It rises to the east of the Salween in the north–south spine of the Bilauktaung range near, but not over the border with Burma.

In the 1960s, the upper part of the Mae Klong was renamed the Khwae Yai ('big tributary').

The river was also used in Michael Cimino's Academy Award-winning film, The Deer Hunter.

[2] A military history of the building of the bridges during World War II can be found in Professor Peter Davies's biography of the British officer Philip Toosey, The Man Behind the Bridge: Colonel Toosey and the River Kwai.

[3] The book, and an associated BBC Timewatch documentary, challenge many of the inaccuracies portrayed in Boulle's novel and Lean's film.