Thailand Adventure--Day 4

We spent today traveling across country to the mountains above Kanchanaburi and the Kwai River not far from the border with Burma or the country presently called Myanmar. It was a long tedious day on the bus but broken up by amazing, unforgettable, once in a lifetime experiences.

The scenery slowly changed from the urban landscape of Bangkok and its suburbs to one of a more rural and agrarian environment.

Our first stop was along the road side where we walked out across a field to get a close up look at workers harvesting salt. The workers, many of whom work in bare feet, raked salt crystals into piles after ponds of salt water had evaporated. We tasted the little crystalline salt bits handed to us by a worker. Yep, that's salt! Bags of salt were sold at roadside stands along the way.

We stopped in Maeklong, a small city whose main attraction was a Train Market. I wasn't aware that this was the actual place we were headed until we got there and I suddenly realized I've seen this place on TV. The Discovery channel or some travel or food channel, I don't know which. We walked into one end of the market led by our courier. The narrow gauge train tracks, were our path. The trains here operate on a narrow gauge system so the tracks are

much closer together than in our U.S. train system.

As we walked down the tracks, locals sold vegetables of every imaginable type, and some you certainly couldn't

dream up. Also, seafood, dried and fresh were sold along with lots of housewares. Suddenly, in the distance, we heard a train horn. Suddenly, the activity among the vendors and the buyers became a bit frenzied. Everywhere you looked the awnings and colorful umbrellas that shaded buyers and sellers alike, began to be folded up against the adjacent b

uildings away from the tracks. The items for sale a minute ago now disappeared out of harm's way. Everyone ducked into narrow walkways here and there except for a few of us tourists who remained, despite the exhortations of the in-the-know to get out of the way. We stood in the center of the tracks taking pictures of the whole event. Only at the last minute as the train slowly approached, did I duck into one of the passages. I felt safe standing in the way of the train until it had approached within 50 yards or so. Then as the train rolled by very slowly and disappeared into the distance I realized the unstoppable power that mammoth beast had if anything was too close to it as it passed.

As the train disappeared into the distance, the vendors began opening their umbrellas and pulled out their wares in a method reminiscent of The Wave at a football game or a Busby Berkley dance routine. Within seconds, life at the market was back to normal as if nothing had happened at all. Money traded hands, the shouts and arguments between buyer and seller went on as it had only moments before.

This accommodation between the train and the market vendors apparently works for everyone involved due to the Thai philosophy pronounced My Pen Rye. That isn't the proper spelling. This philosophy pervades the culture accounting for the reasoning behind the way so many things are done here. It can't be helped--whatever it is. To loose one's temper in Thailand is to lose face. It will also get you nowhere with a Thai because their natural politeness will only get you a sort of passive aggressive reaction.

My pen rye or, basically, live and let live or Que Sera Sera. It seems to fit the Buddhist style of life here. Life and death are just a part of life and neither event can really be helped. Besides, in your next life you'll reincarnate a little higher on the food chain if you have enough merit marks. Loosing your temper, honking your horn in traffic, etc, etc. won't get you merit marks. So, why worry?

We finished our walk through the market and came out the other end at the very train station the train had been stopped at before coming through the market. A right turn and we wandered down main street stopping to buy this or that, mostly intrigued by the curiosities for sale--how about a decorative coffins or platters of deep fried bugs.

Back on the road we stopped along the way at a national chain restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. Yes, I spelled that right. Thai food served with a decor of condoms. There are framed condoms, dresses on display made entirely of condoms and magazines here and there with parenting themes. This chain was created with the idea in mind of spreading the news of planned parenthood throughout Thailand. Interesting concept. The food was okay. Nothing special. We are finding so far that the food here in Thailand has not been any better than that found in our favorite Thai places in Bellingham--Busara and On Rice. That isn't a bad thing. It's really good to know that what we have so enjoyed over the years is actually so close to what you can enjoy in the country itself. Of course we are far from the end of this trip so the jury is still out.

