Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Our second destination in Thailand was only a few hours’ drive from Bangkok. We were staying in Nong Bua - a small village close to Kanchanaburi, the main town in the area. The owner was an eccentric ageing expat hippie who entertained us with his many crazy stories. Our first day there was New Year’s Eve, so he cooked all of the guests a delicious meal. It ended up being quite a strange mix of people there and it was a bit of a quiet New Years. But Thai people love fireworks, and even in this small town there were plenty of fireworks and Chinese lanterns.

A few more guests arrived after New Year, and the place ended up being really social and fun. Most nights we all headed out to an amazing riverside restaurant in Nong Bua. There you could get a huge range of delicious meals for NZ$1-3. The guesthouse owner packed us all onto his motorbike side-car to take us down the road to the restaurant.

Kanchanaburi is a significant site in WWII history. Here, many prisoners of war (mostly Australian, British and Dutch soldiers) as well as Asian labourers were forced to build a railway from Thailand into Burma to support the Japanese military campaign in India. Disease, abuse, malnutrition and neglect caused more than 100,000 deaths by the time the railway was completed. While in Kanchanaburi we got to visit an interesting museum, a war cemetery and part of the railway itself. You may have heard of the Death Railway before, as it is the subject of a well-known film “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.

Hellfire Pass - the site of some of the worst atrocities

There are also many National Parks in the area. The one we visited was called Erawan, which is one of the most popular parks because of its seven waterfalls. We found Erawan to be nice, but not amazing, and as you’d expect it was really busy. Our swim at the bottom of one of the waterfalls came with an involuntary fish spa. Every so often a squeal would emerge from a swimmer as the fish nibbled at their feet.

We were really surprised to learn how much there is to do around Kanchanaburi, but the trouble is that the national parks and other attractions are quite spread out. The public transport is pretty good – we got around using local buses and songthaews (large pick-up trucks with benches in the back), but this is one area you’d really benefit from having your own vehicle. We left feeling like there was still plenty more we could have seen, but it’s off to the beach now for us. We’re heading south of Bangkok to Hua Hin for some R & R.

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson