Elephants!

When in Rome (or Thailand) ...

We added to the length of the day’s trip by visiting an elephant camp and riding an elephant. There was a platform from which you stepped onto the “chair”. Chair isn’t really the correct word. It was a piece of metal with a rail around it at a height of about 6 inches with a thin pad. The camp was at Chang Wangpo. The mahout looked like a kid of about 12. He was probably older.

Despite the lack of comfort of the seat, a 30 minute ride wasn’t bad. I’m not sure the same seat would work for a week’s trek.  There was one steep grade early in the tour which was a little difficult but mostly it was fine. 

This was certainly less scary than horseback riding down Haleakala in Hawaii. There the horses are traveling on skinny trails on cliff edge and often you are over the cliff edge while the horse is turning.

They do something called “elephant bathing” at the camp as well. For that, bathing suit clad visitors sit on the back of the elephant as the elephant lays down in the water and then squirts the people with water after filling its trunk. Fill, spray, fill, spray. That’s not what I was picturing based on the description of elephant bathing. Anyway, they may use the same elephants for both events. Our elephant was very eager to lay down in the river once we entered it.

Our mahout could not seem to get her to move. He finally gave up and splashed her ears with water for a bit and then she was willing to move on.

Thailand-Burma Railway Part 3

The Railway and Bridge(s)

A 415 km railway was to be built including 680 timber trestle bridges. The Imperial Japanese Army wished to have railway service all the way from Nong Pladuk, Thailand to Thanbuyuzayat, Burma (now Myanmar). They wished to connect short sections of rail line and extend the line. The American Civil Engineering Handbook was used as a guide for the construction.

Beginning in October 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army hoped to construct the entire thing by August 1943. In reality the rail was not completed until November 1943. There was no real mechanized equipment available. All work was done by hand.

A Japanese officer said in an interview that they had orders to build the bridges and rail line. They had to forget that the workers were men, were individuals, and only consider the fact that they had been ordered to finish the bridge on time. Nothing else mattered. The Japanese carried a certain amount of scorn for the POWS because they had accepted defeat. The Japanese were educated to never accept defeat; to refuse submission. The POWS were therefore inferior and to be scorned.

Another shot of the “Kwai River” Bridge

The bridge was not constructed on the “Kwai River.” There was no Kwai River in the 1940s. It was built across the Mae Khlong River near 2 tributary rivers now named maenam Kwae Noi (small river Kwae) and Maenam Kwae Yai (big river Kwae). The word Kwae just means tributary. I’m not exactly sure how it came about but the name of that section of the river was changed to the Kwae (Kwai) in 1960.

The 11 span bridge was dismantled in Java in 1942 and brought here to this location and re-built it on concrete columns over a span of about 7 months. Java today is an island in Indonesia. At the time Indonesia was known as the Dutch East Indies. Holland was already under German occupation and not helpful to its colony stopping the Japanese invasion. Many bridges and roads had been built by the Dutch and at least one of them was taken from Java to Thailand. I can’t seem to find out exactly where the taken bridge had been located. 

Here's just a few historical tidbits:

The Japanese came up with a creative way to transport the concrete to construct the supports for the bridge. They pre-mixed cement, sand and gravel and transported the mix in wooden barrels. It’s possible that the Thai-Burma Railway was the first use of pre-mixed concrete

Because the rail line and bridges were built too hastily, the rail system never achieved what it was meant to do- handle 3000 tons daily. In reality, only 600 tons of equipment could be transported daily towards the Burma front. Still, the actual construction of the Thai-Burma railway was an extraordinary engineering feat. 80 km of the original line still exists. The rest has been lost to the jungle.

There were actually 2 bridges near the location of the famous Kwai River Bridge. Originally a temporary wooden trestle bridge was constructed in February 1943 and when the steel bridge from Java was put back together it was constructed near the original temporary wooden bridge. Both bridges were attacked numerous times by Allied Forces. The steel bridge still exists today though two of the steel sections were damaged by the Allied bombings and were rebuilt.

The wood bridge was not destroyed as depicted in the movie. In late 1944, raids began to damage both bridges on accession. But in 1945 both bridges were temporarily knocked out of service. The wooden (service bridge) was destroyed by aerial raids on April 2, 1945.

The POWS and Asian Laborers

Signage at the museum indicated  that by mid-1942, there were several 100,000 men  POWS and Asian conscripted laborers working on the railway. In reality, the number could have been closer to 250,000 Asian laborers.

