Help Wanted...!!
I'm new here, so...Hi, everyone... To introduce myself; I am female, 47, & desperate to leave 'all this' behind to start back-packing my way around the world. I want to start in Nepal, as I just got back from there & I LOVED it...I'm definitely NOT a beach person, prefering towns to cities - something smaller scale than, say, Hong Kong! - & the ( Read more... )
1. A recommendation for a riverside 'hotel'. When I stayed there, I stayed in a place called Bamboo House. If you're getting there via one of those 200+ Baht air-con busses that run from Koh San Road, usually doing a day trip to the Tiger Temple or the 'Bridge of the River Kwae', they actually stop off for lunch at the Bamboo...When I first saw it, I thought "WOW!! I'd LOVE to stay here, but there's no way I could afford it" WRONG !!! It's a little paradise, & you can have a massive room - double bed, no other furniture & a shared (cold!) shower) actually floating out on a pontoon on the river Kwae for an (unegotiated !) 200Bht a night!
2. Don't waste your money on either the Tiger Temple or any 'official tours' along the Death Valley / Burma railway...On point 1, the Temple is a horrible, expensive, depressing tourist production line, & it's HIDEOUSLY expensive...As for the railway, there's a local train which runs the entire route that the 'tourist' trains go for a mere 70 baht, instead of the hundreds that the 'official' ones charge...
Just a couple of points, I hope they help, & I hope you enjoy Kanchenaburi !!
Reply
I've heard bad things about the Tiger Temple, including that the tigers are drugged :( The upside of having a tight budget is that I have to do everything myself (from Ayutthaya to Bangkok on to Kanchanaburi only cost me 135 baht because I did train, bus, bus...), so I get to pick and choose, and save money. I'm renting a motorbike for the day and figuring out what I want to see. I'm loving this place!
Reply
If you're hiring a bike for the day, take a quick trip along to the Bamboo House for lunch anyway...It's well worth it, even for a visit - big lawn, lots of beautiful flowers, a pool (not the 'swimming pool' variety, just a pond!) right down on the river, with great views of the bridge...they don't mind either if you sit out on the deck of the end cabin (which is being repaired, so is guest-free) dangling your feet...!! Watching the sun set over the opposite bank from that deck enjoying the great company of some fellow guests is a memory that will linger for a loooong time...!!!)
They also do REALLY tasty sweet & sour veg with rice, and they have internet, which you can use sitting out in the cool evening air overlooking the River Kwae !! Happy memories..!!!
As for the 'drugged tigers' thing. I wouldn't be surprised AT ALL; after all, they make sooo much money from that place, hell, I'm sure they don't want to risk any 'accidents' for one thing..it's one of those 'traveller's tales' that everyone debates...I've actually held one of their heads in my lap, & I HONESTLY couldn't say if I think they are or not...It is a HORRIBLE place, though. The monks are rude & unsmiling, the attendents (equally rude & brusque) prod & smack the tigers with sticks, it costs 500+ Bhts to go in & another 1,000 to have photos taken with the tigers in an ugly concrete bunker...Yeuch...NOT a plesant memory, I have to say.
And they hustle you through there in seconds - you're in the enclosure & out again so quickly that I can barely remember being there...If I didn't have the 'lovely' 'genuine' carved plastic tiger's tooth on a cord to remember it all by, & some VEEEERY expensive photos, I'd probably have forgotten I was even there...& to be honest I'd be quite happy to forget it !! Here's a link to a couple of those pricey photos !
http://www.facebook.com/unlimitedlou23?ref=profile#/album.php?aid=111924&id=663709103
Everything around Kanchenaburi seems to cost, though, as it's a big attraction not only for westerners but as a day-trip destination for Thais up from the big shitty for some country-side & fresh air...
Erewan Falls, which are in the National park, are GORGEOUS, & easily worth spending a whole day there...They cost (non-Thais, that is !!) a couple of 100B to get in, but you can bring your own food, have a pick-nick, swim in one of dozens of gorgeous pools & waterfalls, & have HUNDREDS of fish nibble away all the dead skin off your feet for free ! In Singapore, Tokyo & Hong Kong, so I'm told, it's VERY fashionable (&, of course, correspondingly very pricey!) at the moment to have this self-same 'treatment' done in your local salon/sento !!!
I'm SSSOOOO envious !!! If I end up / start my travels in Bangkok, Kanchenaburi will be the first place I head for...You LUCKY thing !!
Enjoy !!
Reply
Leave a comment