Touring Kanchanaburi: Bridge and Mon Village
Posted by Stuart at 08:00 PM on June 28, 2003Piyawat arrived at my apartment very early today to take me to Kanchanaburi. Also in the car was his younger sister and her boyfriend. The two hour trip west from Bangkok was uneventful, although we did make a nice rest-stop at the temple in Nakorn Pathom to see Thailand's largest Buddhist monument.
When I say "uneventful", I mean downright boring. We had to drive through Ratchaburi province, which I think is the most plain and boring province I have ever been in. But eventually we were in the beautiful green mountains of Kanchanaburi.
Once in Kanchanaburi we stopped at "The Bridge over River Kwai" which was built during WWII by forced labor from Allied POWs. The bridge itself is not impressive, but the idea of thousands of people dying from being overworked was sombering, as was the large military cemetery holding the remains of over 6,000 Allied soldiers.
After lunch at a roadside restaurant (five delicious dishes and four waters for 100 baht -- US$2.50) we contined west along the river to the dock of the River Kwai Resotel. We then took a 30 minute boat ride to our unreachable-by-car hotel.
We checked in to our hotel, which is actually rooms built on rafts in the river, and headed to visit the adjoining Mon village. The Mon people are originally from Myannmar (Burma) but many have moved into western Thailand. Even though they have been somewhat assimilated into the Thai culture, many Mon still hold on to their customs such as their dress and their language.
The village we visited was obviously created for tourists (it was clean and well-organized) but at least the people living in the village wear the traditional clothing (sarongs for men and women and powdered faces), practice Mon dance (similar to Thai, but much more athletic and fast-paced), and speak the Mon language. We visited an elementary school where the kids were taught in Mon. The teacher didn't even speak Thai!
In any case, I welcomed the opportunity to learn a little bit about the Mon people. And I appreciated the "get back to nature" atmosphere. Our rafts have no hot water and no electricity. But the food is delicious, the Mon dance show was educational and the setting is peaceful. Perfect for a nice weekend get-away.
I don't think I will ever run out of things to do! Every trip I take I do about 20% of the things I'd like to do. I have now been to about 20 of the 70+ Thai Provences, so I still have plenty more to go...
Thanks for the 4th of July reminder. Of course it's just another American holiday that I completely forgot about.
Stuart,
Your writing of your visit to the Kanchanburi area brought back some memories for me. I visited Thailand back in 1990 on my way to France for a motoring holiday. I was only in Bangkok for 3 days, but did a day tour on a small minibus out to Kanchanburi. We visited the JEATH (Japan, England, Australia, Thailand, Holland) Museum, which was in a wat, and had reconstructions of Allied POW huts from WW2, with various photographs, exhibits etc. It was very moving.
A visit also to the Kanchanburi War Cemetery and the River Kwai Bridge (I think there were three originally) and a short tourist train ride.
That part of Thailand is significant for Australians because a lot of Aussie POW's who were gaoled in Singapre when the Japanese invaded, were sent to Thailand to work on the railway. One of the Army Doctors was a an Army Medical Officer, a guy named Edward "Weary" Dunlop who developed almost a superman status amongst the prisonrs for his medical work and his beatings by the Japanese when he berated them for food for his fellow prisoners and patients.
I can remember seeing some of those resort rafts from the train and thinking that'd be a fun way to stay.
(This comment was actually cut and pasted from an email from a regular reader named Morrie. His website is http://moderick.crimsonblog.com. Thanks Morrie! Great comments :)
I had forgotten that "The Bridge Over River Kawi" was in Thailand. I imagine that it was quiet sobering and sombering .... war is not pretty, but at times necessary, because we aren't a perfect people. Too bad, hunh? HAHA!!
Interesting about the Mon village. This weekend I watched a program on Greenland. One city/village visited shared that the majority of the people were Inuites (sp???) and how their native language (same language as the Inuite people/Eskimos in Alaska, because that is where my migrated from) was still spoken and taught, which was different from the language of Greenland.
I'm glad to see that you haven't run out of things to do!!!???!! HAHAHA!!!
Love you, and Happy 4th of July!!!
Love you!!!