Day 4: Erawan Waterfalls (02/02/2019)
Before heading to the North part of Thailand, Tess and I decided to visit one more city from the middle region. We spent most of our forth day in a very slow bus with direction to Kanchanaburi. The city is mainly known for historical events during WWII described in the book and movie with the title “Bridge on the river Kwai”. It is also very close to some amazing waterfalls. However, not many western people visit the area.
Once we arrived, in our dorm we met François, a french guy travelling alone with his motorbike. And together we planned how to organize the following days.
Next morning we had to wake up early, go to the middle of the road, and hail a bus that would take us to the Erawan Waterfalls. At that time, I was expecting the bus to be empty, but on the contrary, there were no space left to sit. Until a friendly monk in the back of the bus made signs for me to get closer, created space so I could seat next to him. We echanged smiles and he went back to sleep.
Erawan Waterfalls are composed by 7 different levels, with only two things in common: clear turquoise water and curious fishes that loved to swim next to you, and even nibble the skin of your feet if you stand still.
To reach each level we had to do some hiking. And even though it was recommended to do use proper shoes I decided to go “tarzan-mode” and do it barefoot.
After a full day of swimming with fishes, climbing some lianas, doing yoga poses under a big waterfall, and running after monkeys through the jungle, I needed a feet massage. So we chilled with our feet in the water while small fishes gave us a free peeling session (it took me at least 15 min to get used to it).
When it started to go dark, we said good bye to François who was going deeper into the National park with his motorbike, and we got the bus to come back. Once again there was no space for me, and this time I had to sit in the middle of the bus corridor, next to the driver. Some bumpy roads msde me think I would go flying through the windshield, but thanfully I made it in one piece to enjoy delicious local food at Kanchanaburi’s night market.
BONUS: FAMILY in my backpack
First time I asked Thai people to wear the masks of my family. Curious fact, they fight each other because they all wanted to wear female masks… Is my dad so ugly? Or maybe it was the excitement of being a ladyboy for a couple of minutes? 😅
DAY 6: The Death Railway
The most popular feature of Kanchanaburi is the bridge over the river Kwai, and the numerous memorials to the prisoners of war who died building the Burma railway.
Today’s plan was to ride a train through the “Death Railway” starting at the famous bridge all the way to Hellfire pass. To get a better idea of what happened there, the night before I spent a couple of hours reading some interesting facts and watching the 1957 movie.
Once in the train, I had the chance to throw some random comments in front of a couple of americans, that amazed by my “wikipedia knowledge”, wanted to hire me as their guide for the day.
The bridge in itself is not a big deal. In fact, it is not even similar to the one displayed in the movie (which was recorded in Sri Lanka). That is a bit disappointing. However, there is a part of the trajectory that runs between a river and a clift where the views are spectacular. Furthermore, since there is only one train every 3 hours, people are allowed to walk through the rails and enjoy the views.
Something to highlight is that next to this train station I eat the best coconut ice cream ever!!
Back in the hostel I still had some cravings for fruit, so I bought a whole pineapple (my favorite fruit in Thailand so far) for 50 cents and they taught me how to cut it Thai style.
Later, we had dinner with 3 new people from our dorm and one of them told us how easy had been for him to hitchhike everywhere in the SE of Asia…Now I want to try it too!
DAY 7: A Bike Ride
Our last day in Kanchanaburi, Tess and I rented bicycles (we were a bit afraid of renting scooters) to do a 40 km exploration tour around the surrounding areas of the city.
At first, it felt kind of dangerous to jump into the road, where all the cars and motorbikes didn’t seem to respect any traffic law. Especially, because my bike didn’t have breaks and I had to stop by setting on fire the sole of my shoes.
However, as soon as I got used to drive on the left side, I realized that despite the dominant and aggressive “Thai way” of driving, they are really aware of everything going on and I felt completely safe.
In our first stop we ride our bikes through an out-of-use small version of hellfire memorial. Then, with the bikes on our shoulders we climbed several steps to reach a viewpoint over the river Kwae.
In the mid point of our journey we found a gigantic monkey pod tree. At this point Tessa wanted to go back to the city, but I was determined to complete the circuit, so we splited ways.
During the rest of the way, I waved “hello” to every local I met, which almost cost me falling from the bike a couple of times. Surprised of seeing me riding a bicycle on the bumpy and boiling hot roads, they laughed while waving back.
In fact, I got severely burned, but the dragon themed temples of Ban Tham & Than Phaet temples, located in the top of two mountains, made it all worth. . After the intense work out to get to the top of the mountains I only wanted a relaxing ride back while enjoying the views. But a group of dogs, well prepared to bite my legs, decided against it and chased me for a long time. . The worst part is that when I finally lost them, my back tire exploded. And even though some locals tried to help me, I had to pull my bike back for at least 30 min.
When I arrived to the hostel, I met a group of cool guys from USA and Switzerland. And before taking a night bus towards my first city of the North (Chiang Mai) , we spent the rest of the afternoon sharing experiences while eating refreshing pineapple.