Kanchanaburi
We left Bangkok early and headed out of the city to the nearby floating market where we spent an hour wandering around the market. It was just like most the other markets we'd seen in Asia selling anything and everything but this one was simply longtail boats floating up and down the river selling goods. We didn't buy anything except for some fruit and some sort of drink that we thought was coke but it was possible the worst beverage I've ever tasted, it was like congealed jelly and ice and tasted pretty foul? We got back on the bus and continued for about 2hrs to our lunch stop where we had a traditional Thai style lunch (rice and various meat and vegetable dishes). After lunch we headed to the WW2 museum and had a wander across the Bridge over the River Kwai. It was only a quick stop at the museum/bridge and 1hr later we were heading off to the Tiger Temple. The tiger temple is like a wildlife park that houses all sorts of animals which are free to roam the grounds but the main attraction here was the orphaned tigers which lived here. During certain times of the day it is possible to stroke the tigers and have your photo taken, which was quite an experience. After spending an hour or so in the tiger temple we headed back towards Kanchanaburi to have dinner in our restaurant and then to check into our river raft cabins which we would be spending the next 2 nights living in.
The Kitti rafts as they were called were pretty basic consisting of a bed with an attached bathroom with toilet and cold water shower, there was no luxury but the fact that we were floating on a river in the middle of the jungle was pretty cool. After having a much needed shower and unpacking we had a few beers with the rest of our group and had an early night. The following day we were off to a national park in the morning to have a walk to see the 7 tiered waterfall and do a bit of swimming. After lunch we visited the Hellfire Pass museum which I found to be really interesting and then we went for another walk through the original pass. After dinner (rice, veg, meat - Thai style) we chilled out back at our rafts and again had another early night. Our last day in Kanchanaburi consisted of a late breakfast (9am) then off for a hours elephant trekking through the nearby jungle, we then had a pleasant bamboo raft trip down the river to our restaurant for lunch. After lunch we crammed ourselves onto our trusty mini bus and headed back to Bangkok.
Well we had planned on visiting Kanchanaburi from the start and wanted to see the bridge over the river Kwai and a few other things, what we hadn't really considered doing a tour package but I think it was good that we did as i took the pressure off us and made sure that everything planned would be done. Our 3 day 2 night package included everything from food and accommodation to transport and all entrance fees.
We left Bangkok early and headed out of the city to the nearby floating market where we spent an hour wandering around the market. It was just like most the other markets we'd seen in Asia selling anything and everything but this one was simply longtail boats floating up and down the river selling goods. We didn't buy anything except for some fruit and some sort of drink that we thought was coke but it was possible the worst beverage I've ever tasted, it was like congealed jelly and ice and tasted pretty foul? We got back on the bus and continued for about 2hrs to our lunch stop where we had a traditional Thai style lunch (rice and various meat and vegetable dishes). After lunch we headed to the WW2 museum and had a wander across the Bridge over the River Kwai. It was only a quick stop at the museum/bridge and 1hr later we were heading off to the Tiger Temple. The tiger temple is like a wildlife park that houses all sorts of animals which are free to roam the grounds but the main attraction here was the orphaned tigers which lived here. During certain times of the day it is possible to stroke the tigers and have your photo taken, which was quite an experience. After spending an hour or so in the tiger temple we headed back towards Kanchanaburi to have dinner in our restaurant and then to check into our river raft cabins which we would be spending the next 2 nights living in.
The Kitti rafts as they were called were pretty basic consisting of a bed with an attached bathroom with toilet and cold water shower, there was no luxury but the fact that we were floating on a river in the middle of the jungle was pretty cool. After having a much needed shower and unpacking we had a few beers with the rest of our group and had an early night. The following day we were off to a national park in the morning to have a walk to see the 7 tiered waterfall and do a bit of swimming. After lunch we visited the Hellfire Pass museum which I found to be really interesting and then we went for another walk through the original pass. After dinner (rice, veg, meat - Thai style) we chilled out back at our rafts and again had another early night. Our last day in Kanchanaburi consisted of a late breakfast (9am) then off for a hours elephant trekking through the nearby jungle, we then had a pleasant bamboo raft trip down the river to our restaurant for lunch. After lunch we crammed ourselves onto our trusty mini bus and headed back to Bangkok.
