We’d just spent a couple of nights in Sangkhlaburi in the north west of Thailand having hired a car in Kanchanaburi for our trip. John had enjoyed driving as the roads had been really quiet and the car was virtually brand new. We felt like seasoned travellers driving around but now it was time to return the car and get a lift back to Oriential Kwai. It was so good to be back. Once we’d checked in, there was just time for a quick dip in the pool before going down to the river to watch the sun setting whilst enjoying a beer.
The next day was Sunday and as we’d done quite a lot the previous two days we thought we’d have a fairly lazy day. John went for a bike ride whilst I took some pictures in the garden and had a swim.
It was around mid-afternoon when Evelyn, who co-owns Oriental Kwai with her husband Djo asked if we’d like to go to the local Sunday market. One of the chefs was going to buy vegetables and we could have a lift with him on his tuk-tuk, this was actually a small motor bike with a sidecar. This is a big local market but even so we weren’t ready for how huge it was. Before now we’ve walked into Lat Ya the local village on market day and so we thought this market was in the same place, we were wrong. It was much further, the other side of the main road out of town, quite honestly we would never have found it.
The young chef seemed very pleased to chat to us as he drove along in the searing heat. Our eyes were burning from the dust and hot air even though we were wearing sunglasses, the chef wasn’t though. Dropping us off at the market he quickly disappeared into the crowd obviously heading for his favourite vegetable stalls.
I wouldn’t say we stuck out as we walked around the stalls but we were definitely the only people there who weren’t local. Fortunately no-one seemed to mind me taking pictures and some stallholders were quite amused to see two European tourists.
We eventually found a stall selling bottles of water as our meagre supply had run out. It was just too hot for us so we escaped from the hustle and bustle of this busy market and sat in the park opposite. Only now were we realising we had quite a walk ahead of us to Oriental Kwai. We didn’t want to think how far …! We eventually made it back but not before stopping at a cafe for yet another cold drink. Djo was in reception when we arrived. He took one look at us and couldn’t believe we’d walked all the way from the market. Two very cold beers were quickly put in front of us – we’d earned them!
The next day we got a taxi into Kanchanaburi. There’s a tourist shop not far from the bridge which I like going into. It’s family-run and although most things are covered in layers of dust there are some Thai crafts in there a little more interesting than in the other souvenir shops.
We were so close to the bridge and as it wasn’t crawling with lots of coach parties we walked across. It’s an iconic landmark. I hope that people walking across think for a moment of all those men who lost their lives building the bridge and the infamous Thai – Burma railway.
It was time for a spot of lunch so we walked down to the cafe by the river. We had a prime spot overlooking the bridge with free entertainment courtesy of a water monitor. I’m pretty sure that for the rest of the day we lazed around at Oriental Kwai, swimming, reading, enjoying the sunshine, the wonderful food and the peace and quiet of this wonderful place.
With our holiday almost over we decided to make this day a memorable one and booked to go to Elephant Haven, a sanctuary which opened in 2015 for seven rescued elephants. Elephant Haven is located in Sai Yok, a thirty minute drive out of Kanchanaburi. A mini bus collects you and you join other tourists for the day. We’ve been to several elephant camps before but this one particularly appealed to us as it’s on a small scale. The herd have the freedom to roam, socialise, enjoy a mud bath and cool down in the river Kwai which runs through the sanctuary. In this beautiful setting you can observe the elephants behaviour and learn more about their complex social structure. The emphasis is more about educating the visitors about the needs of the elephants and the work the project is doing to highlight the plight of the Asian elephant.
As you’ll see from these pictures, the elephants are very happy here and not surprisingly we had a fantastic time. It’s the perfect ending to this Blog on our trip to Thailand. We can’t wait to go back and hopefully we will be able to in 2021. Thank you for reading this, the following Blogs will, for a while, be about our trips nearer to home.
Travels with the Booths.blog 