As I mentioned in the notes on the history tour just completed, we spent one night in/on a flotel. This is a hotel that is constructed on rafts which are tied to the river bank.  The entire hotel; including kitchen, dining room, lounge, massage parlor, guest rooms with porches and patios, were all on a series of rafts that  are tied together and connected with a series of interconnecting bridges and walkways.  Our stay at the River Kwai Jungle Rafts Flotel was a relaxing experience. As evening came, lanterns were hung along the walkways and in each guest room.  As you may have guessed by now, there is no electricity and no noisy generators, just the calm quite of the jungle and the rocking of the rafts as boats go by on the river.  This was the first time most persons on the tour had slept under mosquito nets and taken that cool refreshing shower with cold river water.  (All had  been warned to shower before the sun went down.)  The entrance to the Flotel is by boat and ice is brought in to use in ice chests for food and beverages.  Cooking is done using woks on charcoal fed hibachis.  The rooms were plain but comfortable with two large beds to a room, running (river) water, western style commodes and closet space.  Of course the best part was the outside decks front and back.  The private back deck had room for only a hammock while the front deck was more like a porch with planters and beautiful hanging baskets with all types of gorgeous flowers and plants, plenty of benches and tables and of course more hammocks.  As you stepped off the porch onto the walkway that connected all the rafts, you could take another step and be on your own sun deck, again with plants, flowers and lounge chairs.  The river was safe for swimming and was enjoyed by many of the guests who would walk to one end of the flotel, jump in the river, and float to the far end of the flotel which was nineteen rafts downstream.  While this was a wonderful experience on the history tour it is the exception and not the rule for most of our tours.  On most tours we stay only in western style hotels with three to five star ratings.

 

January of this year was the most recent time I saw the man I call my Thai father, Klong Intrabut.  He is now 94 years old and is getting frail and very tired. He acknowledges that he said he would live to be one hundred if I would come back to see him each year, but this year he told me that he was afraid he would not make it.  He is tired and bored.  All his friends are gone and it is so lonesome. The picture shows him standing at the gate to his house.

 

One of my favorite sites, and things I remember the most from my Peace Corps days, was the trip to the Temple of Dawn.  It was so beautiful and different from all the other temples I had seen.  It was later, when from across the river that I saw the sun set behind the Temple of Dawn that I felt the temple had been terribly misnamed.  Yes, it is beautiful at sunrise but it is exquisite  at sunset.  A short article I wrote on the temple briefly tells of its history.