Bungalow on the River Kwai

Making a splash

In our final travels, Jules and I head West. Kanchanaburi district is awash with National Parks; in one, we rent a floating bungalow for a few days. Thais love being on the water, and we are somewhat bemused by the variety of craft that float past us. First pleasure boats, and then houses, restaurants, karaoke bars, nightclubs and entire hotels drift by in a bizarre slowly-shifting tableau. We borrow some lifejackets and spend happy hours bobbing along through the Park.
On a more sombre note, we learn of some of the horrors that made the River Kwai, and its Bridge, so infamous. At Hellfire Pass, where British and Aussie POWs hacked a 60-foot deep railway cutting through solid rock by hand, just wondering around in the 40° heat was enough for us. Working an 18-hour day with a pickaxe on starvation rations is beyond imagining.