Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai

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Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds everyone in excellent weather. It has been really nice here in Bangkok the last few weeks. It warm day after warm day. 95 degrees is starting to feel normal - the sweat, however, I will never be able to accept. As long as my fellow students have to endure being gross it makes it more bearable.
Over the weekend we had a class field trip up North. We left Friday morning and traveled by bus to Nakhon Pathom to visit the Phra Pathom Chedi. This Buddhist Temple sits on ruins of a former temple that date back over 2000 years. It has a massive bell shaped ‘Chedi.’ It was extremely crowded there due do to the fact that is was a sacred Buddhist Holiday commemorating the Death of the Buddha. It was very interesting to watch the Buddhist faithful flock to the enormous effigy of the Buddha. We only were able to spend a short time there, however, I was happy to get the opportunity to visit such a magnificent structure on one of their high Holidays.

We made our way back to the busses to head to our hotel in the Kanchanaburi region. It was called the Felix Hotel and it was right on the River Kwai. It was a wonderful riverside resort and as we walked into the hotel, they have these blue drinks available. They were most welcomed by a buss load of dehydrated and travel weary American students.

From the hotel, we departed for what I consider the highlight of the trip. We went to an Elephant park to ride elephants and general debauchery. As we got off the bus and walked down a hill, our first elephant came into view. It is amazing how big these creatures actually are. These massive elephants open their mouths and always appear to be smiling and having the time of their lives. Our group bought our tickets and got into pairs. Atop each elephant was fashioned what is kindly called a park bench. In pairs, we all got to ride the elephants with a trained handler in the driver’s seat.

It was such a cool experience being on top such a powerful animal. They took us into the water and eventually allowed us to actually ride the elephant bare back on its neck. Ray and I took turns riding this elephant bare back while our handler was on the ground taking pictures. This was something I always wanted to do, so I am grateful that this was included on our trip.

For dinner that night, we had a Dinner Cruise on the Kwai River. Traditional Thai cuisine was served followed by drinks and dance party. I was a great way to relax for 2 hours after such a long day. We docked back at our hotel to find that it was after 10pm; the cutoff for the pool. Well, we never give up. As all ran to our rooms and changed and spent the next two hours playing intense water basketball and went to the bar for a last round. Matt described this place best went walking from the room to the bar. ‘I swear to God dude, this is Jurassic Park.’ He was far from being right. I have never seen so many lizards, salamanders, toad, and other amphibian/reptilian creatures in such density. I was even greeted with a lizard chilling on my bed. At least he’d eat the bugs if there were any in the room.

The next day we woke up and had breakfast. I mention this only because they had American bacon - a memory the entire gang will cherish. WE left the hotel and headed toward the famous ‘Bridge Over the River Kwai.’ This was not the original bridge that the POW built, however, it was neat to see. This was followed by a train ride along the actual line built by allied POWs in WWII.

This truly was an amazing trip and it was just nice to get out of the city and experience was I imagined Asia to be like. Once we got home, everybody was exhausted. However, we couldn’t fall asleep right away because we all took a moment to enjoy the monstrous Monsoon that swept over the city immediately have our return. Seamus and I went out to test the water and found the streets were flooded midway up my shins. Wow. . . Until the next adventure!

Sawat Dii Krop!

Aaron

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