In the end, we decided on Kanchanaburi, a province best known for the River Kwai, as in the bridge over it. There are lots of hotels and "resorts" along the river. We chose the Dheva Mantra resort, because they have a family room with a king size bed and a twin bed already in it, plus plenty of room for the baby's pack and play. The pool also looked like fun, and I knew Vivi would enjoy it.
Those tiny people in the picture are Vivi and Jeff. I took the picture from the balcony that looks over the pool and to the river. As an added bonus there was even a little playground.
After all the fun we've had with the car, we decided it would be safest to hire someone to drive us there. We made good time, had lunch, and then headed out on our first excursion. The hotel helped us arrange a boat tour down the river, stopping at the bridge, the JEATH War Museum, and a wat with a beautiful view.
The boat was not exactly what we expected.
There were some cushions, but we were basically sitting on the bottom of the boat. Vivi and I sat in the back seat with Elena in my lap, and Jeff sat in the front with the camera to get good pictures. The hotel brochure said that the boat could hold six people, but I think six people would have sunk it. We decided to just enjoy it, and the views were beautiful.
Our first stop was the bridge. Friends had warned us not to get too excited about it, since it really was just an old railroad bridge.
Jeff really likes the movie though, so he was excited. It was quite crowded. There's a little electric train you can ride across it which looks like the big brother of the standard mall train. We didn't take a ride, but we walked along the bridge and got some good pictures.
Then we got back in the boat and went down the river a bit further to the JEATH War Museum. JEATH stands for Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand, and Holland. It was a pretty grim look at how the POWs lived while they were working on the railway. Vivian was a bit upset by it, but luckily I think a lot of it was over her head. If we had it to do over again, we probably wouldn't have brought her there.
By the time we got back in the boat, we were all getting tired, but we pressed on to stop three. Elena, however, was so tired she fell asleep in my lap with the motor roaring and the wind blowing.
Elena and I stayed in the boat at the wat, while Vivian and Jeff climbed the hill to see the big Buddha and take in the view.
We were all very ready for bed that night, but unfortunately I had committed a cardinal mommy error. I forgot to pack Vivi's blankie. I felt doubly bad, because I think the reason I forgot it is that I was so worried about making sure I had everything the baby needed. Vivi cried, and I almost cried too I felt so bad. Luckily, we had some extra baby blankets, and there was one that Vivi deemed acceptable. She was so tired that she managed to fall asleep fairly quickly, but I felt awful, and I am not going to make that mistake again.
The baby woke us all up ridiculously early the next morning, but it was okay, since we had planned an early start anyway. Vivian was thrilled with her breakfast of waffles, bacon, and orange juice, and decided that the pool and the breakfast were the best parts of the vacation.
The hotel had arranged a car for us at 7:30 to drive to Erawan Falls which is about an hour north west of the town. The whole drive to Kanchanaburi had been along fairly built up roads, and I was a bit disappointed since I thought we were going to get to see more of the country. The drive to Erawan was much better. We drove along the river valley and got closer to the mountains.
At one point along the road there were a series of places selling huge rock sculptures. We assumed that there must be quarries in the mountains, and our driver didn't speak much English, so we couldn't ask him about it. A lot of the shapes seem to be naturally occurring with just a little human help and polish. I really liked them, but given their size and weight, all I could bring home was pictures.
At the entrance to Erawan National Park we showed our diplomatic residence cards to get resident price, which was about $3 for all of us. The tourist price was about $6 per person. The park looked lovely and would probably be worth a return visit for more exploring. For our first visit though, we went to see the waterfalls. There are seven of them along a meandering, climbing path. We figured that with the kids in tow, we could safely make it as far as number four.
Vivi was fine walking,
but Elena rode in style.
The first part was pretty level, and we easily made it to number one and two.
Lots of people were swimming in the water, but there were a bunch of fish in there.
The fish are supposed to eat off any dead skin you have, a sort of natural exfoliation. We figured we'd pass.
After that the path got a little trickier.
Unfortunately, Vivi miscalculated on one of the steps and scraped up her shin. This picture was taken after she insisted that I document her boo boo.
It happened on the way to waterfall number three, and for a while she decided she simply couldn't go on, so she and I sat and rested at number three.
Jeff and Elena climbed up the side of a hill to get to number four.
After some self pity, Vivi pulled herself together and decided she could make it to number four too, so she and I clambered up the hill and watched people sliding down the rocks and into the pool below. She ended the trip quite proud of herself and was rewarded with some ice cream.
After such an exciting morning, we decided to have a chill afternoon. Elena napped in the room, and I stayed with her to do some school work. Jeff and Vivian went to enjoy the pool some more.
Once Elena woke up, we all went to hang out in the lobby lounge. Jeff read his book, Vivi played on her iPad, I did homework, and Elena was worshipped by the hotel staff.
It was a nice relaxing way to end the vacation. We headed home the next morning, but we'll definitely be back because there are a lot more things to see there.
Your blogs make me so excited to come and visit.
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