Kanchanaburi, Thailand 6

The Bamboo Raft and Suspension Bridge

River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

A banana-shaped motor boat took us up the river Kwai. It was low to the water, like a canoe. Water sprayed us in the face and you could drag your hands in the water.

Once up river, we docked and climbed onto a Bamboo Raft. A Thai man with an oar, who didn’t say a word to us the entire time, guided our raft down the river. The river carried us, the paddle was just to steer us away from the banks and keep us out in the middle.

There were six of us on the little raft. A Dutch guy took his clothes off and jumped in the water. After a long, long, time thinking about it, I jumped in too. And we hung on and followed the raft down the river. Probably the bravest, and the stupidest, thing I’ve ever done. The water is brown. You can’t see a thing. And it’s full of teeth – large snakes, crocodiles. Afterwards, the Dutch guy said he'd spent a long time thinking before he jumped too.

Of course, this feat was totally dwarfed by a maniac who leaped from the suspension bridge above us and swam the river alone without a raft.

Thick jungle on both sides grows out over the river. The banks are steep. Trees hang on from falling into the water. Holding onto the bamboo of the raft, I felt something bump my foot. Don’t know what it was. Don’t want to know.

After docking, we crossed the shaky suspension bridge. It was full of gaps and broken old wooden planks. Some stretches had been replaced with tiny tree branches.

A long three hour ride back to Bangkok, in and out of sleep.

A quiet night in Bangkok’s Kao San Road area. Another night of banned alcohol sales. Plenty of disappointed travelers. No one more upset than the bar owners, for sure. But to me, it was a Sunday night. After an exhausting day, it felt like a Sunday night. Restaurants showed football on big screens and served soft drinks. We grabbed street food. I had a plate of rice and a banana pancake with chocolate sauce. That apparently makes me "typical" now in Bangkok, according to the T-shirts. It's a hard label to shake.