A little about Buri

The word "buri" owes its origins to a word that engenders a long history over a thousand years old that is "puri". "Puri", in Sanskrit, means "city". In Thai, the term "buri" is commonly encountered in the names of city-municipalities and town-municipalities.

Here, we share some of one of our favorite "buri" provinces, Kanchanaburi.

Kanchanaburi กาญจนบุรี

Well known for the site of railroad bridge no. 277 on the Burma Railway, the Bridge on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi sits to the 120 kilometers west of Bangkok. Parts of the bridge date back to WWII and travelers can even walk on the bridge along the railway track. The river is calm and wonderfully clear due to it's proximity to national parks, such as the Erawan.

High tide on the River Kwai

Naturally, river fish feature prominently in local restaurants in Kanchanburi. Freshwater catfish (wallago attu) or more commonly known as "ikan tapah" in Malaysia, are cooked up in jungle curries or tom yum soups. Something to note, we found local Kanchanaburi tom yum taking sour and spicy notes quite a few notches higher than commonly served in big city, Bangkok.

Kanchanaburi serves up beautiful sunsets, majestic rivers, and such clean air. A definite A+ in our list for favorite "buris" in Thailand.