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!

Loy Krathong, the Festival of Light

Coming back to Bangkok after 2 months of business trip in the Philippines. No more hotel breakfast, no more English speaking surroundings, but travel plan would be still going on. I am a travelholic yo!

First festival I came across after coming back, was the Loy Krathong festival. I have heard about this festival since I was small, as the Siamese temple located at Baling which I visit annually, also organizes the same event every year. There is even a classic Thai song which is related to this festival.

Loy Krathong festival is celebrated during the evening of the full moon of the 12th Lunar month in traditional Thai calendar. In the western calendar, this festival usually falls within November. This festival also marks the end of the rainy season when the full moon lights up the sky.

The Thais usually gather around the lakes, rivers and canals to float the lotus shaped rafts, made by banana leaves and decorated with flowers, incense and candles, into the water. Floating the krathong away symbolically floats away one's anger, hatred and negative thoughts, and start anew free of the negative feelings. Some would make wishes before releasing the krathongs too.

Many foreigners know this festival as "water lantern festival", as the festival is very picturesque by having lights of candles floating along the stream of rivers, or floating on the lakes. As this was my first time celebrated this festival in Thailand, I went to the lake park nearby my office, the Lumpini Park, to join the fun of the festival. 

As I reached there at 8 p.m. many people already gathered around the lake, floating their krathongs. I bought mine too, and joined the crowd to release the krathong. 

Some couples were seen to release their krathongs together, wishing for long lasting love, especially when their krathongs remains together upon releasing.

Watching the krathongs drifting away, wishing that my sin and bad lucks washed away as well. Thankfully I am always lucky in my life, perhaps I should be grateful to the krathong that I released 4 years back. 

Taal Volcano, a Unique Crater

After months of tender process, finally it has come to an end. I am here again to share my travel experience in the Philippines. This time, we come to Taal Volcano! 

Taal Volcano, the second most active volcano in the Philippines, is a unique volcano. It is located about 50 km from Metro Manila. This time, we traveled like locals to Taal Volcano, located at Batangas city. Why it is unique? This is due to Taal Volcano forms an island in the crater of a bigger volcano, thus creating a view of crater in a crater.

First we headed to the Cubao bus station using the MRT, and looked for the bus heading to Tagaytay. We rode on the air-conditioned bus with small amount of money, and the journey started. Not sure what happened but the bus dropped us at a jeepney depot and the passengers were required to switch to a jeepney. We followed what the other locals were doing, and hiked on the jeepney as instructed. The jeepney then took us to our destination at the Tagaytay. Upon reaching, you will be able to spot a statue in the middle of the road, with multiple fast food chain nearby the statue, which means you have reached the destination - Olivarez Square!

From the Olivarez Square, we negotiated for a tricycle ride as well as boat ride package to Taal Volcano. Taking boat to the Taal Volcano, you would be amazed by the creation of God, by making the volcano islands within the crater, which Taal Volcano is one of the islands. The boat ride took about 15-20 minutes, and we were already there at the bottom of Taal Volcano, and the hiking journey began!

According to Lonely Planet, there are 2 ways to hike the volcano. First, go for horseback riding (costs about 500 Pesos) or second, hike by your own feet for 45 minutes. We chose the latter, and amazingly, we took only 20 minutes to reach the top! The climb was not too tough (definitely not as tough as Pinatubo!) and the trail was clear enough discover by yourself without getting lost. Another way of keeping yourself in the correct direction, is to follow the poops of the horses, which proves to be an effective solution!

Watch out for the poops along the trail people!

Climbing to the top of the Taal Volcano, there was a platform overlooking the sulfurous crater. It was a magnificent view to see panoramic view of crater in a bigger crater, which would lead you to feel like it is just a lake in the middle of the sea!

Apart from some stalls selling souvenirs and T-shirts, there were nothing else on the viewing deck. So we just spent about 10-15 minutes on the top to rejuvenate ourselves, and we proceeded to walk down the trail.