There were 55 prison camps along the rail line but only 64,000 men at one point. Additional men were recruited through false promises or good pay. Other men were recruited by force.

Men battled horrible conditions, starvation diets, insects, and disease in addition to abuse by their guards. Not all of the camps were equally horrible. The camps at Wangpo and further north were the worst. One British solder wrote that there were so many flies in Wangpo camp that each POW had to kill 100 flies every night.

The Deaths

The “official” numbers reported vary.  The total number who died is not really known but here are the best guesses:16,000 POWS died and were buried along the railway. Another 100,000 estimated civilian Asian laborers died.

At the museum these numbers were listed on one chart.

Nationality	Total workforce	Total died
Dutch	17,900	2782
American	686	131
Burmese	90,000	40,000
Australian	13.004	2802
Malay	75,000	42,000

Some numbers on a memorial plaque at the river vary from these numbers taken from the museum. For example, the memorial plaque lists 356 American dead.

The American dead were returned to the US. The others were transferred from camp burial grounds to 3 cemeteries: including the one at Kanchanaburi.

Thailand-Burma Railway Part 2

Our first stop in Kanchanaburi was the Thailand-Burma Railway Center but the building was also labeled Death Railway Centre and Research Centre.  No photos were allowed inside the museum so it was very difficult to record information. Sometimes I like to capture photos of signage. Not this time. Photos wouldn't do it justice anyway. Across the street is the War Cemetery with the remains of about 7,000 POWS who died during the building of the Railway.

We learned that we really knew very little about this critical activity carried out by the Japanese during World War II. After visiting the museum and surveying the POW cemetery, we actually boarded a train and traveled from Kanchanaburi to the Tham Kra Sae Bridge at Sai Yok Station.

Our train crosses the bridge spanning the river and then headed inland. The Sai Yok Station and the Tham Kra Sae Bridge is along the Kwae Noi ( tributary). In Kanchanaburi you can walk across the famous "Bridge on the River Kwai." (More on the name later). From here you can see a now empty piece of land where one of the POW camps was located. There are side patios so you can hop off the tracks if/when a train comes along. There's even a sign with instructions for moving off the tracks.

Yes, folks, that light is on the train and a train is coming. What does everyone do? People stand there taking pictures as the train comes right at them as it crosses the bridge.

 The arched spans are original. The more rectangular spans had to be replaced after the Allied Forces destroyed part of the middle of the bridge.

Views from the bridge and surrounding area.

On the train, our guide explained that people still travel over these mountains to illegally enter Thailand. The crossing is extremely difficult.  

 B noticed this while on the train.

We passed fields of cassava, sugar cane and others.

 Perhaps original pilings now wasting away.

 We begin to get close to Sai Yok Station.

We each received a certificate for our train ride. On the train they served us a boxed snack complete with water. 

That was included in the fee for the train ride. If you were still hungry, frequently someone came through the car selling additional food items.

The special tourist car we were in cost 300 Baht per person (about 9 USD). The non-tourist cars are only 100 Baht. One of our fellow passengers from the tourist car pointed out that the car for local folks had pads on the seats. Ours did not. We did get the free snack and water, however. No cars had air conditioning.

Speaking of water, every time we turned around, our tour guide Wantana was handing us another bottle of water. It was hot, even hotter than at home. We knew it would be even warmer in Bangkok so we brought our Camelbak backpack to carry our own water. Nonetheless, water bottles were offered at every turn. Several times over the course of the 2 days we spent with Wantana, she also stopped and purchased pre-chilled towels for us to use to wipe off the sweat. After the first one, we started noticing other refrigerated units holding more of these individually sealed and already chilled small towels. Nice!

Sai Yok Station was about 65 km from Kanchanaburi. This is located at the north end of the Wang Pho viaduct.  The Tham Kra Sae Bridge is the longest railway bridge in Thailand. At this location we also visited an above ground cave – the Kra Sae Cave. Our guide told us that the cave was used as a hospital for the POW camp that was located here. It might also have been used for storage of goods by the Japanese or as a camp site for Japanese soldiers. Stories abound! There is a legend that Japanese gold was buried in the cave and you can see signs of all the digging and attempted looting that’s gone on here. Today there is a Buddha. We didn't get any good photos

We ate lunch at Sai Yok Station.

I was surprised  that the Pad Thai was very mild considering I was eating it in Thailand. I even had to add Thai chili sauce. After lunch I tried the local coconut ice cream. It was frozen, but wasn’t very coconutty to my taste buds. Cost? 20 Baht (60 cents US).

