Burma Bound
We just spent three days in the Kanchanaburi area of Thailand – west of Bangkok. It was nice to get out and see some 0f the Thai countryside, but it was hard to leave Bangkok which I now consider the best city of my life and one that would be difficult to beat on just every level. Kanchanaburi is most famous for being the place where an infamous bridge spanning the River Kwai was destroyed. The story that it has now built a tourism trade is one where the Japanese military constructed a railroad from Burma to Bangkok in order to move supplies to its most far-flung reaches during WWII. Kanchanaburi is much more than a military story, though.
The river and its valley including the limestone karst on each side is a very tranquil area. A much different place than in the 1940s when the Japanese made slaves of 60,000 allied POWs and 200,000 Asian captives in order to build a difficult train system in the jungle and hills near Kanchanaburi to Burma. We took a train ride (Pamela’s one of many firsts on this trip!) for some of the route, but, unfortunately, much of the train route no longer exists. There is a good museum in Kanchanaburi depicting the whole story (different, of course, from the one depicted in the 1957 Academy Award winner) as well as a very good museum and site at Hellfire Pass about halfway to Burma). Combined with the cemeteries, it is all quite vivid and sad. I did find something that I think says a lot about what we have thought in the past and still continue to think today. Out of the 60,000 allied troops enslaved, 12,000 or 20% were died due to overworking, accidents, starvation, dysentery and malaria. Out of the 200,000 Indians, Burmese, Thais, Malays, Chinese, etc. that were also enslaved, but were not POWs (many captured when they were working in Singapore when it surrendered to the Japanese), 90,000 or 45% died for the same reasons. The museums call the Asian slaves coolies and laborers, although at some point they both mention that the Asian slaves were not free employees of the Japanese. Of course, much of the funding for the museums was British and Australian and they deservedly have a theme that is their story, but it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth considering there was really very little about the folks from Asia who certainly paid the highest price of the Japanese atrocity.
I think some of this is Buddhism. We have been quite amazed with the devotion that the Thai people show to their faith. The teachings of Buddha seem to be lived daily by this country. I would not be surprised if they have really moved on with forgiveness and forgetfulness regarding WWII. Similar to what I saw in Vietnam with France and America. The Thais are amazingly friendly and genuine and they are main reason this country is becoming my favorite for my whole trip.
We drove further away from Kanchanaburi yesterday towards a hilltop village near the Burma border. The town seems to be just about completely modernized so we only spent a little time walking across a very long wooden bridge that crosses a finger of a giant reservoir. A Mon village is on the other side and they were interesting to see and talk to, but it looks like the 21st century is arriving to this area very quickly. We decided to drive to the Burma border to see Three Pagodas Pass and maybe see some of Burma from the Thai side. The border area is full of places to eat and buy goods as the locals can pass between the two countries for short visits. Burma does not allow foreigners through this crossing, though. We did step into Burma and took a few photos. The overgrown area partially hid the signs welcoming visitors, giving mileages to major cities like Rangoon and making it clear that video cameras are not allowed. Burma (I refuse to call it Myanmar) is one of the top countries I would like to visit and the few minutes that we stood on its ground was not enough.
Tags: Asia, thailand
vagabondrick
I’m so glad that you love Bankok as much as I do – and I envy the greater experiences you were able to have compared to my less than 48 hours. (just don’t drink raw buffalo milk like I did; evenso I was barely sick compared to the rest of my group !) All my love to you and regards to Pamela when you are in contact with her.