A Photoshoot, a Military Enrolment and an Anzac Day Trip to ThailandMr and Mrs Romance

April has felt a little bit like there’s a glitch in the matrix. So many parts of this month have had some remarkable similarities to March that I’ve had to rub my eyes, sit down and have a cuppa.

International football matches, boat trips on Sydney Harbour and even another trip to Asia have all happened this month – just like last.

The differences, however, have been marked and manifold. The football match was the mighty Matildas not the Socceroos, the boat trip was on a mate’s beautiful 100-year-old working boat not a cruise ship and the trip to Asia was to Thailand not Laos – and for a very different perspective.

But here’s a tast of April in out latest Flavour of the Month.

Enjoy!

Jim & Christina xx

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We kick the month off with a surprisingly fun thing to do: a photoshoot with Mira Mira.

I say ‘surprising’ because I usually hate this kind of thing. I prefer to be behind a keyboard not in front of a lens, but this is a shoot with a difference.

Mira Mira Studios is a brilliant concept where you’re the only ones in the studio. You can choose between a black or a white background infinity wall, then you get a remote control and the camera, hidden in the mirror-fronted booth, does the rest.

There’s no one watching you or telling you you’re not doing it right, and once you get into it, it’s actually a lot of fun.

This is perfect if you need a new profile photo or some nice shots of you and your sweetheart, but it can also be a fun family thing to do.

Best of all, no one sees the photos but you, they send you everything within 24 hours and Mira Mira deletes all images after a few weeks.

This photo’s one of our favourites, but if you want to see some of the others, check out our Instagram carousel here.

This evening, I’m with my buddy Anton to watch the Matildas play South Korea in a FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifier.

It’s another packed stadium with an impressive 37,199 people watching (capacity is 45,500). It’s a good game and the Korean keeper stops it being embarrassing, but it’s all over with a 1-0 win to the Aussies.

Thanks once again to Destination NSW for the tickets.

This afternoon, I’m with my pal Brett to put a new brewery through its paces. This is the Pickled Monkey in Marrickville. The name comes from an interesting story of several barrels marked as ‘pure white alcohol’ that came from Oxford University to UNSW in the early 1900s.

The barrels were late, so university staff visited the docks only to find that the dock hands had ‘tested the alcohol’. The problem was, it wasn’t just booze in the barrels; the alcohol was only a preserving fluid for the cadavers of monkeys on their way to the university’s biology department.

Thankfully, this story, be it apocryphal or not, has no bearing on the quality of the beer served here. Brett and I spend a lovely late summer’s afternoon ‘testing the alcohol’ in the barrels. No monkeys were harmed in the making.

This evening, we’re excited to be showing the excellent Groundwaters around our neighbourhood. You may have seen Ben a few times before on this site or on his own platform (he’s quite good at Instagram btw), but more likely you’ve seen him on all kinds of travel-based publications such as the Sydney Morning Herald’s Traveller and Qantas Mag. Or you might’ve thought it was him but it was just me.

And as for his lovely wife Jessica, well, this is the first time we’ve met, but our shared pedantry of grammar seems promising!

Excellent evening. Groundwaters, you can come again!

Possibly the last nice day of the summer is here so my mate Michael (and confusingly our mate Michael) have gone out on his boat for some manly time on the water.

Michael (the first one I mentioned) has a penchant for old timber working boats. We chug merrily around the harbour until we’re hungry. Then we pull in at Walsh Bay for a bite at Zupano Espresso Bar.

If you’re wondering what’s good, they make their own spanakopita here. There. I’ve saved you time looking through the menu. Thank me later.

After a feed, we head back all the way to Greenwich and back to Michael’s mooring. What a way to start the long weekend for Easter.

It’s Easter Monday and Christina and I have left Australia for a very interesting trip.

We’re in Thailand on a week-long journey to one of the most famous sites in the War in the Pacific: the Bridge over the River Kwai.

But before we get there, we eat!

We’re travelling with TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) and legendary tour company Intrepid Travel, and our first dinner – in fact our first meal here – is at Thip Samai. This place is said to be the origin story of the world-famous dish and national dish of Thailand: pad thai.

The frame on the left shows before we went in. Notice how empty the street is. By the time we leave, there’s a queue winding across the pavement.

