We arrived in Bangkok on the evening of the 8th of August. For me, I was landing in Suvarnabhumi Airport for the first time. I don’t normally take time to admire airports, but landing in this swanking new airport for the first time after being so familiar with Don Muang all these years gave the impression that Thailand has been drastically “reformed” since I last visited Bangkok some 4 years ago. Certainly not the kind of reformation I’d like to see in the Land of Smiles.

We took a cab down to Pratunam. My friend and his wife checked into Baiyoke 2. My wife and I checked into the humbler PR Place which I wouldn’t recommend to short-term visitors. We had supper at a seafood restaurant nearby. The dish that impressed my taste buds most was the crab curry. The dish that impressed both my eyes and my taste buds was the pla nerng manao or fish steamed with lemon. Actually, there’s a lot of garlic in it too. What’s really nice about it? The fish was thick and juicy and kept warm not by some waxy, synthetic fuel but by glowing charcoal pellets.

Then, we went back to my friend’s room at Baiyoke to get a bit more out of that bottle of Gentleman Jack whisky. This hotel reminded me of the one I stayed in when I was in Tokyo. The lobby was high up on the building. The view from the glass window was great. The only things the hotel in Japan had that the Baiyoke didn’t were the nozzle toilets, see through glass walls of the shower cubicle and adult movie channels.

We finished late. There was still about a third of a bottle of whisky left. My friend asked me to bring it along with me. It was about 2.00am when I reached the PR Place with my wife. I decided that I’d probably miss the 5.00am bus to Kanchanaburi the next morning.

I woke up at about 7.00am. Jack Daniels was still bobbing in my head, but I was sober enough to start off on a long bus journey to be broken at Kanchanaburi. Realising that I was late, I picked up my backpack without washing up and stepped out of the hotel room. As the only kind of adventure/exploration that interests my wife would be a new shopping mall, I knew that I would be alone for at least a few days the moment I picked up my backpack.

I rushed down to sai tai mai bus station by taxi and managed to catch the 7.40am bus to Kanchanaburi. It was a slow journey even though the Sunday traffic moved much faster than the usual weekday crawl. We made a few stops along the way, the longest one at Nakhon Pathom. There were no traffic jams, but this was also no superhighway either. Fortunately, the air-con was working and the seat was comfortable. We finally pulled into Kanchanaburi bus station at 10.30am.

Kanchanaburi. I was here 25 years ago. I remember the crowded 2-storey buildings, the TV antenae all over the place. Many of the old buildings are still around, but there are much fewer TV antenae now. At the market, farm produce used to be laid out on the floor. Today, they are far more “professionally” displayed on racks and tables.

After a quick brunch (basil chicken+fried egg, 300 baht), I boarded the bus to Sangklaburi. It was an old, ramshackle thing with neither air-con nor suspension. There was also no hi-fi but such a minor shortcoming was more than made up for by the 2 boxes of chickens I was sitting next to. The bus conductor wanted to charge the owner 20 baht for each box. An argument ensued… more entertainment.

The signboard said we were 220km from Sangklaburi, 139km from Tong Pha Phum. It felt a lot further due to the poor condition of the road. It was drizzling and potholes were everywhere. The age of the bus and the load of locals and tourists (not to mention the chickens) didn’t help speed things up.

Soon after we passed Saiyok, the bus was less than half full. Not a single tourist left. By the time we arrived at Tong Pha Phum at about 1.30pm, the only passengers left on the bus were a young lady with a badly repaired cleft lip and me. The literally toothless bus driver urged us to have a meal (meals don’t really have names in Thailand when there are so many of them over a single day) at a local kway teow stall. I reluctantly ordered a bowl of kway teow soup and regretted it. The soup was not hot enough. The kway teow was hard (like the old SAF’s barbed wire beehoon) and the soup was tasteless.

At 2.00pm, the bus started again. It was a long, hard journey with numerous hairpin turns, steep ascents and descents and potholes galore that caused the bus to tremble and jolt all the way. It rained and stopped. Rained, then stop, like a teasing teenaged girl who thinks that the whole world is after her.

It was almost 5.00pm when we finally pulled into Sangklaburi. It had to start raining again. My backpacker’s persona posessed me and I walked in the rain with no aim further than checking the surroundings. I discovered that there were no hotels or guesthouses in the town centre of Sangklaburi. It’s a very small place, almost like a square, crisscrossed with lanes which are lined with shops. The guesthouse area is actually near the lake, some 2km away. I finally figured out why the motorbike taxi boys looked strangely at me when I told them I didn’t need them.

I walked down towards the lake and the signboard saying Burmese Inn caught my eye. I checked in and took the 800 baht per night air-con bungalow. As daylight was fading away like a flame on a matchstick, I quickly checked out the famous wooden bridge which was just a short walk from the Burmese Inn. Apart from being long and somewhat crooked, there was nothing really spectacular about the wooden bridge. In fact, the bridge was not perfectly maintained. Many planks had given way, making it a dangerous walk in the dark.

