Drifting on the River Kwai

Kanchanaburi is about three hours outside of Bangkok and in addition to being gorgeous limestone mountains and countryside, is home to several historical spots, including the Death Railway and Bridge Over River Kwai. Built by Allied Soldier POWs in Japanese run camps, the 415km of track were set to connect Bangkok to Burma and more than 100,000 lives were lost due to hard labor, torture and starvation. It was bombed and destroyed less than two years after completion. The purpose of our trip was to visit with each other and to relax on the River Kwai, so we didn't visit the WWII historical sites...but I did want to mention them.

After a long drive out of the city and a stop for some yummy iced coffees, we took a longboat about 15 minutes up the River Kwai through bamboo jungle and stopped at our home for the next few days...a beautiful floating hotel. This little slice of heaven is literally a bunch of bamboo huts tied together by rope, floating on pontoons. It was rustic (no electricity...and no cell/3G-hence a few days of radio silence!) but lush with hanging plants, hammocks, bamboo...and oh, so tranquil. We spent the days with our life jackets on...jumping off the deck farthest upstream, floating with the current past the floatilla of 25+ raft huts to the deck farthest downstream, and doing it all again. We took breaks to eat some delicious Thai dishes, to feed the local Asian elephants, to feed the jumping fish and to explore the small Mon village. There were butterflies everywhere, and Addi told us that fairies were riding on them- so we also spent a good amount of time fairy spotting.

It was nice to relax and visit with each other.

We leave for Laos tomorrow morning and I have been having some connectivity issues with my phone. Verizon says they will try to fix it within 24 hours, but only time will tell. So, until next time!

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