Thailand – Laos Travel: Day 6 – Part 5 – Kanchanaburi Night Market

Continued from Thailand – Laos Travel: Day 6 – Part 4 – Trip To Kanchanaburi and Reviews About Rainbow Guesthouse. For pre-travel, please refer here.

It’s almost 7.00pm. Based on information from a FB friend, we headed to a Muslim restaurant that is said to be located on Singapore Rd (Road).

There is a non-halal restaurant near Rainbow Lodge. For non-Muslim blog visitors, you can visit here.

A bottle of water is mandatory for each of us. The back alley is a bit narrow. Anyway, I kept giving instructions to Tatie to be on my left side and take care of the backpacks. Sometimes I was worried about snatch theft cases like what happened in Malaysia, but my assumptions in Thailand were wrong. Alhamdulillah, everything was safe during the 16 days of traveling in Thailand and Laos.

Our desire is to see the nightlife in the back alleys here. It is fun to see the behavior of foreign tourists and the variety of shops available.

There is also a motorcycle rental service but I don’t know how much it costs a day.

There is also a motorcycle rental service but I don’t know how much it costs a day.

Many here are liquor stores (bars).

I purposely took a picture of this ATM for your perusal. Hmm, why black and white? This is because when we came here, the period of mourning the death of King Bhumipol was still going on.

Masat … masat !! He said it opens at 09.00 and closes at 24.00. I think we have arrived at another planet that has 30 hours in a day.

This 7-Eleven is closest to Rainbow Lodge and VN Guesthouse. But actually, if you head towards the train station from the guesthouse, there is also a 7E in front of the main road.

More local restaurants. We did not find any halal restaurants here.

The typical atmosphere for most streets and small towns in Thailand. On our night here, the activities weren’t as much happening as possible because it wasn’t a weekend.

Minibars like this attract a lot of foreign tourists. Maybe for them, small bars are cheaper than bars in large restaurants. His girlfriend is staring at me. Maybe think I’m a paparazzi or a spy or a private investigator for certain parties, hehe.

Local handicrafts are also sold here. I would like to advise our readers, there is no need to buy here because the next day, you can buy at a cheaper price and there are many options around the stalls and handicraft shops that are so close to the Death Railway.

Looks like dried fruits…

Pharmacies are widespread in Thailand. While passing here, Aqif has started to reach the yellow duck.

Yeah, let’s relax and get drunk until we reached another planet.

In addition to 7-Eleven, Tesco Lotus is also available here.

Ok from here, the drama episode begins …………………………………

When we arrived at Singapore Rd (Road), we started to get freaked out. The alley was dark but we pushed ourselves to walked past through it as to go to the main road of Kanchanaburi. Still looking and not finding a Muslim restaurant there. There are only people’s houses and some open areas that are supposed to be built with lot houses but are full of bushes.

On the main road, we tried to walk a little forward while placing high hopes in our hearts and firm confidence.

Dawucha Islam Restaurant. Images borrowed from Google Street View.

Finally, we came across the restaurant. But unfortunately, we’re unlucky because apparently closed anyway. Most likely due to the 2017 New Year holiday or my assumption, most Muslim restaurants in Thailand are open until 5.00 pm only. So the tip I want to share for the whole area in Thailand, if it’s past 5.00 pm, just forget about Muslim restaurants and try the night market.

Dawucha Islam, the Muslim restaurant that we’re searching for. You can search in Google Maps and the location is accurate. Just look at the Mitsubishi sign, that’s where the restaurant is.

Then my mind was stuck again. I suggested to Tatie that we cross the street and try to find restaurants by the side of the main road. Failed again. In short, the line of shops was more lively in the alley we passed earlier compared to the main street here.

I looked at the map again, my God! We walked almost 1.7km. Then I remembered another option which is the night market. I really hope that the night market opens near Kanchanaburi train station. Hopefully, it will not be like in Malaysia, which is only open on certain days.

This means, to turn back to the station, we have to walk 1.7km as well. Huh! If I’m alone, it’s okay. What about Aqif, do we want him to walk that far again? If lifted and carried by hand, we will be doubling our exhaustion.

Our situation is getting worse …

All of a sudden I made a hand symbol like “Like” and tried to stop the cars passing by there. Hahaha … starting from here, we have become hitchhikers! After nearly 25 minutes, the hitchhiking attempt was finally unsuccessful. Then I decided to just walk to the night market hoping if there was a grocery store in the middle of the street. It’s true of what a friend of mine who is frequent hitchhiking said, the average waiting on the side of the road is sometimes up to 1 hour. So, the hitchhiking experience for us … is considered done!

Alhamdulillah .. my guess is right. Halfway through the trip, there was indeed a grocery store there. But the items they sell, especially biscuits, bread and tuna, do not have much choice. We took and bought only what we could and ate by the side of the road. If anyone wants to criticize us for eating by the roadside, please. If it happens to you, then you know! Hahaha.

Then from a distance, we saw the night market. Alhamdulillah for the second time. Luckily it’s still open and lots of people. We need to buy and eat large portions of food such as rice. It’s just that our steps are not as fast as people who have not eaten for 18 days because our stomachs are already filled with bread and biscuits.

The guitarist comforted our grieving hearts because the Muslim restaurant was closed…

We started bumping into the area inside the night market.

While our heads become just like giraffe necks looking for a halal stall, we saw a woman with a headscarf passing by in front of us. Then I quickly greeted her and asked if she knew stalls that are selling halal food.

Apparently, she was also a food vendor there and told us to follow her to her stall. Want to see the person? In the picture above, she is wearing a red-blue apron.

But here only roti canai is sold (Malaysians’ favorite breakfast). Aqif really likes roti canai, so I bought a piece for him. Again I asked this woman where the stall selling chicken rice was and she showed me the location.

Ok, this is our last purchase before heading back to Rainbow Lodge. We bought three packs of chicken rice. The price as I remember is THB50 a pack.

The atmosphere at the night market is very lively. I guess this is the only entertainment for the locals. The situation in Kanchanaburi at night is similar to that in Kuala Lipis or Ulu Yam in Malaysia.

This is the GPS location for the night market that I want to share: 14.033745, 99.524402

Arriving at Rainbow Lodge, I promptly opened the rice package. As a result of buying a lot of food, a packet of chicken rice could not be finished by us. At night we slept soundly and were unconscious due to the fatigue of walking 3.4km the whole family.

We continue the next day, which is the 7th day in Thailand ….. Thailand – Laos Travel: Day 7 – Part 1 – Morning Atmosphere at Rainbow Guesthouse & Death Railway.