The Road From Kanchanaburi

After leaving the River Kwai Bridge, we stopped in at a nearby coffee shop, a branch of the famous Thai cafe chain PunThai, for a coffee before heading back to the Big Mango.

My wife and I bought Mom and Kyle little PunThai branded espresso cups as a souvenir, and we enjoyed our coffee together before loading ourselves back on our van with Uncle Green to head back to Bangkok.

Before leaving Kanchanaburi Town, we crossed the infamous bridge to explore the grand Chinese temple built on the banks of the River Kwai.

Wihan Phra Phothisat Kuan Im is a temple dedicated to the Chinese goddess of mercy, Guan Yin. Guan Yin is a revered and multifaceted deity in several religions, including Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and other east Asian folk religions. Often depicted as the Goddess of Compassion, she holds a special place in the hearts of countless devotees across the world. 

Here in Thailand, Guan Yin is most revered by the Thai-Chinese community who see her as a sort of patron saint and example of compassion and mercy.

While the gates of the temple were closed on the day we visited, we had a good time exploring the temple grounds.

Eventually, we departed from Kanchanaburi Province, driving back east towards Bangkok. Before heading back into the city, we stopped in at a cafe that my wife and I had wanted to visit for a very long time.

No Thai road trip is complete without stopping in to visit at least one cafe. This one had been on our radar for a while, ever since it started showing up on the Instagram accounts of the trendy, cafe loving Bangkokians.

The cafe is located in a rice field in Nakhon Pathom Province, which lies between Kanchanaburi and Bangkok.

We sat down on a wooden patio beneath a large bamboo shelter just as the sky started growing dark. It was about to storm, and we made it just in time!

We ordered coffee and a ton of food for lunch! The cafe had so many interesting and unique Thai dishes, and Pinky and I really wanted my family to try them all.

We ordered miang kham, a northern Thai snack where you take lots of little bits of things of various different flavors and textures (chilies, onion, tiny slivers of lime, shrimp paste, cashew, pork floss, and more), wrap them up in a leaf, and eat them in one bite. Traditionally served in betal leaf, this one was served in a fragrant and delicate lotus flower. 

We also ordered a pomelo and shrimp salad, which was sweet, savory, a little sour, and a tiny bit spicy.

Next up were flowers battered and fried tempura-style and served with a sweet shrimp and tomato sauce. The butterfly pea flowers were my favorite.

We also had fried shrimp rings, pork belly with spicy green chili sauce, grilled pork with northeastern-style spicy sauce, and garlic and cheese spring rolls.

Dessert came in the form of ice cream: strawberry, Thai iced tea, mango, and coconut! The ice cream was served with several different types of traditional Thai desserts, including foy tong, a wispy golden sweet made from egg yolk and sugar and boiled in syrup. Foy tong is a very old Thai dessert that developed from the egg-heavy sweets brought to Siam by Portuguese merchants in the 1400s.

Eventually the rain stopped. We got back in the van to head back to the city, arriving in early evening. Although our fantastic glamping adventure had come to an end, we still had many more adventures to come in Bangkok in the next week.