As for the pad thai, it’s well worth lining up for.

Next door, you’ll find a crispy pancake stall that makes for an excellent dessert after your spicy noodly plate of heaven.

Christina and I have travelled to Thailand with the TAT many times – in fact most of our stories on Thailand are from trips with them – but this one is proving to be the most fascinating yet.

Intrepid do such a deep dive into the local culture, and their experts and guides are so knowledgeable, you get to see and do things that most people – Thais included – never get to experience.

This is our first full day in Thailand and my goodness I mean it when I say ‘full’.

First, we drive across town in – get this – an electric tuk tuk, go through a military gate and find our way to where the royal barges are kept and maintained in the National Museum of Royal Barges.

These huge timber longboats are only brought out for important ceremonies and occasions. Most of them are reserved for those of the highest status. One of which is exclusively used by the king himself.

Don’t let Christina’s look of serenity fool you. Yes, we’re enjoying a lovely cruise along one of Bangkok’s many canals in a peaceful electric longtail boat, but to get here has been a mission. From the barge shed, we motored through a tour of Thonburi district before stopping at the Baan Bu bronze work community where the last family in Thailand still to use traditional methods make beautiful bronze bowls.

Next we visited the temple featured in the credits of Season Three of White Lotus. From there, we hurtle through traffic to historic Thonburi Train Station and Locomotive Depot where many of the old steam engines are kept and maintained.

After that, we head to Wang Lang Market, a commotion of noise and stalls even in the late morning heat of an April day. Sadly we don’t have a lot of time here – just enough to grab a tea – before we’re back on the e-tuk tuks zooming toward the canal port for our cruise.

Behind us is the enormous reclining Buddha of Wat Pho. He stretches out to 46 metres and is about 15 metres high. Impressive.

And before we got here, we disembarked our e-longtail boat for an excellent lunch at Natura Cafe – a surprisingly green and leafy spot in the middle of Bangkok.

After we give alms to the hundreds of collection tins in the temple and explore the huge pagodas of Wat Pho, we drive across town, across the river, to Chetawan Traditional Massage School. This is what I’ve been looking forward to all day.

May I recommend the somewhat awkwardly named ‘Oriental Head Massage With Oil’. It lasts an hour and isn’t just your head and neck; you also get your arms, hands, back, feet and calves squeezed to bits. It’s absolutely outstanding.

It’s been quite the first day, but dinner tonight has views to die for. We’re at Eat Sight Story. This place not only does outrageously tasty traditonal Thai fare it also looks across the river at Wat Arun – Temple of Dawn. What a beautiful sight.

After dinner, we head across town to Buddha & Pals, a very sleek jazz bar where we meet up with a few of the crew from Intrepid Travel and get to hear a very talented Cuban jazz singer and her band. What a way to finish our first full day here!

We’re up and about quite early this morning as we have a long drive ahead of us.

As I mentioned, we’re heading for the region where the Rivers Kwai run (there are two) called Kanchanaburi. It’s northwest of Bangkok and takes about three to four hours to drive it if you don’t stop.

Our guide, the absolutely indefatigable and brilliant Nai, loves to stop. Loves it! And so the drive takes much longer.

Our first stop of the day is at CBT Baan Don Kai Dee – a workshop where masters pain porcelain. Some of their work is worth tens of thousands of dollars, and has received the humbling royal seal. These ladies make this work look really quite easy, boasting they can finish the little pots they’re painting in about five minutes.

It takes me around an hour to paint my cup, lid and little saucer. I don’t think I have a career in this if I’m honest.

Anyway, the brown lines will turn gold when the pots are fired. We should see these beauties again when we’re back in Bangkok.

After the porcelain painting, our next stop is at Phra Pathom Chedi. This is the biggest Buddhist stupa in the world and I tell you, it’s a whopper!

It’s insanely hot here about an hour west of Bangkok, but the culture and ceremony of this place completely makes up for it. Our guide Nai gives us gold leaf to put on the Buddha statues where you can also ask for a single wish as you make the offering.

Next stop is lunch at the Rain Tree Cafe near Ban Pong, the start of the Burma Railway and the key to our quest here in Thailand.

Thanks to the lovely Elise and Isaac, who we’re travelling with, for the photo. You should check out their Instagram @elises.traveldiary – such clever, creative people and annoyingly lovely to boot.

