Suratthani, back to Bangkok and on to Kanchanaburi

I’ll pick up where I left off last, which was waiting for the bus (well minivan) at Khao Sok after annoyingly booking the car for the wrong time. Normally the bus is no issue, but we’d worked out that the car was going to be about the same cost, and much easier, so it was annoying to have messed up the booking. Plus, as I was somehow sick (again!!) I was keen for the easy route.

Anyway, it wasn’t to be so on the bus we got and made our way down to Suratthani.

Suratthani is a reasonably big town but is a bit of a commercial centre, acting as the gateway to other, more touristy places like the one we were just leaving. It was really just as we were flying out of there back to Bangkok, so figured we may as well stay for a night and have a look around.

On arrival, we were starving so went to the cafe in the hotel for lunch then checked into our room. It’s a hostel, but a really nice one with one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept in.

It’s pretty hot, and I’m pretty sick, so we decided just to go for a short walk over to an island in the river which was home to a nice park with a fitness track and some sports facilities. We then walked back over the river to the night markets for some dinner, before coming home for an early night.

With a late checkout and a late afternoon flight, after breakfast the next morning I went back to bed for a couple of hours in an effort to get better. We then checked out and went for a walk in another direction to another park, had some lunch and wandered back to get our bags and head for the airport. It was good to have a bit of a quiet time for a couple of says and the extra sleep helped.

The flight was fairly uneventful. At the airport we joined the mad scrum for a Grab – the Grab is pre-booked on the phone so we know just to wait for ours, but the word is obviously out as there were a hundred or so waiting for their own Grabs. Unfortunately they haven’t worked out that you can just track it on your phone and don’t have to form a massive pack blocking the exit to the terminal while you wait for your own car.

Anyway, we got through all that and had a 40 minute drive across town to our accommodation. As it turned out, we were staying in a street where the party was most definitely on. In another lifetime, Jim and I might have dropped our bags and got into the mix, but in this lifetime, it was 8pm, the kids were tired, I was sick and ready for bed, and we had an early start in the morning. So Jim popped out for a quick takeaway beer and some breakfast for the morning. We shared the beer on the verandah of our room while listening to the fun below then called it a night.

The next morning we were up at 5:30am to get out the door by 6:30am. That put us at Thonburi Train Station in time for our train to Kanchanaburi. It’s just a local suburban ‘stop at all stops’ train, with third class only – bench seats, and windows for ‘air conditioning’. For 100 baht each we had our ticket for the 2 hour ride through the outer suburbs then the countryside as we headed west. It was a pretty interesting trip, although we all had a bit of a nap after our early start.

Arriving in Kanchanaburi we grabbed a shared taxi to our accommodation where they very kindly let us check in hours before we should. Here we are staying in a cute little pool-side bungalow. We decided to save the pool for later and head back into town to the museum, dedicated to the story of the prisoners of war who built the Death Railway for the Japanese during WWII.

The museum had a cafe so we had lunch first, then spent an hour or so looking through the museum exhibits. Across the road is one of three big POW cemeteries – this one being the biggest at 7,000 graves. We’ve been to a few of these big cemeteries around the world in places like France, Belgium and Gallipoli, and they never fail to remind us of the horrors of war.

We then wandered home for a swim, and found out that our accommodation not only does dinner, but room service, so we had our dinner on our bungalow deck in our togs. A very nice way to end the day.

While out and about, we hatched a plan to get up to Hellfire Pass, to visit the museum and walk a section of the old railway. To go by train we’d have to be on the 6am service, so we decided to book a car and driver instead. He picked us up at 8:30am and took us the hour or so up the road to Hellfire Pass.

This museum is run by the Australian Government and is excellent. The museum itself had a lot of interesting information, and then they give you an audio guide to listen to as you walk along the pass. You can either do the 500m walk to the memorial, or the 5km return trip along a longer section of the old railway, where they give you a 2-way radio and call in every hour just to check you are ok.

We did the longer one (of course). It’s a really interesting walk, especially as you’re listening to stories from the prisoners along the way. How on earth anyone survived that ordeal I don’t know, but it must have been absolutely harrowing.

All of that took us almost four hours. We got back to our driver and he took us to the train station where we sat in the cafe drinking the best coffee we’d had in Thailand while we waited for the train.

The train travels on the section of the Death Railway that remains and is a really interesting journey along the river and through the countryside. It’s pretty slow (2.5 hours), but well worth it and at 100 baht per ticket ($5) it’s a bargain too.

We finished the trip by crossing on the Bridge over the River Kwai, where there was plenty waiting to film or photograph the train as it cross the bridge. It then stops on the other side in the main square, so we hopped off, walked back over the bridge and home again.

We made it just by dark, so had a quick swim while they cooked our dinner. It was a fascinating day out and one of the highlights of our trip.

We’re now packing up while the kids are swimming and I’m doing a bit of work before we jump back on the train for the return journey to Bangkok. We have just two more nights here in Thailand before we get on our flight back to Singapore, then on an overnight flight back to Brisbane. We’re keen to get home, but will miss Thailand a lot I think.