Later in the morning, after our trip to the Bridge, we took the 40 minute ride up the River Kwai on the long-boat to the Jungle Raft Resort. The trip up to the hotel was absolutely breathtaking. It was so quiet and peaceful with beautiful scenery along the way.
It was the fastest 40 minutes as there was just so much to see. We saw a herd of water buffalo cooling off in the river also elephants on the water’s edge.
We arrived at the hotel and were met by very friendly and helpful staff who are from the Mon tribe village.
After checking in to our rooms which are pretty basic we went to the main restaurant area for lunch. The food was wonderful – plates of rice with Thai/Burmese cuisine which included meat, fish and seafood. There is no choice, you get what has been prepared for the day, but we never went hungry and it was all delicious!
There is neither hot water nor electricity. Its funny cause all though it was basic it still felt luxurious.
Just a hint, make sure your camera batteries are charged, or that you have spare batteries as there are no facilities to recharge here. They do have wifi at the bar – crazy hey, no power but WIFI!
After lunch we then went by long-boat back down the river where we were met by a taxi truck and taken to the Hellfire Passage Museum and the actual walking trail that was built by the prisoner’s of war in World War II. This was another emotional and amazing experience.
After returning to the resort we sat on our own little “verandas” sipping G and T’s and watching many of the resort guests jumping into the river and letting the fast-moving water carry them down to the end of the resort. The water is crystal clear and very refreshing. If you feel up to it do grab a life jacket and jump in the river, but be warned, it flows at about 90kms an hour. Well it looks that fast.
After dinner we attended the Mon dancers show, which was short and quite basic.
Lighting is supplied by many kerosene lanterns which makes the resort look like fairyland.
The next morning sitting on my little balcony watching the elephants come down from the mountain and have a bath in the river was wonderful. I took the opportunity to partake in the feeding of them also.
After breakfast, visiting the Mon village, and seeing how the villagers live in the traditional way, was something very special. We visited their local school, the temple, the temple where the monks live and their houses.
If you want something really exceptional and unique, go to the River Kwai Jungle rafts resort.
This was the highlight of my trip to Thailand
