weekends I’ve ever spent for as long as I could remember and I wish it could have lasted even just one day more. Once again, my eyes were opened to how beautiful the world really is and how glad I am to be alive. I needed that, considering that I was seriously thinking of finally going home. Indeed, there are still so many things and so many places I want to see in Thailand. And if that isn’t reason enough, well, you can guess what other reasons there might be.