In an attempt to catch up with our travel blog, this post will cover our final 3 destinations in Thailand: Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya and Surin. All 3 were quite different from each other, and in a way, ticked most of the boxes we had for our visit in Thailand. In all honesty, we had expected more from this country. After reading so many rave reviews, we felt a little deflated as we toured around. So, apologies for those that love Thailand, but personally, we didn’t feel the magic that we expected. Maybe that was the problem; we ‘expected’ a little too much. We also appreciate that it is a huge country and we only dipped our feet in for what felt like a matter of seconds in comparison with India and Nepal.
I think our biggest issue here was money. Much like every other traveller, money and budget play a huge part and truly dictate how you travel, where you stay and for what duration. Keeping a close eye on your wallet is always good advice, despite how mundane it can be.
Compared to India and Nepal, Thailand proved to be very expensive. Certainly travel costs seemed to be far more costly, but accomodation and food were also slightly more inflated. This wouldn’t usually be a problem, but our budget was already set, and if we wanted to ‘last’ out here, then we needed to find cheap and cheerful options: everywhere. Without further ado, I present to you Thailand’s greatest asset: 7/11! Every time we entered one of these convenience stores, we felt like we were cheating. We came all the way across the world, to this beautiful country and appear to spending rather a lot of time in the heavily air conditioned 7/11 shops: crazy! But for those on a shoe-string, these shops were a real money saver. Beer (yes, I’ve started a list with ‘beer’), water, bread, noodles, toilet paper; everything is cheaper in these shops and we really roped back in some of the lost savings that we spent on buses, trains etc. Of course there are street vendors serving up delicious, often an indistinguishable array of delights, but for day to day supplies (water is the obvious big one) then look no further: and trust me, you don’t need to look for them…7/11’s everywhere. In fact, 99% of the time, you can be stood on the doorstep of one 7/11 and if you look down the street, you’ll surely spot another.
Back to Kanchanaburi, our first stop outside of the wonderful Bangkok capital. Lying 4 hours north west on the banks of the river Kwai, and stooped in history, we chose this place for rather obvious reasons. The river itself is beautiful, with water lilies dotted all over and the fantastic back drop of the nearby mountains, every photo taken was like an instant postcard. Our first of 2 guesthouses was on the water itself. Suspended on floating barrels, we felt the slow, gentle rocking motion of the water as we lay in bed that evening. The town itself has been described as a mini, relaxed version of Bangkok – relaxed, yes…but we couldn’t see any other resemblance to the big city. Like a small fishing town, with a few bars and huge flowering bushes lining the streets, Kanchanaburi felt far more rural: a perfect place to rest up for a while. Our second guesthouse was also situated on the river, slightly further away from the centre (which dramatically dropped the price) and offered great views over the river: sunsets here were dreamy, with powerful orange and red tints of light reflecting over the calm water, another postcard view that we felt lucky to part of.
The main attraction here is of course the bridge over the river Kwai. Made famous by the 1957 David Lean film, the bridge itself is a mass of black steel, with the train tracks running across it. The museum is well worth a visit and quickly paints a horrific picture of the slavery and grueling conditions the POW’s faced when constructing the bridge. The heat of the midday sun was well into the 30’s, which made it easier to imagine the suffering that they must have felt. We took the train across the bridge itself, which is a memory that will stick we me for a long time. By closing my eyes, I could feel the dead, stuffy breeze pass through my clothes. I could hear the rhythmic clunking of the track below, which painted a picture of tired men, labouring their heavy sledge hammers and constantly under attack from the brutal Japanese army. It was a difficult concept to try and understand, a lesson of modern slavery and we both felt a wave of gratitude and compassion for all of those involved.
Our second stop proved to be quite different to both Bangkok and Kanchanaburi. Ayutthaya is home to some very famous and fascinating temples. The historical park itself is spread across many acres, with hundreds of temples and Buddhist monuments, you could easily spend a couple of days getting lost and exploring. Lush green grass and shady trees adorn the park and as we cycled from one area to the next, it was fun to imagine the life and energy that once was. One of the most memorable images here was at Wat Mahathat and the stone head of Buddha entangled in the roots of an old fig tree. The huge 37 meter long (8 meter high!) reclining Buddha at Wat Lokayasutharam was also incredibly impressive and a true tribute to the past artists and sculptures.
On a slightly different note, Ayutthaya also has some of the strangest, coolest tuk tuk’s we have seen so far. Looking like something from the future, all brightly colourful and even a Batman one: fully equipped with a batman figure glued to the roof, brilliant! We stayed at a tiny little internet cafe which only had a handful of rooms, but had two things that Malene and I have been looking for all over Thailand. Firstly, it was cheap as chips, secondly, and a huge bonus, it had A/C…oh what a delight! We even had to break out the sleeping bags which were starting to collect dust. It was certainly nice not to sleep in a pool of our own sweat for once: 200 baht (£4 a night) for those interested. It was next to this place that I had my first ever Thai full-body massage. As lovely as the girl was who gave me the massage, I sort of felt like she broke me. I have absolutely nothing against larger women, but my spine has a different opinion! It will be a while before I get another massage, and probably even longer until I walk with a straight back again.
Our final stop in Thailand and possibly our quietest stop, was in Surin. North east of Bangkok and close to the Cambodian border, this sleepy town would be our port to Cambodia and our chance to see hand woven silk, a famous Thai skill and one we didn’t want to miss before leaving. Staying at a remote homestay, we started to feel a little bit more of what Thailand had to offer. Away from the buzz of big cities, tour agencies and inflated prices, it was great to finally enjoy Thailand. The silk village that we visited was equally quiet and secluded and a lovely setting to experience hand woven silk garments up close. The patience and skill the women have in weaving was breathtaking to watch. A small team of ladies, each with individual roles would effortlessly weave intricate and detailed patterns using the ultra-fine threads of silk. It was so wonderful to see the traditional methods still being used and reminded Malene and I of the simple beauties of life. Patience, hard work and dedication can all be admired and learned from an afternoon here at the silk village.
It was a brief encounter with Thailand, much like this post. Short and sweet sums our travels around this country and we wish, in some ways, that we had more time and definitely more money to explore it further. We’ve heard so many great things about the north of Thailand, but with our ‘home-dates’ firmly set in our minds and 2 highly anticipated countries to go, it was time to close this chapter and begin another. We were also lucky enough to meet two fellow travelers: Ellen and Anton who would bravely join us to cross the Thailand/Cambodian border. That journey, however, will be for the next post as I feel I have already bitten off more than I can chew for one entry!
Onto country number 4: Cambodia, will it prove to be better than Thailand?
Our travels through Asia 