With Chiang Mai and the north so firmly planted on the independent tourist trail, the intervening central plains tend to get short shrift. Yet there is rewarding trekking around Umphang, near the Burmese border, and the elegant ruins of former capitals Ayutthaya and Sukhothai embody a glorious artistic heritage, displaying Thailand's distinctive ability to absorb influences from quite different cultures.
Kanchanaburi, stunningly located on the River Kwai in the western reaches of the central plains, tells of a much darker episode in Thailand's past, for it was along the course of this river that the Japanese army built the Thailand- Burma Railway during World War II, at the cost of thousands of POW lives.
