Walking into the Kingdom of Khmer - Day 1

It came to the end of the year 2011, and it was a long weekend holiday at Thailand. This time, there were plenty of Malaysians abroad and we were thinking of having some "overseas trip" (despite we were already overseas). After some studies done, we found out that the cheapest option we could have was a trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Cambodia, once known as the Khmer Empire, has a rich historical background, from the prehistoric era till the Angkorian era, then came the French colonization, Cambodian' independence and civil war. Cambodia has seen so much of glories and destruction over thousands of years. Today, as a country which the economy is highly impacted by the fast growing tourism industry, Cambodia has so much to offer for the visitors stepping into the Khmer border.

Planning a trip to Cambodia from Bangkok wasn't so tedious, as we have decided to travel by train. First of all, flight tickets were so bloody expensive during the New Year weekend, and only limited seat available. Secondly, we thought that it would be a brand new experience for us to enjoy the scenery of the rural part of Eastern Thailand during the train journey. Thirdly, it was so damn cheap! Based on online reviews, the ticket should cost around 50THB per person, what a bargain!

In order to get to Siem Reap, we went to Hua Lamphong train station to purchase our tickets. As we already knew the ticket costs about 50THB per person, but to our surprises, due to some local holiday which I forgot what holiday was that, the ticket was free for locals, and 2THB per person for foreigners for the whole 7-hour journey! OMG such a superbly great deal!

This is a 3rd class train, departing at 5:55 a.m.

As you can expect from the 3rd class train, only free seating was available for the travelers. The train was not air-conditioned, and travelers were to sit on the thin cushioned benches whenever empty space was available. Whoever that came up late would have to stand throughout the journey unless somebody left the train.

Did you see it? Even the window frames were made by woods! Not even glass window.

The train arrived at Aranyaprathet where we would need to walk across the border of Thailand-Cambodia. 

The scorching heat really made us knowing what was waiting for us in the next 3 days of journey. Walking passed the Thai border, the casinos were like mushrooms grown after the rain, situated at every single corner after the Thai border.

The Angkor Wat shaped border control welcoming us to the land of Khmer

Getting our passport stamped, which the stamp was having Angkor Wat in it!

After crossing the immigration of Cambodia, we grabbed a quick lunch at the food stall nearby. There was not much choices of food at the border area, and the price was kinda throat cutting, crazily expensive! A few vendors approached us during the meal for hired transportation, and we negotiated for a van heading to Siem Reap. The journey took around 2 hours, with lush green paddy fields on the both sides of the road.

A group shot during the long windy journey.

At around 4 p.m., we arrived in the Siem Reap city. We saw plenty of nice and luxurious hotels along the way to our hotel, drooling and dreaming which one could be ours. Then, the story took a sharp turn when the van came to a junction and all of us were shocked and multiple question marks kept popping out. Our hired van turned into a muddy path! Holy Crap! The first thing that struck our mind was, "Will the hotel situated along muddy path be unpleasant or even worse, haunted?" OMG this would be creepy if it was for real!

Moments later, we came to this Im Malis Hotel, a 3-star hotel which I booked via Agoda. From the exterior of the hotel, hmm, not too pleasant as we were still overwhelmed by the luxurious hotels along the way. Too bad for Im Malis Hotel which seems unattractive to us, after we had passed by so many other hotels. Upon arriving at the lobby, we were welcomed by chilled orange juice and a warm towel each to rejuvenate, and the staffs were friendly and polite as well! You definitely cannot judge the book by its cover! Rooms were OK for the price we paid, which the triple room and double room cost 23USD and 18USD per night, respectively. Clean enough to be priced at such a competitive rate, and it was just 5 minutes walking from the night market/pub street. A strategic and convenient location!

For the night, we went to the night market and took our dinner. Dinner was comparatively cheap as we were in a big group of 8 and we were able to share dishes which cost 3USD per dish (back then when the exchange rate was only 1USD to MYR 2.95 T__T)

The view of the night market

Tourists and locals gathered around a stage built in the middle of night market, where a live band was performing the upcoming New Year celebration

Simple decoration along Siem Reap river for the upcoming New Year celebration

All of us slept early as we were pretty tired after traveling for more than 400 km from Bangkok to Siem Reap. The non-air conditioned train actually took a toll on us, especially under the tropical heat and humidity. After a good night sleep, more exciting adventures were waiting for us the next day!

