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Islands, Beaches
& Kanchanaburi
Ko Phi-Phi Don - Click to enlarge
Thailand,
Nov.-Dec. 2006
Ko Samui
Hat Chaweng beach, early morning.
At night the hotels put up sea food restaurants on the beach, and it's a
great place to sit under the stars and enjoy the ambience
Of the islands and beaches I visited I
enjoyed Ko Samui the most.
A good mix of tourist facilities and quiet, scenic places away from the
crowd.
NB: Klik på billedet for forstørrelse / Click on photos to
enlarge
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Ao
Thong Krut
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Wat Phra Yai,
Big Buddha temple |
Ao
Thong Krut
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Ao
Thong Krut on the south coast is an undeveloped, peaceful beach
with fishing boats and scenic views across the sea. Recommended.
TK Tour has a good restaurant and bungalows on the beach.
Ao
Phang-Nga Marine National Park
From Phang-Nga you can make an
excellent overnight trip to Ao Phang-Nga Marine National Park and spend
the night in Ko Panyi, a Muslim fishing village on stilts.
The trip includes a full day’s boat ride to mangrove forests, rock tunnels,
caves,
beaches and small picturesque islands (among others “James Bond Island”).
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Ko Panyi, a
Muslim fishing village on stilts |
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Ko Panyi
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“James Bond
Island” |
Mangroves |
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NB: Klik på billedet for forstørrelse / Click on photos to
enlarge
Ko Phi-Phi Don
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Long Beach
with Koh Phi-Phi Leh in the distance |
The
aftermath of the tsunami is obvious |
Ko
Phi-Phi Don still visibly suffers from the destruction of the
tsunami. The village is full of tourists and very much alive, but there
are derelict buildings, empty lots, and a lot of reconstruction is going
on. Investors seem to build higher and more densely than before.
Phi-Phi village is busy day and night. Long Beach is relaxed and very
beautiful, but very noisy motorboats going back and forth between the
beaches destroy the peaceful setting.
Ao Nang & Railay
Island excursion
from Ao Nang by long-tail boat
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Railay |
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Long-tail boat excursion |
NB: Klik på billedet for forstørrelse / Click on photos to
enlarge
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Rock climbing on the limestone cliffs of Railay |
Railay
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Monkeys in the sea
under a limestone cliff |
Kanchanaburi
The town of Kanchanaburi is 130 kilometres west of Bangkok.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The bridge spans the Mae Nam Khwae Yai, which is a branch of
the Mae Nam Mae Klong.
The first wooden bridge was finished by allied prisoners of war in February 1943,
followed by a concrete
and steel bridge in June 1943.
The bridge was part of a strategic Japanese railway route
from Thailand to Myanmar.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Rebuilt after
WWII, the bridge is still in use today with the curved portions of the bridge
being that of the original.
NB: Klik på billedet for forstørrelse / Click on photos to
enlarge
Death
Railway
Death Railway
The
notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American
prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved
communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma.
Japanese
forces, supplies and equipment transported to Burma by sea, through the Strait
of Malacca, were vulnerable to attack by Allied submarines, and an alternative
means of transport was needed. A railway connection between Thailand and Burma
had been surveyed at the beginning of the 20th century by the British government
of Burma, but the route — through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers,
was considered too difficult to complete.
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Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery
Chungkai Allied War Cemetery |
The
Japanese aimed at completing the railway in 14 months and work
began in October 1942. The line, 424 kilometres long, was
completed by December 1943.
The railway was constructed using an absolute minimum of
mechanical equipment and a maximum of human effort, i.e.
prisoners
of war
and forced labour.
During
its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and
were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000
civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced
labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or
conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar).
The
graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance
of the Burma-Siam railway (except for the Americans, whose
remains were repatriated) were transferred from camp burial
grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three
cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and
Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar.
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Overseas/kanchanaburi.html |
NB: Klik på billedet for forstørrelse / Click on photos to
enlarge
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Konyu
Cutting |
Konyu Cutting
Groups of men worked
around the clock for 16-18 hours to complete excavation of the 17 metre
deep and 110-m long cutting through solid limestone and quartz rock in
only 12 weeks.
Forced to work at night,
Konyu Cutting was nicknamed “Hellfire Pass” because of the mixture of
hammering noise, lighting from fires, oil fired bamboo torches and
carbide lamps that created an eerie illumination that looked like the
“Fires from Hell”. |
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A modern train compartment on the
Bangkok - Kanchanaburi line.
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Erawan National Park
Erawan National Park - a half day excursion from Kanchanaburi
NB: Klik på billedet for forstørrelse / Click on photos to
enlarge
Itinerary
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November 17-18. Bangkok
November
19-25. Koh Samui
November 26.
Ko Panyi, Ao Phang-Nga Marine National Park
November
27-28. Pukhet, Patong Beach
November 29-December
1.
Koh Phi-Phi Don |
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December 2-3. Ao Nang
December 4-8. Koh Samui,
Relax Resort, tel
(077) 422280, 800 baht
December 9. Train to Kanchanaburi
December 10-13. Kanchanaburi.
Pong Phen Guesthouse, 430 baht.
December
14-17. Bangkok |
Last update February 07
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