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Northern Thailand
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We arrived back in Thailand with the idea of travelling north, so after the usual shopping and feasting we took a train towards the river kwai (Kanchanaburi) famed for its bridge and railway during WW2.
The trip took us through farms and plantations of various crops banana, coconut, palm etc
Which was all very picturesque with small villages along side the rail tracks.
Kanchanaburi is a riverside town with a strange mix of memorials/grave yards and floating disco/bars, a strange mix I think you will agree.
The main redeeming features for us have been the great restaurants and the ease of escaping to the surrounding countryside that have been full of surprises.
After taking in the nearby sights, we opted to hire bicycles and see what we could find,
These were mainly quiet temples one of which contained a 'floating nun' which for a fee you could witness a demonstration.
Well how could we resist! Well it was a warm day and 10 kilometres ish didn't seem far so off we went as best as our dodgy sense of direction would take us.
We arrived a couple of hours later hot and sticky 'after some major detours' at the temple in question, as luck would have it a mini van with a Thai family aboard arrived and arranged a 'demonstration' by the time we had spotted this it had already begun so in true back packer style we strolled over to have a look, I should explain here that the floating pool is surrounded by a brick wall to prevent people looking without paying a fee! well I'm not sure what the average height of a Thai person is, but I am quite sure I'm not that size, so with my shoulders being the same height as the wall I had a quick look ( ok Caroline was on tip toes at this point, well she is only 5 foot 9 ) well the show lasted around 3 minutes after which the Thai family just got up and left and we skulked off for a snigger, in contrast the temple was stunning and lovingly crafted as always.
Our trip home was made considerably shorter by the discovery of a river ferry made of old oil drums, a car engine and a nice proud friendly boat captain (see photo)
The new shiny motorbike for rent outside our favourite restaurant tempted us to explore further so we really got lost on the next outing, the highlight of which was arriving at what can only be described as an up market riverside resort that was being refurbished, as it is their quiet season.
Well we went in to ask for directions and the manager/owner proudly took us on a tour of his closed premises including the gardens to show us a short cut to the cave temple we were looking for.
It was a railway line on stilts! (photo)
Well we were invited to park the bike in the resort and head off about a 2 kilometres on foot along the plank in between the rails! 'Any trains' we asked! Only one a day as it's a dead end, was the reply. So off we went!
The walk was 'interesting' as the planks got a lot thinner and the gaps between them grew, along with me (Martin) helpfully pointing out the age of some of the rotten parts of the structure.
Anyway we arrived safely to a small crowd of people who had been watching us for some time wondering where these rail wandering loonies had come from, We left them wondering and entered the cave.
During the war, the cave had many uses, a hospital was its most remembered use, now it has reverted to being a bat refuge and temple again with various icons including a large Buddha.
We stopped for a cold drink at a near by stall, and plucked up courage for our return walk!
Picture this scene, we are walking along a plank in between the rail tracks, with a 30m cliff one side and a 20m sheer drop into a rocky fast flowing brown river on the other, ahead about half a kilometre is our only exit point to safely get off the track at the resort.
Yep you guessed it! The unmistakable sound of a train whistle !
We looked at each other just in time to see all the colour drain out each others faces,
Then we looked around at the options.
A brisk walk/trot along the plank was the out come (running was not an option!), plan B was if the train caught us up it was into the river we go!
Well we arrived at the resort just as the train came into view, it was travelling very slowly indeed, probably for the same reason we were earlier.
As the adrenalin and sweat dispersed we watched the train slowly pass full of day-trippers many of which we had seen at the caves earlier.
On return journey, we stopped to chat/hand signal to a shepherd who had a dead snake (cobra we think) hanging from a stick, we asked if the snake was for tea ? Just as he was nodding his head we heard a lady shouting and looking round we all saw his cows/ox eating her flower bed ! Ooops.
We decided to call it a day before we got into further trouble.
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