Kanchanaburi, the Death Railway Part 3

Last post on the Kanchanaburi trip. This time I will introduce some unusual tourist spots which are usually overlooked by the tourists. Most of the visitors flock to Kanchanaburi only for the Death Railway but somehow the visitors tend to forget some other gems nested in the Kanchanaburi province as well.

First of all, the Death Railway lying across the River Kwai, marked some historical events for this Western province of Thailand. Being a mountainous province, transportation was always very difficult but the Japanese forced the construction of the Burma-Thailand railway to support their forces for Burma campaign during the World War II.  

Japanese brought in the first steam train to this province during the construction of the Burma-Thailand railway, thus enhanced the transportation system between Burma and Thailand by the introduction of the train. To mark the historical event as part of Thailand's history, visitors are able to see the train used in the past. This is the actual unit of the train being used to carry ammunition during the World War II.

There are also some other train models at the outdoor area, nearby the train station.

I also visited the Kanchanaburi train station, which houses the steam train used for the show in the carnival I mentioned in the earlier post.

Not to forget, the significant view of the passenger train crossing the Bridge over River Kwai. The train timetable can be referred here. I took this picture at 7 a.m. in order to capture the train coming from Namtok.

Another historical site of the Kanchanaburi is the Prasat Meuang Sing. This park is situated within Sai Yok district, which is about 40 km West of the Kanchanaburi town. This archaeological site has been declared as a historical park in 1987, to mark the evidence of the once flourished Khmer Kingdom. This was the Western border of the Khmer Kingdom, and it served as the stronghold to protect the kingdom from intrusion.

The main temple stands in the center of the complex, was built in 12th century in Bayon style, resembling the Bayon temple in Angkor which was built around the same period of time.

Statue of Lokeshvara in the main complex.

Lastly, moving 20 km to the East of the Kanchanaburi city, I came to the Royal Monument of the King Naresuan the Great. This is situated next to the Don Chedi Archaeological site, and it is believed that the famous elephant battle between King Naresuan the Great and the Crown Price of Burma was held here. The victory from King Naresuan the Great freed the Thai from Burma.

Next to the memorial is the Don Chedi Archaeological site, which the visitors can see an Ayutthaya-style chedi. There were many antiques discovered in this area, including the ancient weapons and war equipment. There was also a skeleton found in the old stupa-looking chedi, which is believed that the stupa was made for the Crown Price of Burma during the war.

This is the end of my stories on Kanchanaburi. It was a pleasant trip, with so many sites to visit that open my mind. A 3D2N trip was never enough for a traveler like me, as I prefer to enjoy every single bit of the attractions during my visit. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has a thought to pay a visit to Death Railway!

Kanchanaburi, the Death Railway Part 2

*Happy New Year peeps!*

*OOT*

Started new career recently and the I am still trying to get used to the new working culture and environment. No more flexi-hour for me and everything has to start anew. Wish myself all the best!

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Continued from the previous entry, I would like to share more on my trip to Kanchanaburi. Again, this is a place full of historical events, and apart of the famous Death Railway, Kanchanaburi has much more to offer.

The next day after the Kanchanaburi carnival, I woke up at 7 a.m. and headed to the Erawan National Park. Riding motorcycle for 70 km in the morning along the mountain road was not a joke. It was so cold, and furthermore I was not wearing any jacket! The good part was that riding bike with the thick forest on both sides of the road, made me really feeling good with the chilling fresh air. After riding the bike for approximately an hour, I reached the entrance of the national park. Not much crowd yet at this hour, great!

When I was there in the year 2011, the entrance fee was 200THB for foreigners and the fees of motorbike was 20THB. Based on the Erawan National Park homepage, it seems that the entrance fee has been increased to 300THB for foreigners. Nevertheless, it is still a good attraction to pay a visit, if you are into jungle trekking & wildlife observation.

The major attraction of the national park is the Erawan waterfall, which is a 7-tiered waterfall and spans over 1.5 km, flowing emerald water along each tier. 

