The Sites Around Kanchanaburi

2nd Tier at Erawan Waterfalls, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
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Picked up by minivan at 8am, seven of us were taken first to Erawan National Park, about an hour away. We had 2 1/2 hours before we had to return for lunch. The waterfalls consist of 7 tiers, with it getting it becoming more and more difficult after each fall. The highest tier was about 2km (1.25 miles) but it was definitely a tough journey having to scramble over rocks, going up ladders that happened to be missing a few rungs (my legs just aren't that long!), and avoiding the muddy pathways. It took about an hour to get to the 7th tier, which although nice, in my mind wasn't nearly as good as some of the other tiers. Getting down was just as difficult and I almost bit it twice - that's all I need to do is to break my foot again!!

Erawan Waterfalls, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
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The waterfalls were beautiful with such clear blue water. At some of the waterfalls you could swim in the pools below. I waited until I got back to the second tier and only lasted about 5 minutes because the water was so darn cold! I think I almost had a heart attack after diving in. Besides that, there really wasn't that much time to swim given that I had to be back for lunch. I would recommend anyone doing this tour, to consider staying more time to really enjoy all the different tiers.

Bridge over River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
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Lunch was at one of the stalls and was adequate. At lunch I was becoming concerned when the mother and daughter from Australia didn't make it back. I had last seen them heading up to the top as I was coming down and I was concerned that maybe something had happened. Thankfully, they showed up just a few minutes before we left and apparently they had made a wrong turn.

Second stop was to Hellfire Pass where there was a memorial to those Allied POWs and Thais that died while constructing the Burma-Thailand Death Railway. Konyu cutting was known as Hellfire Pass because it was the largest cutting through solid rock and had a certain look to it at night when the prisoners were made to work in order to speed up the construction time. It was very sobering to walk through the museum and read about the conditions that the men had to live in and how they were treated by the Japanese, along with knowing that around 100,000 died during the construction. Below the museum, you could walk down to the actually cutting which was pretty impressive.

On the Death Railway, Thailand
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The third stop was to take a ride along the death railroad. As we waited for the train, we had about 20 minutes to walk down the railroad which had two sets of tracks, with the smaller ones being the old tracks. Also there was a small Buddha cave, Kaset, that was pretty poor especially after those in Petburi, however, I did get to ring a big bell on the way out!

The train arrived and I boarded the train along with the two Australians. The daughter was living in Bangkok as a teacher on a 6 month assignment that she was thinking about extending to a year, but doing the last 6 months out of the city, possibly in Chang Mai. Her mother was just over visiting on a two week holiday.

Hellfire Pass, Thailand
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After a 30 minute train ride, we were picked up by minivan again and then taken to the bridge that crossed the river Kwai, the reason I had come to Kanchanaburi (I have yet to see the movie, but will have to once I get back). The bridge itself is not really anything spectacular, really just a railroad bridge, but it is more about what it stands for.

It was a long day, but a good one.