Thailand and the River Kwai

NOTE:  If you would like less narrative and more pictures, please visit my website. 

We have crossed into Thailand, which looks pretty much the same except that road signs are no longer in English as well as the local language.  Most of them we see now are in the lovely, looping script of Thai only.

Lovely shower, clean blow dried hair, and now I'm ready for dinner even though it is hours off at 8:30.  Some karst hills in the distance.  I'm glad the scenery is becoming more interesting.  Up until an hour or so ago, the trees grew so close to the track that it was hard to see much else except tin roofed shacks and a surprising number of houses that had been knocked into rubble but not cleared away.

I'm not sure if this was in Thailand or Malasia, but I love the karst hills, which we saw for the first time on our trip to China in 2003.

Note the hilltop building.  Not bad!

 We traveled through lush rice paddies with the usual banana and palm trees, as well as bougainvillea and some royal poincianas in bloom.

This IS bad, and is depressingly typical of what we saw from the train.

This trash can was just a few feet from ...

...this sort of thing--trash of all kinds in the yard.

This was probably a little nicer than most of the dwellings we saw as we neared Bangkok.  Most looked more precarious.  But the dishes were pretty ubiquitous.

Our stop at the River Kwai was interesting.  At the site of the bridge, we boarded a very large raft and were towed down the river under it to a landing point where we boarded buses back to a museum commemorating the history of the second world war here.  An older Englishman gave a brief talk about the particulars of Japan's invasion of many countries in Asia, including the history of the long rail line they forced POWs and local laborers to build under terrible conditions, resulting in the loss of at least 130,000 lives--all for a rail supply line they never had time to use before the Allies bombed it and the Japanese surrendered. 

The famous Bridge over the River Kwai with our train on it

This is the bridge without the train.  I can almost hear whistling--that famous movie song...  But this restored version is considerably more serene than it was during WWII. 

I don't know what this building is, but it's pretty.

The River Kwai has become a lively tourist center, and this floating restaurant is right in the thick of it.  There are several resorts nearby, and the whole area is lovely.

This is the War Museum.  It is fairly new, and very nicely done, telling its sad story in a way that brings those terrible days to life so the sacrifices of the prisoners and their courageous contribution to the war effort won't be forgotten.

Pastoral scene on the river with karst hills rising in the background.  

These are newer buildings.

All over this region, you see saffron-robed monks of all ages.

It was noon before we arrived at this stop, making lunch back on the train very late at three in the afternoon.  We finally arrived in Bangkok nearly five hours behind schedule, at 7PM.  The cause seems to have been that they are building new high speed track in Malasia.  We were using very rough single track and once you get behind, you are at the mercy of other scheduled trains, growing later and later as you go along.  Then we had problems with an engine that eventually had to be replaced.  Nevertheless, this was a very nice train experience in every way, despite the engine and track problems that delayed us.

Penang and the passing scene

NOTE:  If you would like less narrative and more pictures, please visit my website. 

We enjoyed a decent night's sleep, then continental breakfast in our room before the day's schedule fell apart as we were two hours late getting into Butterworth for our walking tour of Georgetown on Penang Island.  Even late and at a hotter time of day, that was a welcome break from reading and gazing out the windows of the train.

We saw lots of rice paddies from the train in both Malasia and Thailand.  Here is one before the plants have sprouted.

These paddies are a little further along

Further still.

Maybe ready for harvest.  There are workers in this one.

We eventually arrived in Butterworth, and then took a bus to Georgetown, the capitol of the Malasian state of Penang Island, for our walking tour. We had a knowledgeable guide who filled us in on lots of local lore as he led us down Peace Street and into a mosque, a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple, and an Anglican church before we arrived at several government buildings left over from the days of British rule. 

This is fairly typical of the housing we saw from the train in Malasia.  

View of Butterworth on the way to Penang--or possibly Georgetown.  I'm a little confused about what this is, but I know it is a view from the bus on the way from the train to Georgetown, Penang Island.

Same place

Lots of cultural variety here, as everywhere in this region of the world

A large Hindu temple on our way in

Georgetown

The mosque 

A shrine

The Buddhist temple

Tri-shaws carried tourists and locals who didn't want to walk

The Hindu temple

Local dress

There's a guy in there, taking a nap

Flowers are everywhere

Commercial street

Incense sticks at a temple

A monk dispensing advice--spiritual or tourist?

In the British section

The Anglican church

It's peaceful here, but not without cost, apparently

Eastern and Orient Express

NOTE:  If you would like less narrative and more pictures, please visit my website. 

 Another day, another train, but so far, this doesn't look like any train I've experienced.  We started in the very posh Regent Hotel, running through the E and O's efficient check-in system.  Bags first, then boarding passes, then meal card for today's lunch, tour preferences, then off to the lounge for  optional refreshments and time to fill out immigration forms.

A view of the dining car

 Now THIS is a train.  Beautiful cars, beautifully appointed, marvelous food, excellent service, interesting traveling companions, and best of all, a real bathroom with a real toilet, sink, (no fold-ups!) and separate shower.  And a hairdryer!  And you can tell that it's clean instead of suspecting that all sorts of unknown horrors are growing in it.  

Yes, I know it's just a toilet, but if you'd ridden our previous train, you would understand my delight in this bathroom!

A real sink, and a real shower stall--small, but NOT all in the same space.  Heaven!

Lovely compartment--beautiful woodwork, fruit, water, and orchids!

This bench seat becomes a bed at night, and the wooden panel above it folds down to become the upper bunk.  Typical of train compartments, but very nice.

 After we boarded, we were fed a three course lunch, followed by tea, then a multi-course dinner.  Decent nights sleep, then continental breakfast in our room, before  the day's schedule fell apart as we were two hours late getting into Butterworth for our walking tour of Georgetown on Penang Island.

Tea.  We tried this once but quickly realized we would disembark as cargo if we didn't watch ourselves!

I could get used to having a French chef...

...who does wonderful Asian things, too...

...and irresistible desserts!

We enjoyed Thai dancing one night before dinner.

It's a bit hard to say goodby to this train.  This is the open air observation car.

This train took us from Singapore to Bangkok, through Malasia with stops at Penang Island and another at the River Kwai. (More on both of those later.)  It is hot and steamy outside, with more poverty than I expected to see.  This is a bit like riding in a bubble, enjoyable on one level, uncomfortable on another.