Phuket to Kanchanaburi

I left Phuket on Sunday morning headed to Kanchanaburi. There are probably several ways to get to Kanchanaburi from Phuket - a day long bus ride, maybe a train, or getting to Bangkok and then getting a minivan. I chose to fly from Phuket to Bangkok, take the BTS skytrain to Makkasan Station (35 B) and then take a bus to the Southern Bus Terminal (19B), and once at the terminal, take a bus to Kanchanaburi (less than 100B) - the journey took several hours and I arrived in Kanchanaburi at about 5pm (after having left Phuket on a 10:30 flight). Although it seems like this might make for an exceptionally long day, it really wasn't. I was really enthralled by each of the different types of transportation.

The skytrain from the airport was relatively easy to take and the people at the information desks in the airport were really helpful. The skytrain also gave me my first view of the skyline of Bangkok. From a distance it looked like any large modern city. Not the size of a New York, but perhaps a Paris or Philadelphia.

The bus from Makkasan Station to the Southern Bus Terminal, gave me a much more up close and personal view of parts of the city. Admittedly, this part of the journey was the most difficult since finding the bus station at Makkasan was a bit of a challenge since it is not well marked, but once it was found, the bus arrived rather quickly. From the vantage point of the bus (and the ride was over an hour long), Bangkok looked more organized than Delhi had. Cars drove in their lanes, so while there was quite a bit of traffic, it moved smoothly and at no point did the bus sit in traffic for endless periods (quite a relief from Delhi). The city also seemed a bit cleaner than Delhi - there wasn't as much rubble on the sides of the road nor did there seem to be as many hovels.

What I did notice were all the street markets - which reminded me a bit of Mumbai (in the Colaba area). There were tons and tons of food stalls. Which made me think that the Thais and Indians must get along famously since we both love our food! There also appeared to be vendors of all kinds of wares just set up on certain blocks. I can see why Bangkok is thought to be a shopper's paradise. I'm looking forward to spending more time in Bangkok over the next few weeks.

One other point of note when it comes to shops - there are a ton of 7-11s in Thailand. In each of the places I've been so far, it seems like there's a 7-11 on each street, with everything from the usual slurpees and other cold drinks to cards to top up your cell phone. It's enough to make me want to write to the writers of the Simpsons to have them add a competing 7-11 in Springfield owned by a Thai family.

Finally, I arrived at the Southern Bus Terminal. It was unlike any other bus terminal I've ever seen. I walked up several flights of stairs - each floor contained shops and vendors of clothes, food, shoes and other various household goods - but not set up in stores, but more like a set up for a flea market. Finally on the top floor were the stalls for buying bus tickets. You can't just go up to an open booth and buy a ticket to your destination. You must find the booth for your destination and then purchase the ticket. Fortunately, each attendant I asked was very friendly and helpful in directing me to the Kanchanaburi stall.

When I got to the bus, there was an attendant, who showed me to my seat! The buses aren't fancy by any means, so this seemed a bit out of place to me. The ride was about 2 hours long with several stops along the way - which were not marked as bus stops so I have to assume they are just known to the town's residents. The scenery was pretty but not remarkable. Fields and small towns, no different than you might see in the Caribbean or other tropical location - with the random Buddhist temple.

I had expected Kanchanaburi to be a small town. It is known for being the location of the Bridge over the River Kwai. It seems that this has generated an entire tourist industry and the result is that Kanchanaburi is bustling small city. Full of guest houses, restaurants, massage shops - anything and everything to cater to the tourist - at a bargain of a price.

So, while it took me a while to get there, I'm glad I took the long route.