We’re finally here! This is the Bridge over the River Kwai – the same one (rebuilt after the war) that featured in the book and its consequent film – where PoWs of the Japanese Army were forced to build under horrible conditions and that was subsequently blown up by the Allies.

This is one of the most famous parts of the aptly named Death Railway, a train line that was to run supplies from Ban Pong, not far from where we had lunch earlier, to Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar some 415km north.

This is a solemn sort of place and oddly commercialised. There’s an open-air mall and a big car park on one side of the river, and hotels and restaurants line the banks. I was expecting things to be much less developed here, but things are quite the opposite.

You can walk across the bridge here and there’s also a tourist train that runs across from time to time. To be honest, we find it hard to have fun in a place like this – somewhere that’s seen such horror and hardship.

After our visit to the bridge, we head upstream of the Kwai (formally known as Khwae Noi) to an SUP company. We hop on our stand-up paddle-boards and float peacefully down the river for about an hour.

And yes, I do have a photo of me falling in.

Dinner is at the beautiful Keeree Tara Retreat with a restaurant out on a deck out over the river. The food is only surpassed by the truly splendid sunset and views of the famous bridge just down stream. Once again, our guide Nai has outdone himself.

Tonight, we sleep in real luxury – a riverfront villa at the Raintree Boutique Hotel with its own private pool and outdoor bath, and even a lawn that runs right to the riverbank. The only thing bad about this place is that we’re only here for one night.

This morning, we head into the jungle for a fascinating experience with OurLand Project. Promoting co-existence between humans and surrounding wildlife, this sanctuary allows animals – especially wild Asian elephants – to find safe passage from the forests north of the facility down to the banks of the River Kwai.

This ‘corridor’ is heavily used by all kinds of wildlife and we explore it with co-founder Vijo Varghese, spotting evidence of elephants and other animals as we go.

OurLand is all about education, and Vijo is so engaging with the way he shares his knowledge.

We also indulge in a bit of ‘forest bathing’. the project sets up little flyscreen tents along the trail where you can sit and absorb the peace of your natural surroundings.

Vijo also has a passion for rescuing snakes from the land and releasing them elsewhere for their safety as well as the project’s visitors (both human and pachyderm – elephants don’t like snakes).

Two of the more dangerous residents of Vijo’s hut (yes, he just has them in containers in his room) are the white lipped pit viper and the rather terrifying and quite angry monocled cobra.

After our sweaty time in the forest, we’re excited about our next stop – the beautiful Erawan Waterfalls about 70km from Kanchanaburi and 200km from Bangkok. This national park is immensely popular and also has surprisingly strict rules about everyone wearing life jackets.

Sure, you can jump off the edge of waterfalls onto rocks or slide down wet boulders into the water, which is full of nibbling fish by the way, but you have to wear a life jacket.

There are seven levels to this waterfall complex, each one offering different sights and experiences. Nai tells us that, above level four you can’t really swim, so we head to four and work our way down. It turns out that three and two are the best bets for space and views, but it’s all very lovely.

It’s been a lot of outdoorsy stuff today, so we’re excited about relaxing in our new home for the night: Hintok River Camp a luxury glamping resort very close to our ultimate destination: Hellfire Pass.

We’re in bed early tonight. Tomorrow is an especially early start.

Quite possibly one of the most haunting photos I’ve ever taken.

The dark march through Konyu Cutting – better known as Hellfire Pass – surrounded by military personnel in full uniform is surreal. This was considere by all to be the worst place to be a PoW in the War in the Pacific.

The deepest and longest cutting, which goes through a mountain, Hellfire Pass was hand-dug by Allied troops and many subjugated civilians for the Japanese and their supply line.

It’s here that the Anzac Day Dawn Service is held every year. The terrible walls of this dreadful chasm are decorated with flowers, notes and poppies, remembering those who lost their lives in forced labour here. Bamboo torches flicker and burn, lighting the way to a clearing and the cenotaph.

At the end of Hellfire Pass, the crowd gathers around the war monument and we wait for dawn to strike its first light while Anzac soldiers stand at guard.

It’s a noble yet sad ceremony and one we feel deeply honoured to have been able to attend.

The rest of our day – Anzac Day indeed – is spent at museums.

