On my way

A huge Jedi in the town of the volunteer we visited

This morning we got up around 5, got ready, ate breakfast at 6, and were leaving Bangkok by 6:30. My boss Sharon had new bosses that arrived the same day I did, and so they were coming with us. Their names are Barry and Shelly, and within minutes of meeting them, we became friends. They are so sweet. They are going to be in charge of missionaries for the Protestant church in 9 countries in this area (or something like that). Our first stop was the school of another volunteer who has been here about a year I believe. We toured his school, talked to him, and Sharon met with his new school director.

Minion saw this truck of pigs and wanted a
picture with them

We got back in the car and headed to Kanchanaburi where we went to the War museum there and walked through the cemetery. I had been to two other museums in the town, but was still amazed and saddened to read all of the information and what the men went through during WWII building the railroad. I took some pictures of headstones. Read through them and you get just a small glimpse of the age and type of people who lost their lives. It’s so sad.

the cemetery

 

 

 

 

After that, we had lunch at a little restaurant on the water that you can look at the famous Kwai River Bridge. I’ve heard there is a movie about it, but I haven’t seen it yet.

 



the headstones that speak for themselves

minion walking on the bridge

a guy's mask that still has the nose shape,
it made me smile and I hope you do too.



minion on the railbed

a little description

minion on the path

Then, we got back in the car and headed towards the mountains and my new home. Along the way, we stopped at the Hellfire Pass. This was a pass in the railroad that they spent 12 weeks on I believe around the clock, working 18 hour shifts to get through this 450 meter stretch. I can’t explain how magnificent of a feat it must have been. They didn’t have any big construction equipment, many didn’t have clothes, and were sick, undernourished, and overworked. Even after having walked through it, I can’t imagine the number of lives lost in just that one stretch of area and the amount of work it was to blast the pass out of the mountain piece by piece, throwing the rocks over the ledge. Words really can’t describe it at all. The walk we took there was nice and newly built. On the way back, we took a path that went behind the pass and was up and down, uneven steps. While I wanted to complain about the terrain and how hot I was and how uneven the steps were, I had to stop and realize that the path the men took was way worse than that, in the middle of rainy season, after working 18 hours straight. I realized I had little to complain about. It’s amazing how quickly your perspective can change when you think about things.

the path we were on

 

We got back in the car, and drove to Sangklaburi, the bigger town near me that is famous for the Mon Bridge, a wooden bridge that stretches from the town to the Mon village on the other side. The bridge is the longest or second longest, something like that wooden bridge in the world (I think, but I forgot exactly). However, this rainy season a part of it got knocked away by some teak trees in a flood, so they have a bamboo bridge next to it that the built until the water goes down and they can rebuild the wooden bridge.

We got to our resort, and cleaned up, then went out to dinner at a little restaurant that was in a houseboat right on the water. After supper, we went back to the resort and got ready for bed. I was so excited, tomorrow I will finally arrive at my new school!!!!!!!