Kanchanaburi

Kanchanaburi has two faces. On one side, there’s the truly sad war history here, and on the other there’s some real beauty, both natural and man made. I arrived at my hostel after a very sweet three-hour train ride from Bangkok, and met Marcus, who kindly offered to lend me his scooter to go and see the most famous sight here, one that can claim to exist of both sides of Kanchanaburi (pun intended). The actual bridge on the river Kwai is a rail bridge that can also be walked over, with tourists ducking out of the way when trains need to pass. It history is a reminder of the horrors of war, yet its present is simply beautiful, sitting above. Quiet meandering river, pretty buildings on either side. 

With only one full day here I decided to rent a scooter of my own and headed out to explore the city and its surroundings. The tiger cave temple complex (oddly not in a cave) was huge, mazey and imposing, with real attention to detail. The giant monkey pod tree was indeed giant, and the dragon temple (partially in a cave) was a wonderfully varied walk with panoramic views. The real highlight though was the feeling of freedom riding around on a moped. I stopped to look at paddy fields with mountains in the background, what I think must have been an extremely ornate Thai war cemetery, and at any moment there was something nice to look at, before scooting off again to my next destination. 

After a fantastic tom yum soup (maybe my new favourite Thai dish?) I headed to the death railway museum (not quite as good as Lonely Planet had suggested), the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (beautiful and poignant) and the Jeath WWII Museum (made with love, but quite chaotic) before ending my way with food at the local night market for the second night running.

An excellent little escape from Bangkok. Not bad for 36 hours.