We took a closer look at the place we had camped last night. It seems to be a family business with a large farm (80 Rai which I think is about 32 acres), with a shop at the front. We saw cabbages, sugar cane and lots of land ready to plant. It was all flat with good rich red soil. It was the owner who invited us to stay the night. He was a very strong and fit looking 84 year old.
The shop at the front was interesting and we bought a pile of odds and ends including, three hats with neck protection (great for strimming), two icecreams, two bottles of orange juice, four little rolls of wrapping paper, one roll of cellotape. All for under 5.0 GBP! If you are lucky we might even model the hats for the next journal entry!
The lady who ran the shop was also really nice. If you are passing, pop by and visit the shop … you won’t be disappointed!
We left the farm and shop and followed the sat nav towards Kanchanaburi. We always have the map to hand, but it takes us along all sorts of interesting little side roads. Not so good if you are in a hurry but great for getting to see the small villages and pineapple farms.
Eventually we popped out in Kanchanaburi, a place that Graham had been to before when backpacking in 1984! It was all very familiar when we walked over the ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’.
The museum that I remembered from before, was still there but was now run down and most of the best items had been moved to the new Museum in the town centre. We went anyway. Among the exhibits were the steam engine that was used by the Japanese to move up and down the line, and the old carriages that were used to hold the prisoners. The conditions in the camps were atrocious and thousands died …. hence the name ‘Death Railway’.
There are some lovely national parks around the area which we intend to visit. First on the list is Sai Yok National Park. On the way there we saw another great overland car, just waiting for a big trip. Just needs a bit of TLC and a new engine!
On the way up to the National Park we passed Hellfire Pass. We will try to go there on the way back down.
Camping was great at the national park. A place right next to a lovely stream that feeds the waterfall and again nobody here except us. The jungle leaves are so big that when they fall on your car in the night, they wake you up!
Walking down to the falls on the river before dark, we decided that it was a good choice for a couple of nights. Lots of short walks, shade and a nice stream to wash in.
When the long tailed boats went by we remembered how loud they are, especially in the confines of the river gorge. Great fun!
troopytracks 