As soon as we land at Bangkok we head out, north-west to the town of Kanchanaburi. It takes about three hours by car. We used to stay in Bangkok and catch the early morning train but quite honestly now as soon as we land we just want to get to our favourite place – https://www.orientalkwai.com we love The Oriental Kwai Resort. It’s peaceful, the gardens are beautiful, the pool is great and the food served at the riverside restaurant is excellent. In the evening there is nothing more relaxing than walking down to the riverside to watch the calm, waters of the River Kwai flow by as the sun sets slowly behind the trees.
Getting over jet lag didn’t take us long. On our first day I walked into the nearby town of Lat Ya and John cycled. At least my legs didn’t let me down unlike the bike …a flat tyre. Both feeling hot and not yet adjusted to the heat we called into the cafe bar on the way back. We ordered a cold drink, not having a clue what was coming but it was very refreshing.
The owner very kindly, understanding the bike problem stored it away behind the garden gate. When we got back to Oriental Kwai, John told Evelyn, one of the owners that we’d had to leave the bike at the cafe. “No problem”, she said. “No-one around here would steal it”.
An over-energetic morning had left us rather tired so after a splendid lunch washed down with a Singha beer we spent the afternoo by the pool. A little later, as we always do, we walked down to the river to watch the sun go down.
A boat trip down from Oriental Kwai to Kanachanaburi is well worth it espcially if you can share the cost with another couple. You get a great view of the iconic bridge over the river and arrive in the city avoiding the traffic.
We’ve been to the bridge many times but never seen the area so quiet. Maybe we’d got there before the tourist buses or perhaps the tourist trade just hasn’t picked up again yet?
The various stalls were really quiet but I made one trader’s day when I bought three of her bracelets. She waved the banknotes around to signify she was delighted to have made a sale.
The next day we picked up a hire car and John drove to Sangkhlaburi. It’s an easy drive until you get about forty kilometres from the town and then it’s hilly with lots of bends until you arrive down into the town. Goods views of the lake but it’s not easy for the driver to look.
Sangkhlaburi is a small town, surounded by mountains and sits at the end of the Khae Laem Lake. It has an interesting mixture of cultures because of its location near the Burmese border. The people are a mix of Thai, many from the Mon ethnic group who have their own language and customs and Burmese people who have left their country and settled in the town. It’s famous for its handmade wooden bridge which although it looks old, it isn’t. Spanning the river this bridge is the longest wooden bridge in Thailand and was built to link the town with the splendid Wat Wang Wiwekaram temple. It spans the Song Kalia river from the town to the Mon village of Wang Kha. A section of the bridge was washed away a few years ago and was quickly rebuilt. The water level of the lake drops dramatically in the dry season which is a good time to take a boat trip to see the three temples which were submerged when a dam was built across the lake and completely covered the village in the valley.
We chose to go to Sangkhlaburi at this time as we knew there was a festival celebrating young boys becoming novice monks. We were a little late getting there so we missed the boys and their families processing across the bamboo bridge but I got some pictures as the crowds went past us.
A little later that day we saw the young boys in their colourful robes; their hair closely cut and clearly getting used to their new attire. Traditionally the young novices serve in the temple for a minimum period of three months. These days some monks serve for as little as 15 days or a week. A family earns great respect and merit when a son becomes a monk.
Sangkhlaburi is not yet on the tourist’s radar but it won’t be long before it becomes a popular destination. True it’s a small town and there’s not masses to do but the Thai Buddhist temple, Wang Wiwekaram Temple is spectacular and well worth a visit; the boat trip to the sunken temples is a must and the ride through the forest to the new and huge floating Buddha which just a handful of Thai tourists have discovered makes for an interesting itinerary. We chose basic cafes on both nights where not surprisingly not a word of English was spoken (we didn’t expect it) and the menu was of course written in Thai. We managed to order beer and as we’re happy to eat most things, we were content with a rice dish. The second cafe had no pictures of the dishes but one of the diners came to our rescue having got an App on her phone which translated the menu (very handy). During our two-day stay we found the people very friendly and helpful.
On our second day we drove to a Mon-Karen village near the Myanmar border. It’s wise not to go right to the border and anyway there isn’t much to see. The road turns into a dust track before you get there which was enough to signal we should turn back.
I’ve mentioned the ‘floating’ Buddha which is a new statue built on one of the hillsides just outside of town but there is another important temple Chedi Phutthakhaya which we didn’t visit this time. It’s style is very different to that of the Wang Wiwekaram Temple and to be honest it wouldn’t look out of place on a Disney set. Lots of stalls selling tourist rubbish run alongside the car park. If you are tight for time definitely drive or walk up through the tree-lined path up to the new Buddha. The site is unfinished but even with Buddha covered in scaffolding, ‘he’ is magnificiant and can be seen ‘floating’ above the ground from miles around. It appears the temple has yet to be named. I can imagine when the temple is officially opened the celebration will go on for days. We really liked this area. It’s very peaceful and the way the route has been designed to wind through the trees is lovely. The views from the top are stunning and I particuarly liked the way you could glimpse the golden rooftops of Wat Wang Wiwekaram through the trees. The Wat was our next stop.
The temple is open from 1.30am until 12.30pm and I should imagine whatever time you visit there will be groups of people sat everywhere along the marble corridors. When we visited there was an exhibiton of photographs hung all along the vast corridors. Brilliant pictures by various local photographers showing the lives of the local people, great portaits and group shots and Festivals. This little girl has her face decorated in traditional Burmese style with yellow ochre. (I’ve lifted this from Google) …”Traditionally, the women grind the bark of the thanakha tree on a flat circular stone with a bit of water. This creates a milky yellow liquid that dries quickly when applied to the skin. This mixture creates a powdery protective ideal not only for faces but also for the arms.” This little girl was very sweet and loved learning ‘Pat-a-cake’, no language barrier with this game.
All this walking round made us very thirsty so we headed down to the Mon village where I bought a T-shirt from one of the many shops lining the main route then we sat and had a cold drink followed by free bananas and tea.
Ready to face the afternoon heat once more we walked to the Thai side by the Mon bridge and came across a local boatman who for 500 baht took us on the lake to see the three sunken temples: the Karen’s Srisuwan Temple, the Mon’s Wat Wang Wiwekaram temple and the Thai Wat Somdet temple.
The only structure from the submerged town that remains today is the Waat Sam Prasob shrine, also known as the Sunken Temple. Built by the Mon and Karen tribes, it was once the heart of the old town before the dam flooded the area in 1984.
As we were there in the dry season we were able to walk around and take a closer look at the inside. I was in my element taking pictures and would have stayed longer but our boatman had two more temples to show us.
He then took us across the lake to the old Wat Somdet Temple. We moored and then walked up past a small village to this ancient abandoned Thai temple. It reminded us of Angkor Wat with all the tree roots entwined amongst the stonework.
Having sailed back along by the Karen’s temple again we ended our hour-long trip with this delightful boatman by floating gently under the Mon bridge and sat for the obligatory picture with the bridge as a backdrop.
It was time for a beer so we headed for the cafe on the Thai side of the Mon Bridge to watch the sun setting over the Song Kalla river. A final picture of our boat heading back was a fitting close to our two days in Sangkhlaburi. We felt we’d done the place justice on this our return visit. It is an interesting place and I’m sure it won’t be long before the town is firmly on the tourist route.