I suggest you readers to bundle the Taal Volcano hiking with Tagaytay city tour as a day trip, otherwise Taal Volcano hiking alone could be too dull for some visitors. Basically you can do nothing on the top, except resting yourself and overlooking the crater. I was supposed to make it a day trip with Tagaytay city tour earlier, but due to the storm during the first visit, we had to cancel the Taal Volcano trip. So for now, mission accomplished for visiting Tagaytay & Taal Volcano!

This post marks the end of my first business trip to the Philippines, which lasted for 2 months, and I will continue my stories in other countries before coming back to this beautiful country the next time!

Puerto Princesa, Discovering the New 7 Wonders of Nature

Sorry folks, it's been almost a month since I last blogged. Life was too hectic for the past one month as multiple tenders came in, not giving me some time to spare, and also I spent a week in China visiting my relatives. The upcoming tender submission will be tomorrow (in fact, few hours later), but still I feel the need to write something here at this moment.

Continued from my last expedition revisiting Intramuros, this time I flew out from the island of Luzon. My next destination after exploring Luzon island would be Puerto Princesa. This is the main city on the island of Palawan, which is just about less than 200 km North from the tip of Sabah, the Land Below the Wind. What attracted me to fly into this island? The candidates of the New 7 Wonders of Nature (during that time), the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River!

Similar to AirAsia, there is a flagship budget carrier in Philippines as well, which is the Cebu Pacific Air. 

The return flight ticket just cost me less than 4000 Pesos (which equivalent to ~85 US Dollar) despite my last minute booking. The flight took about an hour and a half to reach Puerto Princesa airport from Manila NAIA. Upon reaching, my friends and I rented motorcycles from a vendor nearby the airport, and began our biking journey in Palawan island.

First stop, we went to the tourist center, located just 10 km away from the airport along the main road. We had to quickly pre-book our seats to go into the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park as the park only allows up to 600 visitors daily in order to preserve the natural treasure. We were lucky that we got our spots at 8:30 a.m. the next day. After securing our spots into the national park, we wandered around the city of Puerto Princesa and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral first came to our sight.

The Cathedral was painted in light blue theme, and the color made the Cathedral stands out from the surrounding buildings. The Cathedral was established in 1910 and later promoted as Apostolic Vicariate of Palawan in 1955. On the interior, the main altar was rather small compared to the Cathedrals I have been to in Manila, and it was also on the same color scheme of light blue.

Next to the Cathedral was the Plaza Cuartel, one of the bastions in Puerto Princesa during the World War II. The place should be full of historical events of WWII but we did not visit the place as we have to get to Sabang, the small village next to the national park by the evening.

Another small tourist attraction nearby the Cathedral was the Baywalk. If you have been to Gurney Drive in Penang island, this is similar to it. There were food vendors along the street, jogging/cycling track along the shore, as well as the platform for visitors to watch the sunset. 

The journey from Puerto Princesa to Sabang was about 75 km and it took us one whole afternoon to stroll around and stop at any sighting point as suggested by the handbook we got it from tourist information center. One of the sighting point is the Salvacion View Deck. The view deck was on a cliff, overlooking the islet. Nothing much about this view deck, except there was a vendor selling snacks and drinks for the passerby but this was a good resting point after we rode about 35 km from the city center. 

Next stopping point suggested by the handbook was the Maoyon River Cruise Rafting. The cruise would require pre-booking and the visitors would be able to have lunch on the bamboo raft, while cruising along the river. As the time we reached the place was about 3 p.m and the bamboo raft was already being rested.

After the Maoyon River Cruise Rafting, we came to another view deck at Buenavista. This view deck has much better facilities than the earlier one at Salvacion, where there were washrooms, souvenirs, hammock, chairs for the visitors. The view deck overlooks the Ulugan Bay and also the Rita island. This view deck was much crowded than Salvacion, due to washroom break as well as better scenery on the view deck for photography purposes.

Final pit stop before reaching Sabang, was the Ugong Rock Adventures. This place offers some rocky activities, including spelunking within the limestone rock formation and also the zip-lining from the top of the rock. It would be a good choice for visitors who seek for rocky thrill before or after the tour to Sabang.   

