I decided to do another Intrepid tour. This time an 8 day trip to west-central Thailand. We explored remote and rural areas. It was a journey through limestone mountains to the border of Myanmar (Burma). We also visited historic WWII monuments, Karen and Mon villages and offered early morning alms to monks.
My roommate was lovely Penelope, a Greek Cypriot living in Rome and raised in London. I meet the most interesting people traveling! She was on the tour with her friends, Elizabeth and Nicola, from Naples. It was good luck to have them on the tour and I enjoyed their company immensely.
We spent the night in Bangkok and headed west the next morning with our guide Noi. After changing buses in Kanchanaburi and nearing our overnight stop in Sangkhlaburi, our bus broke down in a mountainous area. Having experience with broken buses, I headed out to the nearby lake to take photos accompanied by Nicola and Penelope.
Nicola taking a photo of a pineapple plant.
Our broken bus.
Nicola showing a little girl a photo he took of her.
After a few hours the bus was running again and we made our way to P Guesthouse overlooking Khao Laem lake.
The group took a boat ride on the beautiful lake the next morning.
We passed underneath a wooden bridge.
Explored a submerged temple. The lake was created by damming a large valley. When the dam was filled villages were inundated including a large temple.
Drove past beautiful cliffs.
And swamped land.
And up a river way to a Karen village.
Where the group was to go on an elephant ride.
Here’s Penelope perched on top of her elephant.
I couldn’t bear the thought of riding an elephant after my experience at the Elephant Nature Park so I stayed behind in the village with Noi, our tour guide. After the group returned from the elephant riding we were served a lunchmof fried rice and pineapple.
A view of the home of the village headman.
After returning to P Guesthouse we took a Songtaew to Three Pagodas Pass which is located on the Thai-Myanmar ( Burma) border. We looked across the checkpoint gate into Burma then browsed in the adjacent local market after a sweet iced coffee.
The location of Three Pagodas Pass in Thailand.
This woman and her two boys were sitting in the shade at the side of the road near the border. The two boys’ faces were covered with a white substance. Our guide told us that the white face is considered beautiful and protects them from the sun.
Later we visited Wat Wangvivegaram and walked across the longest wooden bridge in Thailand.
Wat Wangvivegaram. This Mon Wat (temple) was rebuilt in the 90s on a hillside overlooking the old valley after the original was submerged by dam water. The unique structure mimics a temple in Sri Lanka.
That night a group of us visited Baan Unrak orphanage outside the town. Didi, the founder, looks after 130 abandoned children. The Thai-Burma border has a lot of social problems. Refugees from Burma face discrimination, poverty and abuse. We went on a tour and afterward sat on the floor to watch a show given by the children which included a juggler, dancers and singers. A little girl sat next to me and asked to use my camera. She took photo after photo and seems to be a budding photographer!
Please visit the orphanage website. Baan Unrak is supported by the Intrepid Foundation and we gave a donation which was matched by Intrepid.
http://www.baanunrak.org/
this photo was copied from their website. “Didi (on the right) started the home with her Norwegian friend Oddrun Skare in 1991, both of them full-time volunteers for the Neo-Humanist organization.”
The budding photographer.
