I am not really being a tourist on vacation as I am here in a school trip. So far in the cross country invitational trip we stayed one night in Bangkok. We then had a 4.5 hr bus trip to the pung-waan resort in kanchanaburi. The river kwai runs through here.
Before we left we went grocery shopping for lunch on the bus, drinks, and snacks. I bought these items. Some are to bring back for later. Afterall, how often do we get to try dried cuttlefish (like a squid). The red bean and matcha kit kats are also for later. I picked two fruits that I don’t know what they are. All the groceries totaled 12 USD. The apples are pink lady. I did resist buying the oreo moon cakes. The red pear shaped fruit was not very sweet and had the consistency of a pepper without the idea taste of the pepper. It is called a wax apple. The green fruit is actually a guava.
Dinner at night was crazy cheap and breakfast at the Best Western Wanda was excellent.
The rooms were beautiful. It is funny to read the reviews that say the beds are too hard. All the beds in southeast Asia are hard and are a thin layer of padding over wood. It was actually one of the more comfortable places I have slept.
I am intrigued by all of the temples for prayer.
The countryside is beautiful and looks much like any rural area even in the States with little shops and houses.
The resort is cabins and common areas. They set up a 4k course to run which we did when we arrived. The team has their race bibs and chips. After dinner tonight will be the coaches meeting. Here is the entrance to the dining terrace.
This is the river kwai. There is a dam up steam and unfortunately they had to open it to let water go due to lots of rain. This is part of their housing that is now under water.
Outside one of the cabins.
Inside the cabin.
View from the patio outside the cabin.
So far there has been more rain but it has been a great trip with these kids. They are still teenagers but very mature for their age and really nice people. Tomorrow is the race followed by challenge courses to compete in. All the students are mixed with other teams in new groups. In Sunday we have a 10k fun run. We leave to go back to Bangkok and will then know whether we can get in a plane or whether the flight week be delayed due to the super typhoon making landfall in China on Sunday morning.