We got a little earlier start this morning and after a little discussion at breakfast we have decided that we are going to take the train over the Kwai River and up to Nam Tok.  Nam Tok is the last functioning station on the original Thailand-Burma Railway as the rest of the line into Burma was torn up years ago and there is no longer a rail link between the two.

Although slower than traveling by car, the train ride is very scenic and in places follows the path of the river – in some places so close that the track is laid on trestles that hug the cliffside on one side of the train and drop straight down to the river on the other.  The train ride is great and nowhere but here have I seen vendors get on and off the train at each station and and walk up and down the train selling hot food, drinks and souvenirs.  One vendor in particular has a try of doughnuts that look awfully tasty, and so we buy a couple to try – they are soooo good that we anxiously await his next pass of our car to buy some more, but sadly he is sold out by now 🙁  The good news though is that at the next station someone has brought him another fresh tray, so we promptly gobble down 4 more 🙂

The very friendly and helpful staff at out hotel have arranged for a songtheaw driver to meet us at the end of the train ride and take us to a few attractions we have on our list.  The train is late getting in to the station, but our driver is there patiently waiting for us to arrive!

Our first stop takes us a little farther down the road to the Hellfire Pass historical site.  The Hellfire Pass is a ‘cut’ through the rocks where the original railroad line to Burma ran through.  During the war the Japanese were in a hurry to complete the rail line so that they could move war supplies into Burma and increase the pressure on the British colonies in Burma and India.  After conscripting tens of thousands of POWs and and tens of thousands more local laborers the progress was still not going fast enough so they started working the crews 24 hours per day – the cut got it’s name because at night the light of the torches reflecting in the cut made the men feel like the were working in hell.

The cut is one of the biggest on the railway and is close to 100 feet deep in places, and about 2000 feet long and tons of rock had to be hammered and blasted out and then moved by hand – you really need to stand in the cut to fully understand the size of the undertaking.  This is last of our ‘war’ stops so the trip gets a little more upbeat moving forward, but I am very glad that we took the time to see some of this – there is a lot more we could explore here, but time is limited so it is off to our next stop.

On the way back to Kanchanaburi we make a stop at the Sai Yok Noi waterfall.  We were here before with the girls, but Russ did not see it, and it is conveniently close to the main road so we stop in for look around and to dip our feet in the refreshingly cool water.

Our last stop on the way back to the city is the Krasae Cave.  The cave is basically a huge cavern in the side of the rock face that the train ges right past.  The cavern is easily big enough to fit a 4 bedroom house inside and there is a Buddha statue and shrine inside.  You have to walk out on the railway trestle to get inside the cave, and the walk also provides a great view of the river, and the railway trestle clinging to the side of the rocks.  We have come late in the day after the train loads and buses full of tourists have come through, so we mostly have the place to ourselves and get to enjoy some peace and quite while looking around.

The songtheaw driver we have is great and we ask him if he will take us farther into town for dinner.  We make a quick stop back at our hotel to get some instructions about a place we want to go to for dinner.  Bee, one of the ladies at our favorite Thai restaurant back home is originally from this area, and she told me about a place to go for a special noodle soup that is very well know among the locals.  We have the name of the place written in Thai and show it to our driver who smiles and says “yes, noodle!” and off we go.  We are happy we had the name of the place written for us as there is no way we would have found this place on our own 🙂 and it clearly caters to locals.  There is no menu, they make soup period – but it is fantastic! Full of rich flavor and different from any other soup we have had in Thailand – hopefully I can try and find a recipe or something to try and make this at home, but I suspect it will not be nearly as good.

Our driver from earlier in the day told us to just give him a call when we are ready to go back, so we wander around a bit along the waterfront and then give him a call to head back to the hotel for the end of another day.