In order to finish all the 7 tiers of waterfall, jungle trekking is required. Walking along the trail, we would be able to reach the first tier of waterfall, named Lai Kuen Rung, after walking for only 20 meters. As I was early that day, not much visitors on the site and I was able to take my first long exposure waterfall shot. Totally satisfied with the result!

Next, I proceeded for another 150 meters to reach Wang Macha, the second tier of the waterfall. Again, long exposure waterfall shot! There are multiple ponds for this tier, and there were a lot of fish!

No more food beyond this tier, but anyway, I was not there for picnic so it did not bother me much. Walking for another 50 meters, I reached the third tier of waterfall, Pha Nam Tok.

The trek gets trickier upon this point, and visitors have to be more concentrate on the trek instead of the phone. Signal is weak here anyway, so stop all the social media and just enjoy the surrounding! Trekking for 300 meters, I came to the forth tier, Oke Nang Phee Sue. At this tier, we could only take picture from far, and the pond was a little too far to get into.

Coming to the fifth tier of waterfall after trekking for another 600 meters from Oke Nang Phee Sue, I had my first tragedy on my camera! My tripod failed when I was trying to take long exposure waterfall shot at this tier, Bue Mai Long. As I set my tripod in the swallow pond to have better angle of the waterfall, the tripod failed and my camera dropped into the pond! At the speed of light I grabbed my camera away from soaking in the pond, but still, half of the camera was in the water, O.M.G!

Luckily after wiping the camera, it was still able to work fine and then captured the shot below. Phew!

After a scare at Bue Mai Long, I slowly walked 300 meters to the next tier which is Dong Pruk Sa. The tier of waterfall was barely seen with thick vegetation covering it to be viewed from the trail. No picture for this tier.

In order to reach the final tier, there was some tricky steps where visitors have to use both hands and legs to climb the cliffs before reaching the 7th tier. Erawan waterfall was named after the three-headed white elephant of Hindu mythology, and this tier was said to resemble the elephant's head. Which part of the waterfall resembles elephant's head? I am not sure.

Finally by the time I came down, the crowd already built up and the picnic sites were full of visitors! Some were sitting on the picnic mats enjoying food they brought while some of them playing in the ponds. The whole trekking process took me around 4 hours and I proceeded to another attraction of Kanchanaburi, which is the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum.

While I was on the way to the memorial museum, I came across the Thathungna Dam (Chong Sadao) and I decided to stop over to take a photo of it. Thathungna Dam consists of a hydro power plant, which is owned by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

Hellfire Pass Memorial Musuem is situated 42 km North West of Erawan National Park, and it is built right next to the railway cutting on the Death Railway. The museum is divided into indoor and outdoor area, as the documentaries and drawings are contained in the indoor, while the unfinished railway is at outdoor. Visitors may get the audio touring headset to understand more on the site of the museum, especially the spots at the outdoor compound.

The scale model of the Death Railway construction during the World War II.

The illustration showing how bad was the conditions of POW camp.

The statue of POWs carrying logs to build to Death Railway.

Coming to the outdoor area, the first thing we would be able to see was the great scenery of mountains in Kanchanaburi.

The Hellfire Pass railway cutting was the first thing visitors would come across at the outdoor area. The cutting was done on the large rock, during the time where there was no proper construction tool. The process of railway cutting costed so many lives of POWs, as well as the laborers from Malaya.

In the end of the day, the railway was not completed. What was left behind, was the partially completed railway in the woods, along with the sorrow memories of WWII. 

Finally, one more part to go on the unusual tourist spots of Kanchanaburi. Stay tuned!

Kanchanaburi, the Death Railway Part 1

Shortly after the Loy Krathong festival, I came across another public holiday of Thailand, which was the H.M King's Birthday, which falls on 5th December every year. This time, I would be able to enjoy a 3-day long weekend, which made me start thinking of another travel plan. I have heard about the death railway for quite some time, and I felt that it was the right time to go for it. My next destination, Kanchanaburi for a 3D2N trip. 

Kanchanaburi, a town 130 km West from Bangkok, is a capital city of Kanchanaburi province. Kanchanaburi is made famous to foreigners for the Death Railway as well as the Allied Prisoners Of War (POW) death camps. There are even a few movies made from the stories of Kanchanaburi.

