Day 14 : Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, Friday 21st June 2024
Fine / Partly Cloudy, 35°
NZ$1 = THB22
THB1 = NZ$0.04
A travel day again today. Up at 8:30am, downstairs for breakfast then back to the room. We have a 12:00pm checkout and a 1:55pm train so no rush today and nothing planned so we relaxed in our room.
Checked out at 12, got a Grab ( THB75/$3.50 ) to Thon Buri Station, and got there at 12:20. Eventually Bangkok plans to have all trains starting / stopping at Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal Station ( where we came into from the airport a couple of days ago ) but at the moment there are still a few other stations being used for intercity trains. One of the quirks of the Thai Rail system is that some trains can be booked ahead ( mainly upper end long distance and sleeper trains ) but other trains are just a ‘buy a ticket on the day’ type of train ( these tend to be more local trains, with no a/c and bench seats ). Our train to Kanchanaburi was one of these latter type; which makes it a little nerve racking to have booked accommodation for the next couple of nights before we had a ticket to get there., but everything we read said that these types of trains don’t sell out and it is fine to just turn up and get on. And it was fine, and cheap as well. We bought 2 tickets to Kanchanaburi ( THB100/$5 each for the 2 ½ hour trip, 3rd class only, fan cooling with bench seats ).
We grabbed some snacks from the Café Amazon on the platform and ate those while we waited for the train to pull into the platform ( there were other trains leaving before ours from the same platform, including a train to Hua Hin which we had tried to book for a few days time but didn’t realise it was a buy a ticket on the day type of train, so we booked a bus instead! )
Train arrived at 1:30pm and we jumped on board. We grabbed a seat in a carriage ( with slightly padded seats ) with mainly locals but also a few tourists making the same trip we were. Left on time at 1:55pm. This is a local train so makes lots of ( short ) stops on the 120km trip to Kanchanaburi, and at a lot of these stop food / drink vendor get on and walk through the carriages. We didn’t get any food but bought some drinks as it was warm in the carriage with just fans for cooling, but the breeze through the open windows was nice.
The train trip was mainly through lots of flat land, rice fields, cows, goats, beans, taro, and lots of small to not so small towns. The last part of the trip headed into the hills on the western side of the central plains around Bangkok. These are like a lot of South East Asian hills; limestone hills that rise straight out of the plains and are very dramatic, with many of them having temples or pagoda built on top of them. This was a very pleasant trip and the 2 ½ hours went by quite quickly. The guard on the train made a point of coming through about 20 minutes before we arrived in Kanchanaburi and told all the tourists that we were nearly there.
We arrived at Kanchanaburi at 4:30pm, jumped off the train ( this is not the end of the line so had to hurry a bit with our bags ) and got a Grab to our hotel ( Bridge Residences, ( THB3000/$138 for 2 nights, breakfast included )) and checked in. Up to Room 507, which was big and minimal with a view looking south. This hotel was not in the main part of town but was midway between town and the Bridge over the River Kwai area.
Went for a walk along the street to see what was around ( a few bars with $1 drinks and restaurants and massage shops ) then got supplies at 7Eleven just down the road, then back to the hotel. Went to the pool but it was too cold ( a breeze was blowing through which made it feel very chilly ), then back to the room.
Out at 6pm, caught Grab to Robinson Lifestyle Mall on edge of town ( THB100/$4.50 ). Had tea at a Korean chicken place ( Bonchon, THB550 / $35 ) and walked around the mall, bought another plug adapter for Thai plugs, then Grab back to hotel at 8pm. Kanchanaburi feels nice and small, with an obvious tourist scene due to the location of the Bridge over the River Kwai at the north end of town, but is a nice change from Bangkok.