A little piece of paradise

We forced ourselves out of bed this morning, had a quick banana pancake for breakfast, then headed out on a day trip with 6 others. Our first stop was Erawan National Park, about 45 minutes outside of Kanchanaburi. There are 7 levels of waterfalls here, gorgeous now in the dry season, so we can only imagine how powerful they are during the wet season. We were happy to see that there is a 10 baht charge for every water bottle you want to bring with you into the park. Once you come back down and show them your bottle, they give you the 10 baht back. It was the cleanest national park we've seen yet. It was nice 2 km hike up to the top of the 7th level of falls. The jungle trail followed the water, and we passed several smaller falls and pools full of crystal clear water. We were smart in heading straight to the top, as we were virtually the only tourists along the trail. Most others stopped to swim in in the various pools along the way. When we got to the top, we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful sites: a waterfall streaming off of ivory-coloured limestone stalagtites into a crystal clear pool. If I had seen a photo of this beforehand, I would have sworn it was a photo of a water park as the pool looked like a plastered pool full of chlorinated water. We quickly changed into our bathers and dove into the refreshingly cool water. There was a small group of locals here as well, but that was it. In the pool were tons of fish swimming around. They were not timid at all and had a great time kissing our legs and feet. We swam under the waterfall and sat on a rock ledge in the shade of a small cave behind it. It was truly one of the world's most peaceful spots. We paddled around for a while and got out just as the pool was getting crowded. Erawan National Park seems to be quite popular with locals, out for a swim on a hot day. We hiked in our bathers back down to the first pool we passed, at the 2nd level of falls. The pool here is larger and much deeper. It is still clear but is a darker blue/green colour. We swam around here and floated on the surface while we watched a group of monkeys swinging around on the tree branches directly above us. The fish here seemed to be a bit more aggressive (Kel did not like them attacking here), and larger.

We all gathered back up and had a nice Thai lunch in the park. Fried rice or noodles and fresh fruit. We then piled back into the van and drove to Hellfire Pass. This was one of the most dangerous stretches of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, and the largest of the mountain cuttings along the line. It is 110 metres cut out of solid rock, finished in just 12 weeks by POWs working around the clock. Officially called the Konyu Cutting, the POWs named it 'Hellfire Pass' because of the way the emaciated prisoners and rock looked at night in the firelight of the bamboo torches. 1,000 Australian and British POWs worked here, and by the time it was finished, 70% of them had died. There is a small museum here as well, where we read about daily life on the railway and watched a short film with commentary from survivors of Hellfire Pass.

From here we drove to catch a ride on the Death Railway train itself back into Kanchanaburi. Only a small portion of the railway is in use today, as most of it was pulled apart after the Japanese surrendered. There has supposedly been some talk of restoring the railway, but most people are against it, thinking it would be an offense to those who died during the original construction.

The train ride was about 1.5 hours through dry farmland. We entertained ourselves by having a few cold beers on board. The train arrived at the Bridge On the River Kwai, where our driver picked us up and returned us to our hotel. Still in our bathers, we decided to have a cool dip in the river. We jumped off of the deck from the hotel rooms furthest upstream and floated down to the ladder just outside our own room. The river is quite swift but fun to float down. We walked back to the deck furthest upstream for another go before having a shower and heading out to dinner. We both had a delicious curry and relaxed a bit before heading to bed.