Oil lamps along Thailand's bamboo river | Wendy Hough

Visiting the River Kwai is often top of the list when travelling to Thailand, merging beautiful scenery with a rich historical background. Wendy and Carl chose to go In Style on our ‘River and the Railway’ trip, travelling to Kanchanaburi (west of Bangkok). Here they visited the spectacular Death Railway, and took a scenic train ride to the tented Hintock camp along the banks of the River Kwai. Here is Wendy’s account of their trip, alongside some great photos of the journey.

“We met up for a family holiday with my brother & sister in law who live in Australia and we couldn’t have wished for a nicer place to stay for part of our Thailand holiday. We were taken to Hintock Camp by our very friendly and informative guide ‘Bang’ after our railway trip.

The train ride was an experience in itself as when we boarded the train we were greeted by a group of school children who really made a fuss of the ‘English tourists’ and made us feel like royalty with their cheering… it was like we had stepped back in time and were appearing in a movie! The people at Hintock were very welcoming and friendly too.

The tented accommodation was fantastic, we were not sure what to expect as had never camped before but the tents had everything you needed for a comfortable stay.

On our second day we decided to explore the nearby village on the bikes which were provided by the camp, it was an experience to see how the locals lived and their accommodation.

The pool at the camp was lovely too and so refreshing in the heat! The countryside and views around the camp was breathtaking and is something that we will always treasure in our memories of this truly wonderful place.

We didn’t realise until we arrived that this used to be an ex prisoner of war camp and it was hard to believe, especially when you see how tranquil the place is now. There are a few reminders of this fact dotted around the camp, though, to keep the memory alive of the POW’s who contributed to the building of the railway and the Bridge over the River Kwai.

It was a truly remarkable stay here; we couldn’t have chosen anywhere nicer. The meals were very nice and plentiful, and it was very enjoyable in the evening when we were entertained with local dancers whilst we ate our evening meal.

All in all it was wonderful and I would not hesitate to recommend this trip to anyone who likes to explore Thailand. Truly magnificent!”