Finally, after hours of riding on wheels, we have reached the small village of Sabang. The village has a lot of budget accommodation to offer, but those cheap accommodation came with a drawback. The electricity supply would be cut off after 7 p.m. (not sure if this still happens now). As we were tired of riding under the hot sun, we chose the more pricey accommodation instead, the Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort. I can assure you that you will never regret paying for the stay! We even watched Manchester United vs. Bolton Wanderers that night after having our warm nice shower. 

More details of the resort after this!

It's awesome to live a simple life. The locals here were highly addicted to basketball and they were already playing as we arrived the village. As night falls, the only basketball court in the village turned into another atmosphere. The locals love clubbing too! With a simple PA system and chilled beer from the ice box (not even a fridge!) the villagers could dance happily on the basketball court, swaying their bodies along with the beats of the song!

Early morning on the next day, we walked to the Sabang boat terminal and waited for our boat to go to the national park. The water was crystal clear that we could see so many fish swimming!

The view of the national park during the boat ride.

The boat ride would take about 20 - 30 minutes to reach the entrance of the national park, and it required small jungle trekking for another boat ride into the subterranean river. Along the trekking route, monkeys could be sighted and sometimes, monitor lizards (especially nearby the water).

And this was how we got into the subterranean river! With such a small boat with 7 people on board, any big movements would probably make the boat sink.  

Reputed as the world's longest subterranean river before the new discovery in Mexico, this place offered more than just a boat ride. The river is more than 24 km long and our boat was just able to navigate till less than 5 km of it. There were some spots where we would need to bend down our bodies in order to let the boat pass through, and inside there it was almost pitch dark.

During my visit, there was a petition asking the visitors to vote the place as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. In the same year of my visit, the place was successfully listed as one of the seven. Congratulations!

There were multiple limestone formations inside the subterranean river and I was only able to take some clear pictures as my camera could not focus well under a pitch black surrounding.

Coral formation

Family formation

Mushroom formation

Jellyfish formation

The end of the boat ride, which we finally saw the sunlight again!

And this was the resort we stayed in, the Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort. The hotel was so beautiful, which was totally bang for the bucks. The superior room that we had for 2+1 persons, costed us about 7000 Pesos (~150 USD) with water heater (this was rare in Sabang back then!) and good breakfast. The price tag might sound expensive to somebody but again, you will definitely enjoy it to the maximum!

The hotel consists of 27 cabanas, each of them having 2 floors and we occupied the top floor. The cabanas came in different sizes to cater for different types of room, from superior room (good for 2+2) up to 3-BR suite (good for 6+6). Every cabana was surrounded by coconut trees and each cabana was far from each other to ensure privacy.

The magnificent view outside the window of my view. How wish I could wake up for this view every day. Too bad, after this short break I have to go back to the reality of my working life.

The lobby decorations were nicely done. The turtle-looking chair was made of rattan, and the overall ambiance was calm and the lobby was surrounded by the sound of bird chirping. 

Even the ashtray was nicely done.

After the subterranean river boat tour, we wandered around the resort area, walking along the beach and enjoy the last moment in Sabang before leaving. The sand particle was so fine that I really enjoyed walking on it! 

White sand beach and the blue sky, best combination for vacation. I'm glad I spent my vacation there in Sabang!

Tried out the rattan hammock as we wandered the area. Lying on it made me feel like sleeping directly.

After the walk around the resort, finally we had to say goodbye to this beautiful small village. Leaving Sabang village, we came across these street lamps, powered by solar and also wind. Quite an environmental friendly solution!

Lastly before we flew back to Manila, we stop by Honda Bay which was famous for dugong sighting. As the dugong sighting trip would require another boat trip, we chose not to go but just to park our three Honda's at the Honda Bay for photo shooting. 

The trip was so unforgettable, and I wish I could be there again just to stay in Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort and leave all the worries behind while relaxing at the resort.