The Magic of River Quai

February 5th- February 7th

As I mentioned in the previous Bangkok post, on the same trip over the Chinese new year we took a short trip about 2.5 hours outside of Bangkok to a wonderful little village named Kanchanaburi. We signed up for a 2 day- 1 night all inclusive tour package that would take us through 2 museums, on many boat rides, exploring a local village and the best part: staying in a floating hotel. 

The first stop on our tour was visiting the Kanchanaburi bridge over River Kwai. This bridge was built and rebuilt many times during World War II by the Prisoners of War (under rule by the Japanese). The railway bridge is part of the long "Death Railway" that the POWs and many "voluntary" asian workers died constructing. It was built to connect Thailand to Burma mainly to transport goods from Burma back to Thailand. While visiting this area we got to visit 2 different museums focusing on this area and it was incredibly eyeopening to me. I had no idea about the Asian side of the WWII conflict. 

Walking along (and posing) on the bridge over the River Kwai

After our stop in town, we had quite the adventure getting to our hotel. Not only did we take a bus, but we also took a pickup truck and a boat! 

Dragon boat to our Hotel

Our first views of this beautiful hotel. Everything was constructed from Bamboo and floating entirely on top of the river. During the night we could hear the water rushing underneath us and feel the current rocking us to sleep. 

One of the best things about this tour was that all meals were included~ meaning we got to try many different thai dishes while eating family style. 

There was a little village near the river supported by our hotel. The village was comprised of Mon people, a group of people originally from Burma who occupy a small part of western Thailand and a large part of Myanmar. This village had a few adorable elephants we were able to feed and enjoy the company of. 

In the village they had their own little school which helps teach the children the Mon language and more about their own culture so that it is hopefully not lost. The children attend this school for about 2 hours every day after they finish and come back from their regular Thai school. 

After touring the small village, we headed to the Hellfire Pass, named this by the POWs who worked on the railway in this area. We walked along the site of the old railway, saw the memorial site and also visited the museum all allowing us to learn much more about this part of history. 

Us with Bligh, the coolest guide you'll ever meet. He made the whole trip that much better.