It was not dark yet and I saw many floating houses on the lake. Of course, it wouldn’t be too comfortable staying in these “rafts”, but these folks always have the luxury of moving their house whenever they want a change of atmosphere. On this evening itself, I saw a house being towed across the lake. Maybe the owner heard that his mother-in-law was coming.

Off to the market for dinner and it was another 2km walk there and 2km back. the marketplace was lively for a small town. The food here was decidedly Thai and hardly exotic. A pad see ew with seafood cost me only 30 baht. The smoky stalls were dishing out gai yang, pla ping and sai grok Isan. After a simple meal, I made my way back to the Burmese Inn. After a hot shower, I threw myself on the hard bed and feel asleep instantly, just vaguely aware of the wind and the rain throughout the night.

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It poured in the night and drizzled a bit in the morning. I figured that I would never be able to see all the scenic spots I encountered en route to Sangklaburi if I tried to retrace my steps on one of the ramshackle buses. I had to charter a vehicle that would allow me to stop at any spot to take some pictures. I asked the girls at the Burmese Inn, but they had no contacts. A far cry from tourist areas like Chiangmai and Koh Samui where tacky advertisements for all kinds of treks and tours are pasted all over the walls of the guesthouses.

I took a walk to the morning market and after a breakfast of chicken rice, I checked out the bus station and asked around. There was a man in crutches who offered to be my driver for the day. I was doubtful at first, but he was really keen and other drivers at the bus station gave him rave reviews. Suthi was his name and he drove pretty well. My first destination was Three Pagoda Pass.

The name sounds grand, but the 3 pagodas are really quite unimpressive in terms of size. Perhaps it’s the setting that gives the whole area an otherworldly feel. This area was even more Burmese than Sangklaburi with many people walking around in their longyi. Next to the border and immigration office, was a row of shops selling Burmese teakwood furniture, cultural artifacts and “wellness” products.

I was probably the only tourist that Three Pagoda Pass that morning. It would have been interesting to cross the border, but the border was closed (by the Burmese) due to security issues.

Takientong Waterfall was next on the list. The truck stopped at a muddy trailhead leading to the waterfall. There was no way Suthi could get down and guide me in. I walked alone on the muddy trail. The trail just got wetter and muddier until a stream flowed in front of me, cutting the trail perpendicularly. Not ready for a swim with my mobile phone and cameras, I turned back and asked Suthi to drive further down on the road towards Tong Pha Phum.

We stopped briefly to check out the river fed by Takientong. Suthi was surprised by the volume of water in that river. No wonder the trail leading to Takientong was flooded. Further down the road, was a bridge spanning a kink in the Khao Laem lake. The view from either side of the bridge was great. Suthi informed me that I could find a boat service further down the lake. About 30 mins boat ride would take me to the submerged chedi of Wat Sam Prasop. But judging from the water level on the lake, it was almost certain that the chedi would be so deeply submerged that it would not be visible.

We drove on and I asked Suthi to stop whenever I saw a nice view. Sangklaburi would not be so scenic without this huge lake formed by the construction of a dam across 3 rivers, namely the Kwae Noi, Ranti and Sangkhalia. Entire villages have been submerged with the construction of Khao Laem Dam at Tong Pha Phum. Little knolls became islands, its inhabitants trapped by a sea of fresh water.

My main purpose for going so far from Sangklaburi and so close to Tong Pha Phum was to see Krung Krawia Waterfall. We soon arrived there. Up close, it was quite a sight. Water surged around trees and rocks. It looked as if the earth has cracked and water was spurting out from the ground like a volcanic eruption.

I crossed the road for a plate of pad Thai at the roadside stalls across the waterfall. Suthi was also having lunch there. He told me about a beautiful forest monastery just next to the waterfall. I had my doubts but decided to check it out anyway. And I wasn’t disappointed. Sunnatarm Forest Monastery was a peaceful, shady place. The meditation sheds were set next to a stream feeding the cascades. Further up, were Buddha images, a bronze statue of a monk surrounded by trees. There were also many meditation huts here.

We headed back to Sangklaburi and stopped by at Khao Laem National Park. Another waterfall. Another flooded trail. Suthi was worried that I might be disappointed. He took me to a resort just opposite the national park. There were many neat bungalows here, along with Balinese style outdoor showers. Camping was also allowed. The biggest attraction was the view of the lake and many islands. No ships. No crowds. A wonderfully peaceful retreat to watch the sun go down every evening.

I headed back to Sangklaburi, took some pictures at the reclining Buddha image overlooking the town and then finally, to the most important temple in Sangklaburi - Chedi Luang Por Utama. The old chedi was surrounded by a moat and at the time I visited, was under heavy renovation.

My vote for the most stunning and surprising structure in Sangklaburi goes to the Indian styled Chedi Bodhgaya. It was built by Mon Burmese people, styled after the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, India where the Buddha attained Enlightenment.

This border town with 70% Burmese and other non-Thai residents quaintly refuses to conform to one style, one pattern.

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