As usual, I took the minivan from Victory Monument. I found this method to be one of the most convenient transportation to get out from Bangkok. Over there, it is like a one-stop station for all the minivans to the nearby cities out of Bangkok. Comfort wise, not really, and probably dangerous driving style (depending on driver's attitude) but cheap to go. As I already had experience travelling to Nakhon Pathom, I would use the same minivan to go to Kanchanaburi. Travelling to Kanchanaburi will take around 2 hours and half.

Upon reaching, I hiked on the songthaew and headed to Maenamkwai Rd, which a lot of guesthouses are situated. As I never book any room prior to arrival, I went to scout for a good condition hotel room before checking in. After hearing so much about the room on the raft at Kanchanaburi, I wanted to try on that. So I searched around for the raft room, but sadly all were fully booked. I ended up went for a landed room at Bamboo House, as the receptionist told me that the group who was staying in the raft room were supposed to check out the next morning. If that was the case, then I could move into the raft room the next day.

After settling down at the guest house, I walked out to rent a motorbike, which would become my main transport for the next 3 days. 

Earlier at the tourist center I found out that there was an annual carnival happening during the week, which the locals would play the short stage play of the history of Death Railway, as well as fireworks display. So I bought the entrance ticket, and I just stroll around for some sites before coming back for the carnival at night.

First place to visit, the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. This is located along the main road of Kanchanaburi town, and easily spotted. 

There were almost 7000 POWs from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia buried here. These POWs were perished while involving in the construction of the Death Railway.

Next to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is the Death Railway Museum. There were plenty of documentations regarding the Death Railway, as well as some valuable photos. No photo-shooting inside the museum, thus I only have the photo from the outside of museum.

Next I went to the JEATH War Museum. JEATH stands for Japanese, English, Australian, American, Thai and Holland. 

This is one of the two war museums in Kanchanaburi, and it houses some paintings, weapons, tools and equipment during the war, as well as a section of replica of Allied POW's quarters.

Not far from the JEATH museum there was a city gate, with three cannons overlooking the Phachi River, which was once the main transport route in the old days. The city gate was built in 1831 during the reign of King Rama III.

Heading out of the town of Kanchanaburi, I came to another war cemetery which was the Chungkai War Cemetery. This is the final resting place of more than 1700 sailors, soldiers and airmen who gave their lives in the World War II. Chungkai was one of the base camp for the railway, and it contained a hospital and a church built by the Allied POW here.

Next, I moved on to a temple, Wat Phothisat Banpot Nimit. The temple was under construction or renovation during my visit. Nothing much special about this temple.

Looks like the news of this temple has gone viral, when some protected wildlife were seized in the temple in 2012, a year after my visit. Not sure how it happened but surely this would impact the impression of public towards this temple.

As the day has gotten late, I started to move back to the Death Railway site in order to catch the carnival on time. While on my way back, I came across another temple which was the cave temple, Wat Tham Khao Poon. There was a big golden Buddha statue at the cave entrance, and from here we could have a view of River Kwai from the higher point.

Inside the limestone cave, there were even more golden Buddha images along the route. We have some little tour guides, who were local primary school kids, to lead the visitors and explain the features of the cave. Small tips to be given to them after the tour, and they were very happy even with a small amount of cash. This amazed me as they have simple life and they were satisfied easily!

Passing by Wat Thewasangkhanam, I witnessed beautiful sunset across the River Kwai with the temple's Ubosoth. 

Moving to the Death Railway site, crowd started to build up for the carnival and also the night market next to the bridge. People walking on the railway track taking pictures, and so did I.

As the sky got dark, the carnival started. The bridge over River Kwai was fully lit up, and the performers started their stage play of how the bridge was built, and the steam locomotive ran over the bridge upon construction completion, with steam whistle blowing. Frankly speaking, this was my first time hearing to steam locomotive whistle and the sound was truly marvelous! 

  

The show followed by the firework displays to reenact the bombing of the Allied troops against the Japanese, and finally, Japanese surrendered the war. 

The stage play ended with even more fireworks, as well as the sky lanterns released from the bridge, marking the victory of the war.

After the carnival ended, I had a small walk at the night market, searching for my dinner. Then I went back to the guesthouse to rest for more exciting journey on the next day.

Stay tuned for more stories from Kanchanaburi!