Thailand-Burma Railway Part 1

Day 2 in Thailand was an 11 hour round trip to visit the Thailand-Burma Railway.  One very famous location along the Thailand-Burma Railway is commonly referred to as the "Bridge on the River Kwai." There was a Academy Award winning movie made about the bridge in 1957. The Thailand-Burma Railway is also called the "Death Railway" because so many men lost their lives during construction. Certainly this is not your typical vacation spot for everyone, but so worth it.

We began the day in the rain but as we headed west towards Kanchanaburi (128 km west of Bangkok) the rain disappeared.  One interesting type of taxi:

Along the way, I saw a car flip around in the road on the other side of the median and end up in the median bouncing then finally settling down. I gasped but B hadn’t even noticed. It happened on his side of the car!

Road signs are rarely, if at all, in English.

The driver for the first day wasn’t too bad, but the second driver repeatedly drove in his own lane hitting all the storm drain lids as he tried to go around traffic. He drove too fast and tailgated, too!

As we traveled in Thailand we often saw what we thought were small temples in the front yards of homes. We learned that one is called the “spirit” house. It looks like a temple and is put in front of the home to protect it. There is usually another temple-like smaller structure in Thai style. Neither is a temple.

April brings the profuse blooming of “golden showers” trees across Thailand. Our guide said it is just beautiful. It’s the national flower of Thailand. We got to see just the beginning of it. Yellow is also the color of the royals.

We learned the main crops are rice, sugar cane and corn but a huge crop must be pomelos. We saw dozens and dozens of stands selling pomelo everywhere we went. Apparently a lovely desert is concocted from sticky rice and pomelo.

We saw quite a few Michelin tire signs. Also, the trucks of all types are heavily decorated.  We saw many decorated with small versions of Michelin’s Bibendum — Michelin man.  

In one town there were groupings of cement critters in the medians separating lanes in the road: deer, rams, donkeys, elephants, giraffes. I managed one shot of some rams. I still don’t know why they were there. We did see an extremely large shop selling these cement critters along our way.Perhaps advertising?

Bangkok Part 4-Longtail

After our walking tour of some of the temples in Bangkok, we jumped in our very own personal longtail and traveled on the Chae Phraya River and one canal waterway. The longtail is a wooden hulled boat with a car engine running a long propeller shaft.

Bangkok used to be called the “Venice of the East” because canals criss-crossed the city and was the main way to travel.  The canals are only about 20 feet wide. The longtails will comfortably hold at least 6 passengers. Ours held only the two of us and our guide ( plus the guy driving the boat).  There were life preservers on board and we were asked to put them on briefly in an area that is patrolled by police. It was windy!

There were opportunities to stop along the way, but honestly the longtail wasn’t the easiest thing to get in and out of so we stayed put and enjoyed the tour from the boat. There were homes, restaurants, shops, temples, shrines on both sides of the canal. Most of the canals are no longer used commercially.

I didn’t know this but longtails were made famous in chase scenes in the Bond film, “The Man with the Golden Gun.” In a couple of spots there were women in paddle boats selling snacks, water and souvenirs for the tourists. One lady paddled right over to our boat to show her wares. Some of the houses are mansion-like, others appear to be collapsing in on themselves.

We even got to see pretty large water monitors sunbathing alongside the canal. Here's another longtail speeding along.

 Getting pretty choppy.

  View of the Palace and Wat Phra Kaew in the distance.

At the end of the first day with our guide, she asked if we had plans for the next day.  We had read about this spot that was within a 3 hour drive. We agreed to go out with her the next day as well. She was a good guide.

Bangkok Part 3-More Temples

We also visited Wat Pho- the site of the reclining Buddha.

This is a rambling temple from the 16^th c. It’s the largest temple in Thailand. The Buddha barely fits inside the building that houses it. The reclining Buddha is symbolic of Buddha’s death and trip to Nirvana. It is 45 m long and is gilded in gold leaf.

This shot is just to show how large this is compared to a human head.You can see just a part of the Buddha's head along with the head of a visitor to the Temple.

In the courtyard at Wat Pho is a miniature village of 94 porcelain tiled chedi. The 4 largest commemorate the first 4 reigns of the Chakri dynasty.

There were Chinese guardian figures at a gate at Wat Pho.

 

We saw a few of the 394 gilded Buddha images contained in 4 large chapels.