First, we check out the Hintok River Camp museum where we’re staying. This area was once a British PoW camp, home to 300 and grave of 79. The men worked on Compressor Cutting, a similarly brutal project as Hellfire Pass.

Next, we visit the Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre – a museum with reconstructions and artefacts from the cutting as well as a huge library of audio tracks from survivors of the camp telling the horrors of their experiences.

Finally, we head to Nam Tok Station to board a beautifully maintained heritage train that runs from here all the way back to Bangkok along the route of the Death Railway – though we’re only staying on until Thakilen Station half an hour south.

The views from the tracks are at times very dramatic as it winds alongside the river, through forests and alongside ravines.

Comfort wasn’t of high priority when the trains were built and the air conditioning (windows and small ceiling fans) isn’t doing much to improve things. But it’s such an interesting experience to be on the track that was originally built by PoWs and forced civilian labour during WWII. As we watch the rugged scenery roll past, we’re also struck by just how tough conditions must have been for the poor workers.

This morning, we’re on the other side of the River Kwai at the beautifully maintained Allied War Cemetery. It’s an awful and humbling sight to see all these graves laid out across the land. A sign of the futility and horror of war.

While we’re here, we do find our neighbour Bec’s great uncle, who lost his life at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. We’re glad to have laid flowers at his grave and to honour the fallen.

Across the road is the Kanchanaburi War Museum, which is well worth visiting. Cleverly crafted displays add yet another layer of detail to what happened here.

This is our final stop before we high-tail it back to Bangkok.

It’s a long drive to the city and we all reflect on the experiences we’ve had here in Kanchanaburi.

We finally hit the craziness of Bangkok, stopping for lunch in one of the most unexpected spots in the city. Ban Ban Bang Kachao is at the very edge of an oxbow loop of the Chao Phraya River surrounded by mangrove forests and little houses. But its rooftop terrace looks out over the river and across to the city.

Finally, we head to the ‘Ancient City’. This is a recreation of all the best bits of Thailand. It’s an interesting idea though a bit theme park-y, and when we spot an elephant being paraded around in chains, it turns us right off. A big thumbs-down on a trip that’s been brilliant otherwise.

Our guide Nai has saved this place up for our last meal together and what an experience it is.

First, I’d like to draw your attention away from the delicious whole seabass, pork satay, kai hor bai teoy, and sweet and sour chicken and cashew. Check out the table. That’s right – it’s decorated with condoms. Prophylactics. Johnny bags. That’s because we’re eating at Cabbages and Condoms, a brilliant concept started by Mechai Viravaidya, whose name is now local slang for condoms.

Mechai has worked in family planning, for the Thai government and now the not-for-profit Population and Community Development Association, for over 50 years, championing the cause of safe sex.

His efforts became even more important with the rise of HIV and AIDS in the ’80s, and his work educating people on birth control has helped stabilise population growth in the country.

The food at Cabbages and Condoms is excellent, the cause is even better and the atmosphere is a lot of fun. Between courses, we’re all just giggling like kids.

And to reinforce that, we find a face-out too! Christina and I love these things and hop behind one anytime we spot one.

Today, we have Bangkok to ourselves and spend the day wandering around the city, checking out markets, hunting down knom krok and relaxing.

Before we said goodbye to Nai, he gave us a few tips on what to do in the area we’re in today. We check out a couple of galleries and a riverside cafe before heading to our final destination for the evening: BKK Social Club.

This absolutely beautiful bar is in the Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River in the Sathon District.

Everything in this art deco style bar has been meticulously designed, from the towering ceilings and their curved pillars to the cinematic bar and the marble floors.

Drinks here are inspired by the classics with a lean towards tequila, mezcal and chic Mexican fare. If there’s a more glamorous bar with better food and drink anywhere in the city, I’d like to see it because BKK Social Club has set a very high bar indeed.

Back in Sydney, we’re in Parramatta with mixed emotions. It’s our nephew Anthony’s enrolment day today; he’s joining the Royal Australian Air Force!

The ceremony has a positive, happy edge to it and I’m sure he’ll be great in the RAAF. We’ll miss him and his quiet confidence and charm, but we’re also looking forward to seeing how this career shapes his future. Good luck, lad.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this taste of April. Let’s see what May holds in store for us!

Cheers

Jim & Christina xx