day 5 Kanchanaburi - Namtok - Saiyok Noi Namtok - Kanchanaburi

Waking up to another beautifull day in Kanchanaburi I got up and sat on my little porch before setting off to the train station. After a short walk and a stop for some food I was there. To my surprise I found a small que of farang (tourists/foreigners).....Great, still a minority though. Why this was surprising was that tourist dont usually move off the beaten track and are hearded like sheep by their guides....Listening to the chatter of the farang in the line I could hear them saying what a good deal it was they had found (300Baht for the train ride to Namtok and a free ice cold drink) laughing to myself I paid my 100Baht for my ticket on the same train and sat down waiting for the train to leave on a seat in the breeze, instead of sitting in the carriage like a oven. As they roasted they got thirsty (their ice cold drink not being served untill the train left) they moved over to the drink stand and orderd some drinks 25baht for a coke or water. 10mins later the train whistle blew and was time to board I walked over and brought that same bottle of water for 10baht (simple with a few fraises, Lonley planet to thailand). On the journey there were people coming and going. The train officers were just that....anything official in thailand is very official with neat uniforms and strappy things draiped over the shoulder. I met up with two naive dutch tourists a young couple whom i had seen at tha kanchanaburi station....they were on holiday and had bitten off more than they could chew so it seemed by taking the train (they were part of the 300Baht crew, I didnt inform them to their faux pars).

En route there is still alot of the death railway that remains other than the obvious attraction shown above (Bridge on the river Kwai). Amazing that it still stands today after numerous bombing attempts.

Once getting to the Namtok station us (my two dutch companions and I) marched through the oncoming "taxi, taxi u want taxi" and I found a nice ute transporter (these are everywhere and are dirt cheap good only for short journeys) seeing as we were only heading 2km down the road to the waterfall it was ideal. Managing to get us a good deal (5baht each way as my friends were returning to Kan on the train) we were off to the namtok (waterfall). The waterfall was better than I thought as this is just the beginning of several falls linked in what is called the sai yok national park. However this waterfall is better as saiyok national park in accordance to thailand government has a 200-300baht entry fee nationwide for all national parks to farang. Saiyok noi on the otherhand does not have this charge....and conincidently is as shown above is the last of the remaining death railway shown by the locomotive donated in 1995.

Now you may be wondering where th water fall is? well I would be visiting the region in the hot season and hence water evapourates does it not? but I am sure you can just imagine. They tell me that in the monsoon season it is a bit better. Well, I think its shit hot now to be honest. Best waterfall I have seen with my own eyes and is a refreshing dip from the 42 degree heat.

Now it was a short walk down the hill to get a coke in a bag (I will tell you all about this part of Thailand culture in due time and take a picture folks back home will crack up however smart I have to say). I found a nice little spot (one of the 30 stalls on this hill, which are everywhere in thailand) With coke in had and a quick chat to the english speaking thai girl and I was off to the bus stop. Nowit was 1:30pm and the busses run from Kanchanaburi to Saiyok Yai and return via Saiyok noi and back to kanchanaburi every 30mins....or so the itinerary said. However this being thailand with its heat and lack of preventative maintenance (well thats what I put it down to) the bus finally arrived 2:15pm just enough time for me to finish my coke melt my ice and mash it into my hair (nice). Then it was on the bus and back to Kan (once again because I can handle the heat of the wind conditioned bus, it was a mere 35Baht) where I wrote most of this blog while talking to an old thai drunk good times :D.

This is travel thai style ;). TINT