There were countless Buddha images from different parts of Thailand all sitting in the lotus position. Most are waiting for private funds to be restored. ( no pictures)

 

Discussion of Buddhas. So much I didn’t know. The face shape of Buddhas varies according to when and where it was created. The hand position has meaning. For example, one hand up pointing outward means be calm. Both hands up pointing outward means, really calm down.

Bangkok Part 2-Temples

As we drove around town we noticed there is very little car honking in Bangkok. This is quite different from our experience at home where honking is a favorite pastime. We also noticed the taxis are bright pink and license plates seem to be a variety of colors: turquoise, red and black.

Buddhist temples in Thailand are called wats. 95% of the country is Buddhist. We did see Buddhist monks walking around Bangkok and also saw a school for young men to take monk training. The school summer breaks had just started and many parents want their boys to take this training during summer breaks.

First stop was the Golden Buddha at the temple of Wat Traimit (Sukhothai Traimit). It’s the largest Golden Buddha image in the world. It is made of pure gold and is 12 feet 5 inches diameter and a height of 15 feet 9 inches. The Buddha weighs 5.5 tons and the current estimated value is around $250 million US.  It is believed to be around 700 years old, produced during the time of the Sukhothai Dynasty.

At some point the Buddha was completely encased in plaster stucco, painted and covered with pieces of colored glass to conceal it from invading enemies. It used to be located elsewhere so it wasn’t until 1955 when it was being moved to this location that the secret was revealed. A piece of the outer layer chipped off! Since then it has been treasured for it’s historical, artistic and cultural value. There was a lot of gold work in door panels, ceilings, arches in this temple.

Next we visited the Wat Phra Kaew (including the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace. Wat Phra Kaew has a Golden Temple or chedis. Chedis is another term for a Buddhist stupa- typically a mound-like structure containing relics and used for meditation. We were told that each of the tiny (less than 1 inch square) gold leaf tiles is valued at about $1 US. We weren’t given a total but it must be worthy of, “Wow!” You can see the Golden Temple in the center of the first photo. The next photo is a close up of those gold leafed tiles.

These are figures around the base of the Golden Temple.

 A closeup.

There were all sorts of structures and statues all over. They all probably have huge significance but we didn’t learn all there was to know about them. We did learn that at one time everything used to be jewel encrusted. Now things are decorated with glass or substitute materials. There is a need for bling factor but there is not enough genuine stone for all the needs.

In one area there are murals covering the walls depicting the story of Ramakian. This is a similar story to that of Rama and Sinta (Sita) [even the names are the same] as told by the Indonesian Wayang plays. I've already discussed the story in a prior posting.

Housed in the main hall of Wat Phra Kaew is the Emerald Buddha. I was expecting something larger for sure. This is only 66 cm tall and isn’t actually emerald. It’s nephrite jade. Our guide explained that everything green and made of stone was often called emerald.  Nonetheless this small figure is important to Thailand’s religion and national identity. It was discovered in northern Thailand in the 15^th century. By decree, the Thai king climbs up and changes the “robes’ on the Buddha every season. Thailand has 3 seasons: hot, rainy, cool. You are not permitted to take photos inside the temple of the Emerald Buddha so you won’t see any here. I should mention, however, the Internet is full of photos claiming to be of this Buddha. The color of the jade seems to be all over the place (photo manipulation?) I asked if I would be permitted to take a photo of a poster of the seasonal costumes for the Buddha and was told it was ok. 

There are also golden statues of many Thai mythological figures in the courtyard. Here are the figures of Asurapaksi, Singhapanorn and Thepnorasignha.

The Palace was begun by King Rama I. Over time there was a lot of new construction and pauses in construction. I believe construction first began in 1782. The Thai royals lived in the Grand Palace until King Rama V moved the royal seat to Dusit. The Grand Palace has 72 rooms.

There is a strict dress code when visiting the temples: long pants/skirts and no sleeveless or tank type shirts. There must be sleeves. You can rent appropriate cover if necessary. There were guards to make sure everyone complied.

Inside the actual chapels you had to remove your shoes. At one spot you could grab a bag and carry your shoes with you. At most locations, you simply removed your shoes and left them side by side with hundreds of other shoes and hoped you could find them again after your visit. Note our shoes marked by black arrows.

Our guide told us the Thai people think taking another’s shoes is bad luck so theft of shoes doesn’t happen. It is ok to purchase used shoes, however. We saw several places selling previously owned shoes. There was one place that becomes a sidewalk garage sale in the evening and anyone can bring anything to sell- there were shoes for sale there.