The morning of the 18th we arose early to catch a tour bus to Erawan Park and Hellfire Pass. Riding scooters over 80 kilometers each way was a less than appealing option. Erawan is noted for a series of 7 beautiful waterfalls. We opted to hike the entire trail to the 7th waterfall. The beauty of Erawan is amazing. After hiking to the top we went back down to the third waterfall for a swim. The water is surprisingly cold but we found it refreshing in the heat of the afternoon after our hike. We swam to the waterfall and stood underneath it, enjoying an incredible natural massage delivered by the cascading water.
Behind the waterfall was a small cave with some interesting stalactites. The pictures we have of us were taken by our new friend Dave Douangchanh, who was traveling with his parents who immigrated from Thailand to Canada in the early 1980’s. We really enjoyed socializing with them and had dinner together later.
Sighting a few monkeys rounded out our morning at the beautiful Erawan Park. We ate some Thai food at one of the park restaurants before continuing our journey to Hellfire Pass, or Konyu Cutting as it was referred to by the Japanese. During the bus ride to Hellfire Pass I questioned Ricky about a tree I had photographed that was wrapped with colorful pieces of cloth and other offerings. Ricky explained that locals believe a spirit lives in the tree. This particular spirit is female and is known for helping with relationships. For example if your partner or spouse leaves you the spirit in the tree could help patch things up with the promise of an offering.
Hellfire Pass is a railway cutting that is part of the infamous Thai-Burma Railway built by POW’s and Asian conscripted labor. Hellfire Pass was named by one of the POW’ likened the scene of the emaciated soldiers working through the night illuminated by bamboo torches to the fires of hell. Seeing the pass firsthand from the top where you get an idea of how much rock had to be removed is the best way to get an idea of the scope of the work. We walked through the pass and along the railbed. Inside the pass are some artifacts. In one spot you can see a broken compressor drill bit wedged in the rock.
Above Hellfire Pass is a museum. There was a short video presentation and a 10 minute film clip with a combination of stills and movie clips illustrating the horrific treatment of POW’s and laborers. Medical care was practically non-existent. Allied doctors did the best they could under the circumstances and are credited with performing some impressive feats. Many prisoners considered the doctors as true heroes. In some cases the doctors tried to prevent a patient from being put back to work and were savagely beaten by the Japanese.
On the way back from Erawan we took a short train ride on a section of the Thai-Burma Railway and met an American woman from Boston that recently sold her Mediterranean restaurant in Chicago and is now doing some traveling. She will be competing in the “Top Chef” TV show on the Bravo network. We did not catch her name but we wish her the best of luck. Hopefully we can get someone to TIVO the first episode. Before boarding the train we walked on one of the original trestle bridges constructed by the POW’s. During the ride we had some nice views of the Kwae River.
Our guide for the day was a Thai gentleman named “Ricky.” Ricky was a great guide and taught me some useful Thai expressions. He also explained how the Thai draft lottery works. In Thailand a certain number of men have to go in the army at the age of 20. At the draft office they pull straws to see who goes and who doesn’t. Ricky managed to avoid the short straw and did not have to serve.
January 17th turned out to be a bit of a work day with most of the morning and part of the afternoon spent at an internet café getting caught up with our businesses. After our stint on the internet we decided to visit the somewhat controversial Tiger Temple. Tiger Temple is a tiger sanctuary run by Buddhist monks. The controversy stems from what the monks are doing with the “donation” money that is raised from visitors. I left donation in quotes since you don’t really have a choice but to donate if you wish to see the tigers. Some critics question how much of the money is really going to benefit the cats. I don’t have enough information to offer an opinion but I did enjoy getting a chance to see tigers up close. Not only did each of us get to see the tigers up close but we also had the opportunity to pet several of them.
We were in the last group of visitors at the sanctuary and were offered the chance to walk behind the tigers as they were led to their quarters. Along the way we got a chance to pet a tiger. You can see in the picture that Sterling and I are on one side of the tiger and Jean is on the other. Jean had to be on that side of the tiger because she was not allowed to be on the same side as the monk. Women are not allowed to touch a monk or his robes. In fact if a woman needs to give something to the monk it needs to be left on a plate so that she and the monk do not touch the object simultaneously. Jean had to buy some cheap pants to visit the sanctuary because her shorts did not cover her knees.
Before being led up the path toward the tiger’s quarters we were told what to expect by an Australian cat handler. Some common sense precautions can pretty much be summed up with don’t look like something the tiger might confuse with prey. He also mentioned that if a tiger urinated on you while you were behind it that it was powerful good luck. I managed to step in some tiger dung during the walk so I’m hoping that it was some powerful good luck there too. If you visit the Tiger Temple may I recommend not wearing Teva sandals or doing a better job than I did of watching where I was walking. Luckily I found a hose to wash off my feet before our ride back to the hotel.
