Leaving Bangkok, we concentrated on the outskirts for a while, visiting a couple of different markets before heading up to Kanchanaburi, where we stayed for a couple of days.
Our first stop was the Railway Markets, where we fortified ourselves with Thai coffee before heading into the markets.
There are some more permanent market areas near the road, and then as you get closer to the railway line, temporary stalls on tarps which are moved out of the way of the train when it comes through once or twice a day. While we were there the train had been stopped for a while for railworks, so the stallholders didn’t have to do the great upheaval.
The second lot of markets we visited was the floating market at Tha Kha. This was much smaller, and we were soon away from the markets as our paddlers steered us along the river, up to a palm sugar plantation.
While we were there, we saw coconut pieces drying in the sun, and the palm sugar refining shed, where the palm sap is boiled in stages to thicken into blocks of palm sugar. After trying some palm sugar, we floated our way back to Tha Kha for lunch (and amazing icecream served in a fresh coconut).
On the way we stopped at Nakhon Pathom to see Phra Pathommachedi, the highest stupa in the world. True to form, we also tried a local dish of rice steamed in sugar cane, which was delicious!
Kuchanaburi is the location of the Bridge over the River Kwai. We walked from Apple’s Retreat, where we were staying, up to the railway to walk across the bridge and into town.
We ate at one of the street food areas in the evenings, where you could grab some drinks from the 7-11 and a plate of food from various vendors to bring back to our plastic table with the others. Our guide, Soon, was surprised that all of us tried the bugs from the roadside vendor — apparently most groups aren’t as universally adventurous as us!
Our full day in Kuchanaburi was spent with Noi, one of the ladies who runs Apple’s Retreat. She took us on a market tour to buy ingredients for our cooking class, and then we went back to the guesthouse to cook our lunch.
The class was great, with enough space for all of us to make our meals. They gave me a substitute fritters recipe, which just meant I used rice flour instead of wheat for the banana flower fritters. Everything else was naturally GF: salad, fish cakes, jungle curry… yum!
Two Weeks Away 