Travelogue 2019/4, Canopy walk and Khmer Temple (Thailand)

It took some effort to get up and start moving again. I had to return to Bangkok after all. The first stage was a short one: to Trang by bus. After that I would take some long, long train rides.

Trang & the Canopy walk 

Like the other relatively young cities Hat Yai and Phatthalung in the region (founded 100 years ago, with the construction of the railways), Trang has a large ethnic-Chinese population.

Trang is a transfer point for tourists on their way to the islands in the Andaman sea. They remain in town just one night and may miss some stunning sights.

Almost all of the original vegetation in Thailand has been cut down or burnt down. In the south for rubber plantations, in the center for rice paddies. The occasional plot has escaped. Outside Trang a 1x4km area of original jungle has been turned into a botanical garden. With a trail through it.

It felt as if I walked into the jungle instantly. Which was just what I did. Except for the trail and a few signs, in Thai, everything was original jungle. Most varied: denser and thinner, lighter and darker, higher and lower, drier and wetter. Palms, ferns, bamboo, tall trees, parasite plants, lianas, gigantic leaves - it was all there.

In the distance I could hear traffic noise, but closer by was the sound of birds, insects and the rustling of lizards through the leaves.

At one point, a red-colored construction rose up between the green: an iron watchtower. I  climbed it to about 9m. There was an iron suspension bridge to the next tower, about 40 meters further. There I could go up the stairs and on to the next, higher suspension bridge. Same again to the third and middle suspension bridge that rose to 18m. Then I really walked alongside the higher treetops, and looked down on the lower parts of forest. That was very special.

After the canopy walk the path continued through the wet part, the "swamp". Today it was not too wet, only the middle part was submerged.

From there the trail returned to the starting point. All in all, the walk had lasted an hour. Time for a break at the coffee shop. The ladies of the shop and the information boots had a kind of jungle camouflage blouse as a uniform. Most charming.

Kanchanaburi & the Khmer tempels

Kanchanaburi is best known for the "Bridge over the River Kwai" and the horrors of the Burma Railway. It is also a base for natural beauty further down the valley. One street in the town has become a mini tourist ghetto with a series of guesthouses, bars, restaurants and massage parlours.

If you want to have a drink in the evening, there are countless possibilities. There are bars with groups of beer-drinking men. There are large sports cafes with large TV screens. There are cocktail bars with a/c and fluorescent lighting. There are bars with musical instruments set up on stage (but no musicians yet). There are bars where ladies with deep necklines help you finish your beer fast and order another one. And then there is the bench in front of the supermarket, where a man drinks the can of beer he just bought inside. It was not so much the setting, but the blank expression in his face that gave it such a sad look.

There is a lesser-known sight. On my travels I visited many temples, often Khmer temples, satellite cities of the famous Angor Wat. Prasat Muang Singh is the westernmost Khmer site and far from the others in Cambodia and Isan. Also relatively far from Kanchanaburi, 40km, and the only public transport is the train. It only runs a few times a day and there is actually only one combination of return trains that can be done. If the trains are on time.

According to a sign in the station, the train would arrive 10 minutes late. That should leave me just enough time. Whole school groups were waiting. And already three special wagons for foreigners at tourist price (100b), because this ride also did the passage of The Bridge. When the train arrived from Thonburi, the locomotive was disconnected, it picked up our wagons, drove a lot forward, then backed up again to connect to the wagons from Thonburi. So we became an extra long train.

We drove over The Bridge very slowly. Funny to see that from the other side, just like the market of Samut Songkhram, which we have also seen from two sides - once from inside the train, once from outside the train. 


After The Bridge, the tracks followed the valley of the Kwae Noi. Lots of agriculture, rice fields, corn, bananas, crops that I did not know. Occasionally unexplored tracts of land with the bamboo bush that was so characteristic of the Hellfire Pass. Villages, Buddhist monasteries, schools, children and farm workers waved to the train. Sometimes we had a view of the river, which was quite wide despite its name.

With a fifteen minute delay we arrived at the Tha Kilen station. A few tourists got out, who were met by a waiting van. Most people continued to the end of the line. I was the only one who walked the 500m long road from the station to the village, between the fields. It was about noon, a scorching heat had stopped everything. It was beautiful!

The village was a T-junction with 8 shed-like buildings. One was a kind of shop with a very old lady. I was unable to communicate properly, she did not understand that I was asking for a cola. Fortunately I was able to get it myself. But when I forgot my walking stick, she came calling after me - and her gestures showed that she understood why I had it with me - and that I needed it to scare away the dogs.

The entrance to the historic site was another 500m away, just before the ancient city walls. The site was 9 centuries old and excavated from the jungle over 40 years ago and beautifully maintained. The areas between wall, moat and buildings were neatly raked. In historical monuments, these are often lawns, here it was an open forest.

A path through the trees led to the central part, the remains of a temple. Outer walls, a passage that was still partly covered, a middle building with a statue and a second, higher building whose roof was still intact, with a statue. The stones were weathered and mossy and hot in the sun. It radiated power and strength.

I was the only one here. I sat in the courtyard of the main building. Then I walked to the parking lot where there were toilets. And a stall with fried noodles. A real lunch was tempting.

When I finished it, I had only 45 minutes left until the train would leave. But I still wanted to see how the walled city touched the river, so I walked along the south wall. That was further than I thought and time was running out. I was about fifteen minutes short.

The strip between the city wall and the river was beautified, a kind of park with covered seating areas and something that might have been a restaurant and guest rooms. Here you could really have enjoyed the view. 

But I had to hurry to catch the train. And at 37 degrees, that's not what you want. Back through the gate, the access road, through the village, the station road. I did not suffer from overheating, but my legs hurt. With 5 minutes spare I arrived at the station. Time enough to buy a cup of coffee before the train arrived.