Thailand Guide
The central plains
Kanchanaburi
Set in a landscape of limestone hills just 120km from Bangkok, the provincial capital of Kanchanaburi occupies a scenic spot at the point where the River Kwai Noi merges with the River Kwai Yai to become the Mae Khlong. The town is most famous for its World War II role as a POW camp and base for construction work on the Thailand– Burma Railway, chiefly because of the notorious Bridge over the River Kwai, which spans the river here. But the more immediate attractions are the guest houses whose rooms overlook the river, the numerous nearby caves, temples and historical sites to explore, and the organized treks and rafting trips.
Nearly all Kanchanaburi's official attractions relate to World War II and the building of the Thailand– Burma Railway. Day-trippers and tour groups descend in their hundreds on the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai, the symbol of Japanese atrocities in the region, though the town's main war museums and cemeteries are much more moving.
The parallel valleys of the Kwai Noi and the Kwai Yai, northwest of Kanchanaburi, are stacked full of great day-tripping opportunities, from the exceptionally beautiful Erawan Falls to the drama of a ride on the Death Railway and the pathos of the World War II museum at Hellfire Pass. There are Stone Age artefacts at the Ban Kao Museum, twelfth-century Khmer temple ruins at Prasat Muang Singh and the (controversial) opportunity to get up close to a tiger at the Tiger Sanctuary Temple.
The Bridge forms the dramatic centrepiece of the annual son et lumièreRiver Kwai Bridge Festival, held over ten nights from the end of November to commemorate the first Allied bombing of the Bridge on November 28, 1944; Kanchanaburi gets packed out during this time, so book accommodation well ahead.
Activities
1 Good Times Travel 63/1 Thanon Maenam Kwai 
034 624441 
www.good-times-travel.com Energetically run, competitively priced day- and half-day trips (B130–1100) that generally get good reviews. Especially popular for its late-afternoon programme where tourists get to soap and shower elephants (and themselves) in the river and then have a barbecue dinner, they also offer infinite permutations of rafting, elephant-riding, Erawan Falls, Hellfire Pass and the Death Railway, plus a two-day trip to a Karen area near Hin Dat hot springs, which includes four hours' trekking each day (B2100).
2 Safarine 296 Thanon Maenam Kwai 034 625567 www.safarine.com Kayaking specialist offering short, full-day and overnight kayaking trips in the Kanchanaburi area for B300–2850.
3 Sunyarux Raft Thanon Song Kwai 081 856 5848 
sunyaruxtravel@hotmail.com Being tugged down the river on a floating raft "hotel" is the most popular activity for Thai holidaymakers in Kanchanaburi, but Sunyarux is one of the only outfits to offer it to English-speaking tourists. The two-storey raft hotel, with camp beds both on the roof and under cover, is pulled by a longtail down the Mae Khlong River to the Mae Khlong Dam, making stops at various temples and other sights en route, with plenty of chances to swim and go inner-tubing (B2000 per person including all meals, minimum 6 people; the trip lasts 24hr; book 24 hours ahead).
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