Today with Pluk and Aom we ventured to the Kanchanaburi Province and the River Kwae, where thousands of WWII POW's died while building both the Death Railway and the Bridge over the River Kwae. The most impressive and memorable part of today was seeing how the community continues to reverently honor those who died. Several cemetaries were donated by Thailand for the burial of the POW soldiers from the Netherlands, Austrailia, UK, America etc., and over 7,000 soldiers are buried in these immaculately kept cemetaries. The bridge still stands and was rebuilt after it was bombed during the war and a train continues to take tourists across the bridge (eventhough it is easily walked).
We had a great lunch, that included lots of seafood (Tom yam gung soup with giant river prawns and a large river fish), then hired a boat to take the four of us up the river to see the scenery along the River Kwae--this was by far my favorite part of the day.
On the way back, we stopped off at the Phra Pathom Chedi--which was closed but could walk around it-- and wandered through the local food stall market that sets up in front of the temple. As we wandered by the carts, Pluk and Aom would ask if we had ever tried something--be it fruit or some cook
ed thing--and when the answer was no (as it usually was) they decided we needed to try it & bought several. Everything we had while wondering--& I couldn't tell you the name of any of it--was wonderful. Then we went to one of the outdoor restaurants for the "official" dinner--for which they ordered the equivalent of shark fin soup apparently which was a syrup consistency soup containing different parts of the bamboo, coagulated pigs blood and fish stomach--needless to say I didn't really like the taste before I knew what was in it, but it really only made it worse when they were describing the contents while I was trying to eat it. We finished the evening of a great day with chocolate ice cream (thai toppings of note are corn soup, corn, pumpkin, and a few other things that I have no clue--very strange to eat them mixed w/ice cream...I think I like my sprinkles, berries and chocolate chips).
ed thing--and when the answer was no (as it usually was) they decided we needed to try it & bought several. Everything we had while wondering--& I couldn't tell you the name of any of it--was wonderful. Then we went to one of the outdoor restaurants for the "official" dinner--for which they ordered the equivalent of shark fin soup apparently which was a syrup consistency soup containing different parts of the bamboo, coagulated pigs blood and fish stomach--needless to say I didn't really like the taste before I knew what was in it, but it really only made it worse when they were describing the contents while I was trying to eat it. We finished the evening of a great day with chocolate ice cream (thai toppings of note are corn soup, corn, pumpkin, and a few other things that I have no clue--very strange to eat them mixed w/ice cream...I think I like my sprinkles, berries and chocolate chips). 
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