Kanchanaburi’s strawberry-flavoured hideaway
Take a trip to Ban Thung Nang Khruan village, but don’t forget your jacket
The air is fresh and the wind is cool. At the Ban Thung Nang Khruan village in Thong Pha Phum, Kanchanaburi, there is no need for air conditioning. Thanks to the large forest areas of Lam Khlong Ngu National Park and Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary (Western Zone), the village in Chalae is a pleasant place to stay.
For me, the trip to Ban Thung Nang Khruan was like a weekend hideaway. Its location is a bit farther away than other popular destinations in Kanchanaburi, like Kwai Noi and Kwai Yai rivers, or even the Mon community in Sangkhla Buri.
It took us about two-and-a-half hours to drive from Muang to reach Ban Thung Nang Khruan. Apart from a few pickups and motorcycles that passed, the roads were mostly quiet.
There are not many houses along the sides of the road, as most of the land is used for agriculture, sadly however, at least in an aesthetic sense, most locals have chosen to grow monocrops, like rubber trees or cassava.
At about 1pm, we spotted a rest area with a food and drink logo and did not hesitate to stop for lunch.
When we sat down in the open-air restaurant, I instinctively reached out for my jacket.
“The wind is cold, isn’t it?” said Youtth Klaham, the owner of Taatoh Boutique Homestay, one of only a few types of accommodation available in Chalae.
In April, the hottest month of the year, the temperature is a few degrees lower than other places, mainly because of the forest, he said. When we spent a night at Taatoh Boutique Homestay last month, we didn’t turn on an electric fan and wore a jacket in the evening.
Situated about 750m above sea level makes it the perfect climate to grow strawberries. Youtth bought strawberry seedlings from Chiang Mai four years ago to grow on his farmland. He now grows about 7,500 strawberry plants per year.
“The fruits are always ripe from the end of December to April,” he said. Last year Youtth harvested up to 10kg of strawberries per day and has not yet had to find any middle man to sell the crops, as his guests always buy them.
The district’s Department of Agricultural Extension has a policy to promote strawberry plantations, so there are a few other strawberry and organic vegetable farms in Ban Phu Toey, about 30-minutes drive away from Ban Thung Nang Khruan. The dirt road that links the village of Ban Phu Toey, however, has a lot of potholes. We had to give up the journey after slowly driving on the trail/road for a while. Although one of the farm owners told us that we could drive our city car there, I think even a pickup would struggle to negotiate the numerous deep and wide potholes.
We headed back to Ban Thung Nang Khruan to go to the waterfall named after the village. The waterfall is located in Lam Khlong Ngu National Park. Although the dirt road is not in a good condition, our car did manage to get to the park.
The Thung Nang Khruan waterfall has four levels, which can be accessed almost all year round, except during the rainy season. According to a park ranger, this is because the forest trail becomes too slippery and some parts get covered by high stream waters.
“To visit each level of the waterfall, you need to climb down and follow the stream. You may ask our staff to be your guide or you can just follow the trail. You won’t get lost,” he said.
The path is not difficult to walk along, even though we sometimes needed to change our footing on the natural steps made of river rocks.
There were no other visitors, so we took the chance to soak ourselves in the natural orchestral sounds of bird chirps, rustling leaves and the rumble of the white tattered curtain of the waterfall.
So when the heat of summer hits its high point this April, I think I know where I will be going to keep myself cool.
To visit each level of the waterfall, you need to climb down and follow the stream