19 January 2008
12:16PM Bangkok time
Tales of tiger dung, the Thai Burma-Railway and Kanchanaburi
We are enroute from lovely Kanchanaburi back to the pollution capital of Thailand, Bangkok. We are not only enjoying an air conditioned bus but one with a TV up front playing “I, Robot” in Thai. No English subtitles so I won’t be distracted working on our blog entry.
We enjoyed 3 full days in Kanchanaburi Province along the River Kwae. It is spelled locally with an “e” on the end as opposed to the “i” in the title of the acclaimed 1957 film, “Bridge over the River Kwai.” After arriving the first evening we decided to eat where we were staying at the Ploy Guesthouse. The dinner was a bit disappointing, below the standards I have enjoyed at similar properties. The room itself was quite pleasant. Jean and I enjoyed the outdoor shower and atrium garden. The only downside was the likelihood of a mosquito bite if you had to use the toilet in the evening. We discovered another guesthouse that we will try out if we visit again. That one is the Pong-Phen Guesthouse and Bungalows. The mosquitoes are more prevalent here than on the Andaman coast where I have spent most of my time during previous visits.
Our first morning was filled with getting caught up with our web based business at a local internet café. After studying our transportation options we elected to rent a pair of scooters. Jean and I rode on one scooter with Sterling riding the other. The scooter rental place claimed to have provided us with half a liter or so of gasoline, enough to make it to the local gas station and top off the tank. Getting to the gas station was a bit of an adventure. I spent some time telling Sterling about the idiosyncrasies of driving in Thailand and reminded him to stay on the left side of the road. Old habits die hard and upon departing the scooter shop Sterling ended up on right side of the road much to the amusement of a few locals. Meanwhile we had traveled down the street assuming Sterling was behind us. Luckily Jean noticed and we looped back to join Sterling. A wrong turn on the way to the way to the Shell station added some distance to our first stop. Unfortunately Sterling’s tank ran dry even though it supposedly had half a liter of fuel. So Jean and I filled our tank and talked the gas station attendant into filling a small container with some fuel for Sterling.
Our first stop was the Thai-Burma Railway Centre. Kanchanaburi is the site of the infamous Bridge over the River Kwae. This bridge was the inspiration for the movie but only a small section of the 400 plus kilometers of the “Death Railway.” I have always struggled to understand the capacity of mankind to commit atrocities like those endured by the Allied POW’s during the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway. It leaves me numb and dazed.
The Thai-Burma Railway Centre is an exceedingly well done museum and memorial to the thousands that died during the construction. Across the street is the Allied War Cemetery which contains a very small percentage of the POW’s. The cemetery is organized by country. Like all wars it is filled with the bodies of men who died very young, typically in their 20’s or 30’s. Many of the Australians were much older though, some in their mid 40’s. These were low ranking enlisted men who volunteered. Unlike the US there was no draft in Australia. Those who could serve did so. Due to the size of the small island nation men of all generations donned the uniform, many making the ultimate sacrifice.
After our sobering visit to the Railway Centre and Allied War cemetery we grabbed some lunch and set off for the Bridge over the River Kwai. The bridge itself is not overly imposing. Without knowing the full story behind the construction it would not be particularly noteworthy. So for those following in our tracks do yourself a favor and visit the Thai-Burma Railway Centre before visiting the bridge itself. Although we did not make it to the JEATH Museum it is recommended by Lonely Planet.
We spent the remainder of our afternoon touring the countryside on our scooters enroute to the Stone Garden Park. Along the way we stopped at what appeared to be a Hindu shrine and memorial. The Stone Garden Park was a small but pleasant and peaceful place with a large limestone formation in the center.
We enjoyed our ride back to town and enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Apple and Noi’s Guesthouse. This guest house is noted for their restaurant and cooking school. The menu was lengthy and it took quite some time to mull through all the choices. During our last day in town we befriended a Thai family who has lived in Canada for nearly 30 years. They joined us for dinner at Apple and Noi’s and were equally impressed so we are not alone in our fondness for the place. That dinner for six cost about $23 US. Anything remotely close in the Bay Area would have run about $130.
