January 22

Our final full day in Asia was spent in River Kwai, Thailand. Our morning began bright and early with a 7:45 wake up call to begin our journey. The bus ride was about 3 1/2 hours, and our first official stop on the journey was to the Taweechai elephant camp. At the elephant camp, we were given an option to ride the elephants, or hang out with them. Roughly, the class split in half for these activities. Riding the elephant was a classic Thai experience, however, it was painful to watch the worker use his stick to hurt the elephant when he wasn’t doing exactly what he was supposed to be.

After these activities, we were treated to an elephant show. Some of the tricks the elephants performed were hula hooping, balloon popping and giving massages and kisses.

After the show, we took a van ride to the river where we all got life jackets and had a very relaxing ride down the river on a bamboo boat with a person rowing. Some people chose to jump off and go swimming in the river. The views were beautiful.

For lunch, we had a buffet which included cashew chicken, fried rice, tilapia, steamed vegetables, and of course some Singha beer.

After lunch, we got back on the bus for another journey to the monkeys. At this area, we bought peanuts and papayas to give to the monkeys, which were quite aggressive. If you stared at them for a second too long, they would run after you. It was also a bad idea to tease them.

After the monkeys, we went and drove to the bridge on the river where we were able to walk across it. By the bridge, there were children playing the guitar and singing. Our professor, Mark, even joined in and started playing the guitar with them!

For our last stop, we visited the Kanchanaburi World War II Museum and Cemetery. Today, there are more than 5,000 Commonwealth and almost 1,500 Dutch servicemen buried or commemorated there. This was a humbling moment in our day to honor the sailors, soldiers and airmen who have lost their lives. Then we hopped on the bus for another 3 1/2 hour ride back to the hotel. This was our longest tour day yet (12 hours!). We were all exhausted and ready to shower, eat dinner and go to bed.

Julia Mercurio and Olivia Vomero