Day 21: Back on the road: History and nature
Although most of our plans for the last weekend in Bangkok revolved primarily around sleeping in, taking it easy, ‘not doing too much’, and enjoying just being off work in a bustling city, things changed on Friday and the group split up into three:
Having been to the sea and the beach and our time in Thailand running short now, I definitely wanted to experience some forest. I had realized in week 3 how much time I spend in fields and the forest back home, by myself and with company. I haven’t missed much about my usual life so far, but walking in nature is one of those things.
Luckily, we have organizers in our group, and Fari found a tour on GetYourGuide that combined two of my passions: History and nature. The trip comprised another long drive in a van to a World War II museum of the so-called Death Railway, a visit to the world-famous bridge over the Khwae Yai River, and a hike to the seven levels of the waterfall in Erawan National Park.
The museum in Kanchanaburi retells the story of the 60,000 Allied prisoners of war who, together with 200,000 local forced labourers, were forced by the Japanese occupational army to build a railway through the jungle to Burma (today’s Myanmar) in 1942 and 1943. About 12,000 PoWs and 90,000 civilians died in the process.
The PoW’s story became known around the world through the epic 1950s movie The Bridge on the River Kwai, which is actually based on a fictional story.
Some of the railroad is still in use today in Thailand, and the bridge site is incredibly busy and tourist-y.
My highlight of the trip was, as I had hoped, the short and steep hike up to Level 7 of the waterfalls in Erawan National Park. Although the parking lot area of the park made me fear a paved and packed trail and masses of people, it was a beautiful 2-km walk past numerous waterfalls and basins for a quick dip. You just had to ignore the occasional groups of people, which became smaller and smaller the higher up you got.
The higher we got, the cooler it seemed to get, until we reached…
…and were rewarded with a new official title!
Playing around in truly refreshing water whose temperature was most pleasing for a Central European (getting out was almost chilly 😂) topped off the sweaty stroll we had just been through. It was a shame to return to the car after half an hour, but the park closes at 4:30 pm, presumably to prevent people wandering about the jungle after dark around 6.
As is the case with most of such days, the true joy is in the conversations you hold with the people around you, both from the our SAP group and — in this case — our Thai tour guide and the two other trip companions, a South Korean man who has lived in Bangkok for more than a year and a woman from the UK, who has spent the last 3 years teaching at an international school in Dubai.
More interesting stories we may or may not forget.
And a gorgeous day that ended after 14 hours on the road with another chat, snack, and beer on the hotel patio (or an immediate collapse in bed for some…).
