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FOR THOSE VISITING THAILAND THE FIRST TIME

If you favor historical sites & jungle tours for your vacation, Kanchanaburi is the place that I would like to recommend.

Kanchanaburi is one of the most beautiful provinces of Thailand. The present provincial capital is a relatively new town built by King Rama II in 1833. It is already well-known as the site of the notorious "Death Railway" and the "Bridge over the River Kwai". The province also has numerous other places of interest for the nature loving visitor who wants to spend more time here.

Kanchanaburi is about 155 kilometers west of Bangkok, approximately 3 hours by car over a good road, or 4 hours by train.

The town of Kanchanaburi is located at the point where the Kwai Noi and Kwai Yai River meet and form the Mae-Klong River.

All around the city the most impressive feature is nature itself: wild waters between high jungle terrains, caves and grottoes with what look like petrified cascades of ice and rock beneath which you can swim, creepers, wild orchids, rare birds and butterflies of many kinds, water buffaloes and elephants basking in the water. Long boats twist and turn just as they would have in the days of old.

There is an uncommonly large variety of places around Kanchanaburi, for example productive gem-mines. The accomodations offered are very reasonably priced. Teak carvings come from Burma and semi-precious stones and mother-of-pearl make more attractive souveniors than those from Bangkok.