Kanchanaburi.

Chad, Sammy, Jack and I spent the past weekend in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. The city of Kanchanaburi is about 120 km from Bangkok. However, we were not staying in the city, we were staying 80 km north of the city in a “float house” on the River Kwai (Mae Khlong) near the Burmese border. The trip was just over 5 hours and logistically intensive. We took a taxi from our apartment building to the western bus terminal to catch the number 81 bus to the city of Kanchanaburi. Once we arrived at the city we took a “baht bus” (a pickup truck with benches in the back) to a riverside pier (Rosetel Pier)–not the safest means of transportation, so probably won’t do that again. From the pier, we took a long boat to the float house (River Kwai Jungle Rafts). Finally at our destination, we were ready to start our long weekend.

We inadvertently stayed at a float house that did not have electricity–which was an interesting adventure. For three nights we had no air conditioning, no warm water…and no phones. We encountered a lot of cockroaches, ants, a giant hissing beetle, and one bat (all within our small room). While Chad and I probably would have done just fine with no electricity–the boys were not too fond of all the cold showers and Jack was not a good sleeper in our steam room (who could blame him).

Our room was part of a chain of floating wooden rafts with small cabin-like rooms on top of them. This “raft chain” floated on top of the river and was situated at the base of a hill. This hill was home to a Mon tribal village. The Mon people are an ethnic group from Burma who live primarily in western Thailand along the Thai-Burmese border. The village had about a dozen small, stilted houses. The Mon village was the only thing reachable from the float house unless you got back on the long boat and headed back to the Resotel Pier.

Every morning elephants from the Mon village came to the river to bathe and eat snacks (watermelon and pineapple rinds left over from breakfast). Sam loved feeding the elephants (“Mommy, I thought they ate peanuts”). But Jack REALLY loved feeding the elephants (he is pretty fearless).

We went to Kanchanaburi primarily to see the World War II attractions. The city of Kanchanaburi is home to “the bridge over the River Kwai,” a WWII cemetery, and Hellfire Pass. During WWII, the Japanese moved several thousand allied POWs from locations in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and interned them at camps throughout Thailand and Burma. These POWs were taken from colonial outposts and military bases throughout the Pacific Islands as the Japanese took over territory. Tens of thousands of allied POWs lost their lives constructing the Thai-Burma railway–which was used by the Japanese to transport supplies over land into Burma from Japan and other conquered areas in Asia (after the start of WWII). Prior to the railway, the main method of transporting supplies was maritime transport through the Indian Ocean to the port of Rangoon. However, after the Battle of Midway, the Japanese believed they needed an over land supply route in order to forego any naval commitment to the Indian Ocean. Kanchanaburi was home to one of the many POW camps and had some of the worst working conditions. The bridge and Hellfire Pass are two locations where working conditions were particularly difficult.

On our last day, we went to Erawan falls which is a Thai national park with a number of waterfalls located throughout. We were pretty proud of our Sam–who did the whole hike all by himself!

Getting There:

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