Friday, February 27, 2015

Thailand: The Introduction of Death Railway

The reason of taking the southern line train from Bangkok to Nam Tok was the old train itself.

Although Thailand is the only country in SEA that was never colonized, but during WWII, Thailand was the state that every countries wanted to occupy because of its strategic location.

And that's one of the reason why Japan decided to construct a railway which 415km long, through jungle and mountain from Thailand to Burma. 

The railway now named Death Railway, because 310,000 of prisoners of war (POW) were scarified in building of the railway in very short period, like in one year. 

And I never knew such a place existing in the country of smile, Thailand. 

So i gave up other faster transportation options, and took the old historical train and the well-known Death Railway. 

Train from Bangkok to Nam Tok takes 6 hours, condition is old and simple, if you love train trip you will appreciate old train like this, i believe this is very rare around the world. 

Alright this post will be focusing on how to take the train and some introduction of the train, just give you a brief idea before the post of floating hotel on River Kwai. 

So how to take old train to Death Railway?
1. Take cab to Thon Buri Train Sation (not Thon Buri MRT!!), Bangkok
2. Buy ticket (no pre-booking, but plenty of tix so no worry) and hop on the train, enjoy!    

Thon Buri Railway Station is not Hua Lamphong Railway Station. 

This is the train schedule

We took 7.50am and est reaching by 12.35nn (but we reached after 1pm)

This is the train tix, dirt cheap, 100bath for 6 hours ride. 

short clip on the station.

Train in Thailand is never on time but we enjoyed the scenery of the station very much. 

old piece in the station

train is here but wasn't ours


we were asking around to confirm if we were on the right train.  

train condition is old but clean. 

greenery all the way. 

yea no air-con, not even fan nor window, so you can enjoy the natural breeze. 

love this the most

Short clip so you have better idea. 

I love train trip because you have more time being alone, and riding a train make you feel more like travelling compare to bus or mini van.

I enjoyed the train trip very much, seeing environment around you changing from concrete building to paddy field and blue sky made me smiled along the trip. 

Oh did i tell you we had our brunch on the train too? This is an interesting experience for me, i only had (and knew) Taiwan is famous with train bento (台铁便当) but never knew Thailand railway has bento too (泰铁便当).  

not much choice but every single of it are the best local taste!

some hawker hopping on the train and get off in next station, some stay on the station and wait for next train. 

and i got the yummiest Mocha milk tea :D 

The highlight of the railway the mountain edge part, imagine how POWs hanging themselves on the edge just to construct the railway for the convenience of Japanese military. 

I will post more photos in another post, now scroll down for some peak shot first. 

and we were entering into most dangerous part, railway on the edge.

left is rock mountain, and right is the edge.
taken on the opposite so now you see how amazing is the railway. 

amazing, aint?

Alright i got to go! Next post will be floating hotel review weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!











Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20150227, 0929pm
Rach in goin to yum cha mood.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Thailand: Sangkhalaburi - The Introduction

I love to tell new friends that i'm Thai, because i really love Thailand.

Thailand is a amazing country that you can find completely different scenery in different provinces of the country.

And that made me feel like travelling to different country every times i visited to Thailand.

So in the end of 2013, i planned myself a birthday trip to west-northern part of Thailand, a province named Sangkhalaburi that located just right in Thailand - Burma border.

If you know Cantonese, the pronunciation is pretty close with 山卡拉咁远, which means so damn far.

It is very far, indeed.

I will just give you a rough idea on where did i went, how to get there and peek on the places in this post.

Before more words coming, scroll down from some photos of Kanchanaburi and Sangkhalaburi.  

Beautiful foggy Mon Bridge in early morning 

Sunken temple

Hellfire pass trail

Dead railway

That was a 9 days trip and we crossed 3 provinces just to see the probably oldest wooden bridge in Asia, The Mon Bridge, Sangkhalaburi as shown in the first photo.

Yet the bridge had collapsed 3 months before our departure and left only sad looking half bridge, still wonder if we can pay the visit slightly earlier, and my trip would be even complete.

So, where did i found the place?

From one photo that published in National Geographic.

Mon Bridge, National Geographic

I wasn't know where this bridge is in my first saw and the article only left me with the bridge's name, Mon Bridge.

Thanks Google and i located this place is actually in my another homeland, Thailand.

Sangkhalaburi is not a tourist hotspot, and that's why the place kept with the most beautiful scenery that i had ever seen in the past 10 over visits to Thailand.

Map to tell you where is Sangkhalaburi is.

And there i planned the journey to visit the bridge, the nearest airport that i could landed is Bangkok, so i bought air tix to Bangkok first and planned the route from BKK to Kanchanaburi, just for a night stay before catch the only daily bus to Sangkhalaburi in the next day.

To summarize places and things that i went and done in this trip:
BKK - China town for pork soup, roadside seafood and dirt cheap massage
Namtok - floating hotel on River Kwai
Sangkhalaburi - Mon Bridge, Burma border temple, Sunken temple
Kanchanaburi - River Kwai, Dead railway, hellfire pass trail and museum

My itinerary is crazy because i don't mind travel A LOT just to see more things that i want to see.

To summarize: 
KUL - BKK by plane
BKK - Namtok (small village just outside of Kanchanaburi) by old train
Namtok - Sangkhalaburi by bus
Sangkhalaburi - Kanchanaburi by bus
Kanchanaburi - Bangkok by van
BKK - KUL by plan

Yes, in all 9 days.

Below is my itinerary in detail:  
Day 1 (27/11)
KUL – Bangkok
Check in Bangkok Loft Inn (B.N: 34367943, RM123.83, Paid via agoda)

Day 2 (28/11)
Bangkok -> Nam Tok by train (Bangkok Thonburi station: 7.45am, arrive Nam Tok station: 1220am, 4h, each ppl 120bath)
* check in Boutique Raft Resort River Kwai (B.N: 34369365, RM206.38, paid via agoda)

Day 3 (29/11)
Nam Tok -> Sangkhlaburi by bus (2-3h)
* Bridge and town lepak / boat trip to sunken temple and dam
* Stay in Samprasob Resort / P Guesthouse 

Day 4 (30/11)
Sangkhlaburi 
* Morning bridge shooting
* 3 Pagodas by bike
* late lunch @ Songkhalia (on the way to 3 Pagodas) 
* Stay in Samprasob Resort / P Guesthouse 

Day 5 (1/12)
Sangkhlaburi -> Kanchanaburi by minivan (3-4h)
* JEATH museum
* Bridge over the river kwai
* Night market

Day 6 (2/12)
Nam Tok day trip to:
- Muang Sing Historical Park
- Krasae train station (
walk on deadrailway to cave for buddha)
- Hellfire Pass museum and walkway
- Reach Nam tok train station by 3pm to catch the last train

Day 7 (3/12)
Kanchanaburi 
* Erawan waterfall
or 
Kanchanaburi -> Bangkok by van 

Day 8 (4/12)
Kanchanaburi -> Bangkok by van 
or
Bangkok
* shopping and relax

Day 9 (5/12)
Bangkok -> KUL



This is just the introduction of my west-northern Thailand post, more to come! Stay tuned for the one of the most unknown thailand destination detail!




Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20150217, 0150pm
Rach in cleaning the room mood.