Day out to Bang Pa-In Palace

Today we decided to visit Bang Pa-In Palace, also known as the Summer Palace. Originally built by Ayutthayan King Prasat Thong in 1632 but abandoned after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, the site was partially restored by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in the 1850s. The site as it stands today, however, is largely the work of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who expanded the area into a garden filled with European-style buildings in 1872-1889.
Given instructions on how to get there by the owner of our guest house we set off in a tuk tuk to the local railway station. Just about managed to afford the cost of a ticket, 3bts (6p) for the 12 mile journey, and managed to climb aboard the right train. We were told it was only one stop, so at the first station we climbed down onto the platform. A man started to run towards us as the train pulled away..... he waved us back on the train which had now stopped. The train had apparently stopped at a unscheduled station, feeling rather embarrassed and with all the passengers watching we climbed back on.
The palace and its grounds are maintained in immaculate condition. We spent an enjoyable 3 hours walking around the large grounds with beautiful lakes. The palace buildings are very beautiful, with many of them open to explore.

In the evening went to the Chinese part of the city as they were still celebrating their New Year

Welcome to Ayutthaya

Left Kanchanaburi by minibus and 2.1/2 hrs later were being dropped off in the centre of Ayutthaya at our last guesthouse, Promtong Mansion.
Ayutthaya old city is an "island" create by the convergence of three rivers: the Chao Phraya river, the Lopburi river and the Pa Sak river. By 1700 Ayutthaya had become the largest city in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants and the capital of Thailand.  Merchants from Europe proclaimed Ayutthaya as the finest city they had ever seen. Dutch and French maps of the city show grandeur with gold-laden palaces, large ceremonies and a huge float of trading vessels from all over the world. All this came to a quick end when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in 1767 and almost completely burnt the city down to the ground. The capital was then moved to Bangkok.......here endeth another history lesson.
Today, only a few remains might give a glimpse of the impressive city they must have seen.
Our first full day, we set off at 9.00am after a full breakfast, to do a walking tour of the island which includes most of the temple remains. Seemed a good idea at the time as it was still overcast and not to hot. By 11.00 am we were beginning to wilt, and started to use the numerous tuk tuks which constantly tried to get your business. By early afternoon we gave in and headed back to our guesthouse, our excuse being that we were going on a boat trip at 4.30, which using the rivers would take us on a circular tour and visit 3 of the larger temples outside of the main city. The river trip was very interesting and the last temple was visited as the sun set over the remains. The boat dropped us at the night market where we met and had our evening meal with a couple from Derbyshire. They had been travelling for 7 months and in a few days were moving on for 2 months in India.

Goodbye to Kanchanaburi

Our last day and a half in Kanchanaburi was taken at a leisurely pace, with temperature at 34/35c a stroll up to the river bridge and swimming in the pool was all we could manage. We stayed at the guesthouse for our evening meal and talked to a couple from Belgium, early 60's and still working, they were travelling for three months.
                                                               Cat playing with piglets.

A few more birds

Kanchanaburi - One Day Tour

Forgot to add pictures of our bungalow at Thai Garden.



Our bungalow



THE DAY TOUR.
Early breakfast as we were being picked up at 8.00am. First stop after an hours drive was The Erawan Falls, They are a set of 7 waterfalls and it's a 2km walk from the first set of water to the seventh. We made it to the fifth! The seven sets of falls are located in a shady, forest setting and the water itself is cool. You can swim, jump off the waterfalls (if you're very careful) and have picnic lunches like the locals. I swam in the fifth pool, there were fish in the water (big ones!) who like to come and say hello by nibbling on your skin. They don't bite you but they give you quite a fright. Janina did well in making it to the fifth pool as the walk between each became progressively more difficult, quite often climbing over rocks and tree roots as we struggled upwards. We were at the falls for 2.1/2 hours, which allowed the young and fit to climb up to the 7th tier. The included lunch was taken within the park.

Next stop elephant ride and rafting. Our elephant had a 2.1/2 year old baby, and tied to its mother followed us on the 30 min walk. Started down a steep slope to the river, Janina had her camera in one hand so had trouble holding on as we were thrown from side to side and down the 45 degree slope...... but it was fun. In the river the mahouts took our cameras and took photographs. Then back up a steep slope, just as bad as going down but this time you were expecting it. Continued walking out into the countryside and back to the start.

Short ride in a long tail boat up river and transferred to a bamboo raft.

A gentle and very relaxing 30 mins as we meandered back down river. Swimming was allowed from the raft as the river was only 3ft deep.

Back on dry land we continued to Tham Krasae.While the cave here is nothing amazing the access to it along a viaduct of the Death Railway provided spectacular views over the surrounding country side, with a river sliding by far  below us. The train stops here to allow passengers to jump off, take a look around and buy various touristy nick-knacks. We jumped on here and were pushed in to a mass of heaving bodies. The 4 carriages were already overflowing with tourists, so unfortunately we did not see much during the 30 min journey.


The viaduct








Train arriving at station



As we got off the train with hundreds of other tourists, the guides for each group were running up and down trying to locate everyone and make sure they had all got off before the train continued.
The next stop was The Bridge on the River Kwai which we had walked to on the previous day, but not had a chance to walk over. A short ride from here and arrived back at our guest house at 5.30, a long but memorable day.



View along the rail tracks