Hellfire Pass

This was to be stage 3 of our death railway programme and was worth the visit -despite the fact that the tour meant we did not have as much time as we would have liked. The museum and the walk through the passes (a three hour circular walk which we had to skip) were established and funded by Australian veterans with some government backing. As you walk through the pass it is hard to imagine the work that went into cutting the stone over three months during the hottest part of the year.
The final part of the trip was the journey back to town on the train but having been rushed through the museum and the walk our guide got a call to say that due to an accident - 'no worry, nobody killed' - the railway was closed for the rest of the day. This was hugely disappointing and we had to settle for the trip back by road and a visit to the bridge on foot.

Travelling companions

We decided to travel to Hellfire Pass with an organised tour which included a trip to the seven levels of the Erawan waterfall - one of the best in Thailand, a visit to the Pass and then return journey by the train along the death railway (or DEAD railway as a number of Thai signs described it). Since it was difficult to do all of this in one day under our own steam, we thought we would take advantage of someone else's experience.
Turned out that there were only three of us on the trip - our companion was a youngish Austrian named Kai who had been travelling in Thailand since the end of December and had been on his own for the last two weeks after his girlfriend had left to return to work in Austria. To say that he was talkative would be a gross understatement - from meeting at 9.00am until we got back to the guesthouse at 5.30pm he never stopped. Guess he hadn't had much conversation in the last couple ofweeks!
He was also staying in the same guesthouse and as we sat down to dinner he arrived and joined us - without eating or drinking - for the whole meal and then did the same again at lunch time today. We picked up one or two helpful tips from the constant chatter but were very glad to wave goodbye as he headed for Bangkok and his flight home.

Lost for words

We spent our first morning in Kanchanaburi visiting the Death Railway Museum and the main allied cemetery.

It is hard to describe the effect of the story which these two sites tell when taken together. Despite my previous research, the exemplary way in which the museum told the story and 7000 war graves in a small city block, I still cannot begin to understand the suffering that the allied POW's and the Asian conscripted labourers went through during the building of the railway.

Juxtaposed with the tv pictures of that grinning monkey - who was our Prime minister for far too long - trying again to justify his decision to start his own war in Iraq - it makes me wonder if we will ever learn anything about the futility of war!

Tomorrow we are heading up the railway to Hellfire Pass to pay our own respects - in some small way.

As a sideline it is interesting to note that the river over which the infamous Bridge was built was not the Kwai at all. Pierre Boulle who wrote the book which was turned into the movie had assumed that because the railway ran along side the KwaiNoi for much of its route, that this was the river that had been bridged at Kanchanaburi. In fact it was the Mae Khlong. Obligingly the Thai government renamed it Kwai Yai after the movie had been released and the first groups of tourists started arriving to visit the site.

More travelling

Minibus from hotel to Rama II in Bangkok suburbs - taxi to Sai Tai bus station -minibus to Kanchanaburi - soong thaew to hotel - all at breakneck speed. About 400km in 7 hours including a refreshment stop at a cost of £7.50 each.
We were both glad to reach Apple's Retreat on the riverside at Kanchanaburi - a friendly welcome, comfortable room (£10 per night) and cold beer. Also an oasis of calm after the rush of the day. Would recommend it to anyone not least because of the great food in the restaurant -however will leave the tripadvisor comments to Linda!

Life's a beach!

Golden Pines Resort at Pak Nam Pran had everything that you could want - comfortable room, balcony with great view of the sunrise over the Gulf of Thailand, Air con, hot showers, wifi, a great pool overlooking the beach and very friendly helpful staff - of course. Unfortunately it was sadly lacking in one commodity - other guests! A 33 room resort with only four guests (including us) felt a little empty to say the least - at any time the staff outnumbered the guests by at least 5 to 1.
The same applied to most of the places along the beach - even our favourite bar - Bamboo Beach - while busier than most others always had empty tables. The Thai owner Jane bemoaned the fact that there were so few western visitors in what should have been high season and complained that asian visitors tended to spend all their time in their resort hotels.
Naturally we were accosted in the bar - in a friendly manner - by the ubiquitous Scot(s). This time it was a pair of retired schoolmasters from Elgin Academy. They were keen to tell me how glad they were to have retired early - didn't believe that I had beaten them by 10 years!

On the Road

As we waited for the taxi to take us to the Southern Bus Station for our bus to Pak Nam Pran, the hotel concierge asked where we were going and then asked why we didn't just hire a car and driver to take us the whole way "much quicker, much better"!

That would have been my plan but since Linda was in charge of the arrangements, we are now aboard the #985 bus to Pranburi. So far so good - plenty of room to stretch out and to sit and type as well - probably more room than the Toyota Camry - and only 4 stops on the way down. Jury's still out but...

........Well, what can I say? Very comfortable bus journey which dropped us at the centre of Pran Buri in less than 3 hours - an hour ahead of schedule. Interesting discussion with a Songthaew driver to get us to our hotel - think we have now tried 8 different types of public transport with only tuktuks, samlors and motorbike taxis to go!

Pak Nam Pran is a very Thai resort and quiet during the middle of the week, but the hotel has all the comforts and, of course, very friendly. So far there are 2 english speaking staff - think we will see a lot of them!

The sights and flavours of Bangkok

I had been promised a couple of days to relax, so our sightseeing was restricted to Jim Thompson's House - an oasis of calm and tranquillity - and the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo - a hive of tourist activity. It seems odd that the temple of the Emerald Buddha should be the busiest place that we have been since arriving but I guess I could say the same about the Grand Mosque in Casablanca or the Alhambra in Granada.

My protestant upbringing has difficulty with the concept of merit-making while my western eye finds much of the decoration overdone.However I love the simplicity and functionality of traditional Thai architecture and the grain and texture of the teak.

As usual, we had identified a few places to eat - some recommended by friends, others the result of reading too many guide books. For simple meals, the Bus Stop and the Seven Seas on Sukhumvit Soi 4 were good - too early in the trip for hawker food! Cabbages and Condoms may be an institution but the food was still excellent- wonder if we could introduce the concept to the West of Ireland?

Brown Sugar - Soi Sarasin - was a great Jazz bar with a good resident band, a jam session on Sunday night and the food wasn't bad either (thanks PL). Curries and More... on Soi Ruam Rudee was upmarket Thai food and on the pricy side while La Gritta - Soi 13? was an expensive - very good - Italian which we chose by mistake because we had forgotten the name of the place Jimmy C recommended (La Giusta for future reference).