The water is bright blue mostly, except where the bamboos cast their shadows. Beneath the surface, small shoals of fish come to investigate me, and then swim off uninterested to another part of the pool. Two bright red dragon flies swoop down, chasing one another, darting up again and disappearing over the steep rock face to my left. On my right, a monkey hangs atop the dense jungle, peering down with curiosity. The only sound is from ahead, where droplets from the clearest of waterfalls smash the smooth rocks below. A couple of brightly coloured leaves trickle past me, and I lay back as the warmth of the sun, in the bluest of skies, paints a smile on my face.
These are just the sort of deep/poetic/drivelling thoughts you get when you’re relaxing in paradise. And Erawan Falls is just that. I’m in Kanchanaburi, 125km west of Bangkok where over the last two days I’ve been soaking in the surroundings. Yesterday was just great. A minibus tour first dropped us off at Erawan National Park where an impossibly beautiful waterfall is scalable via the fairly accessible steep running alongside it. Each tier comprises of a unique waterfall or falls and a pool area on a flat where the water flows towards the next drop and tier below it. We made it right to the top and went swimming in a very refreshing pool (it’s 33 degrees) amongst superb scenery. Very cool!
Next up on the trip we headed south to a kind of remote train station beside an old cave. And I can’t think of anything more pleasant on a sunny afternoon than riding The Death Railway. The stretch of track forms part of the Thailand-Burma Railway, built in World War II by Allied POWs and Asian labourers under barbaric Japanese command. The section we went across, partly a trestle bridge clinging to the cliff face beside the Kwai Noi river, is so-called The Death Railway because nearly every man who worked on it perished. I was suprised the line is still in operation, but sure enough a rickety old train of questionable safety carried us across. It wasn’t too bad inside the carriage, though, even if I could see between the floorboards to the track below.
Finally we stopped to gaze for a while at the Bridge on the River Kwai, made mainstream by the late 50s film of the same name. This also forms part of Japan’s Second World War supply route, where many more Allies lost their lives. This afternoon I head back to Bangkok for a couple of days to meet up with a few friends from Brackley (madness), and from there my journey will take me to the quiet east coast island of Ko Si Chan, but I’ll explain more about that when I’ve arrived.
Check my flickr photostream for a load of photos.