TO BE CONTINUED……
15 January, 2008
0637 Bangkok time
Today marks our third morning in Bangkok. Jean, Sterling, and I arrived at the Siam Piman hotel near the recently opened Suvarnabhumi International Airport a little after 3 in the morning on the 13th. We chose that hotel for the close proximity to the airport, which like so many airports is a distance from the city. We found the hotel to be pleasant and the staff there was quite helpful. I am not sure what their normal check out time is but when we checked in they told us 3PM which was perfect. Sterling is with us for a little over a week so we are going to make the most out of his short time window. He has to return to California for school.
Jean and I always make sure we have internet access wherever we stay but we found getting connected at the Siam Piman was a bit of a challenge. None of us could find the jack to plug in our ethernet cord. As it turned out neither could the hotel clerk! So he asked the maintenance man to come to the room. The mystery plug was finally located behind the refrigerator which was in a small alcove.
Around checkout time we stuffed ourselves in a taxi, which typically is a Toyota Corolla or similar vehicle. Our new hotel was the Windsor Suites right in the heart of downtown Bangkok.
The night of the 13th we took Sterling to the MBK mall, which Lonely Planet advised was quite popular with the younger Bangkok residents. The mall consists of countless small stalls hawking clothing, cell phones, consumer electronics, and pirated DVD’s and software. On some floors they had household furnishing, office furniture, and other related merchandise. We ate at a food court which had a variety of ethnic cuisine.
We returned to the mall on the 14th so Sterling could attempt to return an item he purchased. Sterling and Jean did a bit more shopping and then we left by tuk-tuk for what was supposed to be the Central Pier on the Chao Prya River. A tuk-tuk is a small door-less vehicle, powered by a noisy 2 stroke engine. As many tuk-tuk drivers are wont to do, he delivered us somewhere other than our desired destination, which was a pier where we planned to board a public ferry. Tuk-tuk drivers frequently have commission arrangements with merchants and transportation providers. They will tell you about a “great deal” which is almost always a rip-off. Another classic scam is you will be heading for some attraction and a local will tell you that the museum or whatever you are headed for is closed but there is something “much better” for you. That could be anything from overpriced suits to fake gemstones. In this case we got dropped off just north of the public ferry pier where a private boat operator was scamming some European tourists. We made our way to the public pier in a rather roundabout fashion.
We walked to the Central Pier and boarded a public ferry and headed for the Grand Palace. We actually ended up visiting Wat Pho instead which is the home of the famous reclining Buddha that was commissioned by King Rama 3. The pictures explain the beauty of Wat Pho better than words.
On January 11, 2008, after 88 years of life, Edmund Percival Hillary, Sir Ed, began his latest adventure, that of transitioning from this world to what lies beyond.
His passing should not bring us sadness but rather inspire us to reflect on our own lives. Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper by trade, worked tirelessly to help the Nepalese people cope with the rapid and radical changes brought on my his own fame and his prior efforts to improve their lives. The explosive change brought on by the influx of climbers, tourists, and other outsiders brought with it ecological and societal damage that Hillary did not foresee, had he focused much of the rest of his life helping to mitigate the damage his well-intentioned first efforts had caused.
The lesson here is a people living in a manner “different” from your own is not necessarily a people in need of “improvement” or change. Nor is it the case that the hard-learned lessons from other cultures cannot better the lives of others. The difficulty is, of course, that of perspective. From the perspective of the Western world, helping to “modernize” a “primitive” people is an act of kindness, a fundamentally good and worthy cause. Arguably, in some cases it is. In others, it brings only destabilization and the loss of a culture.
The one unerring factor is the law of unintended consequences. Take, for example, the airstrips built by Hillary for the Nepalese people. His intent was not to unleash a torrent of people upon a fragile ecosystem that could not support them without destroying itself. But that was the effect. Another example, one that draws such heated and emotional debate that rational discourse is difficult, is reducing the rate of infant mortality. No caring human rejoices when an infant dies, but what happens when suddenly the population of a small, poor village begins to grow but the resources to provide for that population does not? When food spread between a dozen people suddenly has to support 20? Troubling concepts, but factors that must be taken into account when working to “improve” the lives of others.
His spirit lives on in every man and woman, adult and child, that has wondered what lies beyond the next bend and strode forward to find out. In the words of Hillary, “I’ve had a full and rewarding life. Life’s a bit like mountaineering – never look down.”
It is a tribute to the character of Norgay and Hillary that neither man would reveal who first stepped foot on the summit of Everest. At that moment, on the 29th of May, 1953, they conquered Everest together. Now, they are together again on this new adventure.
A Google search will yield many summaries of the life of Sir Hillary, this one is succinct. This one is from Jan Morris, who first broke the story of the ascent.
Ghandi is quite an amazing dude. Nice quotes found at thinkexist.com.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
Test post, with a great hat.
