Our trip started in the area of Sam Sen in Bangkok. And it was really nice to be back in this area where I was for the last time about 16 years ago. It is a bit north of the famous Kao San Road and near to the Chao Phraya. It is full of small soi's (streets) that give you the feeling of the real Bangkok. And if you like, you can walk to Kao San road. We did stay 3 nights in Bangkok and as the express-boat pier was nearby we took the express boat to River City from where we did go
Bicycling with Co Van Kessel in Bangkok. It was a wonderful trip along the small soi's of China Town, crossing the Chao Phraya River, taking the long-tail boat in some klongs and having lunch in an open-air Thai restaurant along a klong. The other day I enjoyed myself with
Walking in Sam Sen in Bangkok. I love to get lost.
Our next destination would be Kanchanaburi, so we left very early in the morning to go first to Damoen Sudak, the famous floating Market. On the way we stopped at a coco-nut farm where you can see how the coco-nut sugar and oil is made. A bit commercial but still a nice and interesting stop. Also the floating market is a bit (or very much) commercial and personally I would skip it. We continued to Kanchanaburi city where we had lunch along the Kwai River with view over the world famous "Bridge over the River Kwai".
This travelogue follows my traveling in Thailand (and beyond) with in between information that might help you when traveling in Thailand. If you are interested to visit Chiang Mai or any other place in Thailand and need some information then feel free to contact me by email at The Little Elephant Traveling in Thailand.
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| Lunch in Sam Sem, Bangkok |
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| The Kwai Noi River in Kanchanaburi |
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| Along the Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya |
After lunch we continued to the small village Nam Tok where is the end-station of the current rail-road that was build by POW during the second world war. From here we took the train back a bit and passing the most stunning part of the rail-road along the Kwai River. Our mini-van did pick us up a few stations later and we continued to our hotel that is floating on the Kwai Noi River. To get there we had to take a 20 min ride in a long-tail boat. It is back to nature again ... 2 days of no electricity, no telephone signal, no warm water. A place to do nothing as just enjoy the nature, swim in the river and visit the nearby Mon village. I loved it but I was also happy to continue our trip to Ayutthaya where we did visit the world famous ancient temples from the time that Ayutthaya was the (second) capital of Thailand (formerly know as Siam).
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| Horse carriage ride in Lampang |
We did stay overnight here and the next day we continued our trip to Sukhothai, the first capital city of Thailand (Siam). We did stay 2 nights in Sukhothai so we had a full day to make a wonderful bicycle tour thru the country-side of Sukhothai to the ancient city of Sukhothai. Sorry I was too busy to make photos. After Sukhothai the last part of our trip did go to Chiang Mai, the rose of North Thailand. On the way we made a stop at the beautiful "Wat Phratat Luang Lampang" where nowadays is a big parking, souvenir shops and the famous horse carriage's from Lampang city. Later we passed the beautiful green rice-fields where local farmers were working. So we stopped and joined in for a moment. But not too much as working in the hot sun is not fun.
Our last stop before Chiang Mai was a local fresh market along the highway between Lampang and Chiang Mai. As it had been just raining there were a lot of mushrooms for sale, but also a lot of other herbs & food from the jungle.
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| Jungle Market |
