Bridge Over the Kwai River

Thai station along the rail to Kanchanaburi.
see all photos »

This morning began in a rush: no time for breakfast; had to be on a train by 7.30 in order to make it to Kanchanaburi before the sun set.

Instincts told us that the hotel would be able to help us to the station the fastest, with the least inconvenience... Until they informed us the train departs at 7.00am, and not 7.30. Then it turned out they wanted to sell us a taxi ride to the station for 200 Baht not including the train ticket (nope, they don't seem to do packages here), we simultaneously decided it was better for us to walk out the door and "speak" with taxis waiting out there.  The station is only about a 20 minute walk away.

Our tickets were third-class passage, and I wasn't entirely sure what surprises that included.

Restaurant on the Kwai.
see all photos »

In the end, a nice guy's super-powered tuk-tuk got us there in 5 minutes. In a big panic we ran to buy our tickets only to discover that the Royal Hotel was wrong, and the train does in fact, depart at 7.30am.

So now there was time for breakfast. But I wouldn't recomend anyone eat their fried rice outside Thornbury Station at that hour in the morning.

Our tickets were for a third-class passage, and I wasn't entirely sure what surprises that included. Thankfully it didn't turn out that bad - back-damaging wooden seats was about the worst thing, followed by wide open carriage windows and travelling at speeds questionable for the age of the train. Even still, I managed to grab 40 winks.

Bridge over the Kwai.
see all photos »

Arriving at Kanchanaburi we were hassled yet again by people wanting to take us to the bridge, only this time they were all on bikes, not taxis. We stopped for a coke and toilet stop, and had a stroll around the Thai-Burma Railway Centre and war cemetery before stupidly accepting a ride from a tricycle taxi with only room enough for one-and-a-half passengers to take us to the bridge. It was not the most pleasant 30 minute journey of my life, riding behind the cyclist at bum level, squished beside my dad and sweating in the hot sun and humid weather...

see all photos »

It had clouded over by the time we got to the bridge over the Kwai River. It was awesome to see something with such a significant war-time history. Better still it is free. Even though there's not much else to do with the bridge other than walk over it and look around the township, I definitely thought the journey was well worth it.

We walked back into Kanchanaburi and hopped on a bus back to Bangkok. There was a trick to this, arriving back in Bangkok on the bus. It took us down a busy street (being peak hour), and made an obvious stop outside a market, where about 96% of passengers got off. Our question marks were forming and we nearly followd them, but didn't. Then the bus made its way across the road and turned around. It was going to its final destination, Southern Bus Station (I think is the name). When we arrived there, they had had a power failure and it seemed that a few buses were late or cancelled, as there were people everywhere. It was awful - crowds of people, darkness other than the odd candle here and there, humidity and confusion do not make a good combination. We had no clue where we were or how to get out of here. So when all else fails, walk away. And we did.