Chapter 14: A Complete Circle and a Line

So, here I am at the end of the tour of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia - well actually I am now in Kuala Lumpur but that's another story.

Crossed the border from Cambodia into Thailand by "rocket" ferry from Sihanoukville to Koh Krong, then pickup taxi to the border and minibus from there to Trang for the night. These rocket ferries are about 60 seater streamlined boats with massive internal diesel engines and shift at about 40km per hour over water, which is going some - 4 hours on the ferry to the border then the usual paperwork and handover of currency takes about an hour (unless you pay a local to jump the queue with your passport and departure card, he disappears inside behind the counter and hey presto comes back in about 10 minutes - but it is expensive).

Trang is the nearest city, so I stayed the night there, then a bus and ferry to the island of Koh Chang for some diving and beach. Mountainous island, said to be the next Phuket, particularly as only 4-5 hours from Bangkok by road. Found this fishing village right on the southern end where the dive boats go from too, and a guest house in its own little rocky cove (so good snorkelling too) and rustic bungalows - remember those? Bamboo hut with a fan and a mattress on the floor and a toilet block a few hundred yards away, but cheap (300B, or 5GBP per night for a "double"). Diving was good, mainly small fish but loads of corals and anenomes.

And so at last I go to Bangkok and the famous backpacker area around the Khao San Road - supposed to be chaotic fun, but mainstream tourism is moving in and the road is now tourist shops and bars plus a couple of clubs but no different from other tourist areas really. Experienced people I spoke with said it has died, but still I managed to lose a couple of days / nights! Did manage to go to the Royal Palace and temples, absolutely packed, plus the King's sister, who died at New Year, is still Lying in State there as part of 100 days of mourning (all civil servants, TV presenters, etc are still having to be dressed in black everyday) so queues of Thais for the daily ceremony and walkpast.

All in all Bangkok was ok, nothing special and nothing really bad (although I didn't go to the apparent 3 red light districts) and the pollution let up after the first day so lucky there.

Bus to Kanchanaburi, and the site of the Bridge over the River Kwai and the Thai-Burma Railway Line. Again very touristified, and a party town at weekends for Thais from Bangkok, but you can still get passed that and appreciate the history. There is no sign of the famous original 220 metre wooden trestle bridge (bombed and dismantled over time), it was only in service for 6 months in 1943 because the Japanese built a concrete and steel bridge next to it which superseded it by July 1943 - I didn't know that. Anyway part of this bridge is still the original, the centre sections are post-war after it was bombed in 1945 (despite POW's being tied to the pillars to try to prevent the bombing). You can walk over it, tourist noddy train over it or catch a twice daily train from Bangkok which goes up to the next town in the hills 2 hours away via the original wooden trestle bridges, viaducts and cuttings (inc Hellfire Pass, where "working 24 hours a day by firelight cast shadows on cutting walls which looked like a scene from Dante's Inferno").

There are 3 cemeteries and a very good museum, which puts it all into context both from a global war perspective and the actual reasons, engineering and above all the lives lost, for building it. About 9,000 - mainly British, Australian and Dutch (captured whilst defending Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia) plus about 40,000 asians (mainly Malays, Burmese and Indonesian - not Thai as they signed a Cooperation Pact with Japan). A common urban myth is 4 deaths for each sleeper on the line. A sad but beautiful part of Thailand.

On south to Hua Hin on the Gulf of Thailand coast, and a royal summer retreat. Skyscraper hotels and condominiums disappear over the horizon, miles of good beaches and loads of golf courses, but basically of no historic interest (apart from the original fishing village, where I stayed in a guest house on stilts over the sea). Then an overnight bus to Phuket for a couple of days before flying on to KL and the final leg.

Photolink at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/laurentmik/Thailand_2008_Chapter_14

See you soon!

Mike