Back on the bus, we next headed for the Floating Market in Damnoen Saduak, another place I realized I had seen on some TV show but never imagined I would ever see. We stopped at a wide spot in the road where the long-tail boats were parked waiting for the next bunch of tourists to arrive. These curious boats are long, narrow, colorfully painted water taxis which have had installed on their stern, an engine which looks like it was yanked out of a 1960's car (huge engines) and had a shaft attached to the transmission end with a prop attached. The shaft and prop can be dipped or removed from the water quickly in order to accommodate the changing depths of the water and flotsam that threat

ens to foul the prop. When dipped below the water level and accelerated, these boats can really get moving.

We all crawled into one of two long tails that would navigate us to the floating market. This market is one of the few of these left in the world. Primarily a tourist attraction now, it does still offer some food prepared right on small boats that park next to the shore where large souvenir stores are open to accommodate the tourist trade. I spent most of the time after we got off our boat, wandering along the water taking photos of the colorful action. We bought a few bananas and some saffron as well. What a wonderful place it is and a real shame that this type of place is a dying scene as people's lives become more hectic and more homes purchase refrigerators that eliminate the need to shop everyday.

Our next stop was Kanchanaburi and outside the city along the

Kwai River we stopped to see the bridge on the River Kwai, made famous by Hollywood's portrayal of this tragic story. Hundreds of thousands of Allied prisoners of war who were forced to build this railroad bridge over the Kwai River. Parts of what remains is the original bridge, the rounded supports we're not bombed when the center part of the bridge was blown up by the Allies taking it out of commission. Hundreds of thousands of these slave laborers died of over work, starvation, torture and disease at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army.

We also paid our respects at one of the Allied cemeteries and stopped at the museum along the river. The cemetery was beautifully maintained and it's rows of gravestones were polished and kept neatly trimmed.

The museum was another story. It was built in the style of the squalid barracks the prisoners lived in when they were even allowed to live under a roof. Mostly they were forced to live outdoors where they worked, along the railroad bed they carved out of the mountain sides and nearer where the bridge was being built. The constant exposure to the elements, mistreatment, lack of medical care killed them by the thousands. It was only one of many tragedies during the war by an army that paid no attention whatever to the rules of war set down in the Geneva Conventions.

We were miserably hot by this time in the day, ready for the cooling breezes that awaited us next. Our bus began to climb into the mountains that surround this area. I could feel the temperature dropping just by feeling the bus window.

Our bus slowed and made a turn down a narrow poorly paved road that headed back into the jungle. We also began to descend, often steeply, toward the river. At the end of the road were parked a half dozen busses the size of ours and a small dock with a few long tail boats waiting.

We disgorged from the bus, glad to finally be out of it for the last time for the day. We loaded into the long tails and the drivers headed up river. After about 10-15 minutes of turns and bends in the river, another dock came into view on the opposite side from our embarkation point. At the dock we were all helped out of the boats. On my way out, I didn't quite get my entire foot out of the way and I cracked my big toe hard against the side of the boat splitting the nail. My toe went numb thankfully. I hobbled up the hill toward the lodge, not really able to enjoy the beautiful setting due to that throbbing toe.

We checked into room 605 at the River Kwai Resotel which was a

perfect little cabin made of teak and with a thatched roof. It was like something out of a movie or a travelogue. Not something I would ever experience. And yet, here we were. Air conditioned and quiet, it was just paradise. I was in for the night, fair

done in by the heat and the activities of the day. What a day it had been. Amazing sites, sounds, smells, tastes. Everywhere we go, the people are wonderful, friendly, helpful, respectful and so accommodating.

++++++++++++++++++++

If you'd like to see the entire collection of our photos from the Thailand Adventure or any of our adventures, click on the photo slideshow on the right margin of this blog. Many photos have captions that will help give them more context.