Thailand
I pulled into Bangkok for three days just to regain some language control and begin my month of holiday before things change. I had acquired a 2 month visa for Thailand in Malaysia but didn’t mention it when I got there so they’d give me a month visa to get the ball rolling. I lost track of my African running friend because my Thailand SIM card hadn’t been topped up in over six months so it expired. So as it was and off I went into the true city that doesn’t sleep. I had called ahead so I had a loose hotel reservation and said I’d be in by 6 pm. When I got to the entrance they knew whom I was because I’ve been using the same hotel for 20 years or so. I still have to show my passport like everyone else.
I had a few errands to run while in Bangkok and the following morning went straight to Bumrungrad International Hospital to have a quick skin check and get a new identification card made up because the last one swam way too much. The reason I get this card is because if I’m going to be in Thailand or South East Asia for any length of time this is the best hospital you can go to and having the identification card already just makes the ride in an emergency that much smoother having your vitals, allergies if any etc. Even my insurance company has them on file so it works both ways and the path is clear for assistance and acceptance. It’s merely a precaution but with things as they are it’s not a bad idea.
The English woman I met on Tioman Island, Malaysia told me about an Elephant Festival, ‘Round-up’, that happens on the 3rdweekend of November. So I was a little early and when I questioned a travel agent about it she insisted I go do something else for a few days because Surin town isn’t that big and elephants will be arriving all week. There were a few things on my to-do list that I hadn’t done before and thought I could use the time to get some of them taken care of. I explained I hadn’t been to Kanchanaburi or the River Kwai. I remember the movie ‘Bridge Over The River Kwai’ with William Holden who’s acting career ran from 1939 to 1981 and Alec Guinness of Star Wars, Obi-wan Kenobi’ fame among so many others. The gal told me she would put a package together that would burn three days of things I may have done before but not in Kanchanaburi area. It’s not like me but I did need to see it before I gave it a bad name again. I told her the other option was going to Pattaya but I was against it and she nodded then shook her head, you don’t need to go there, I’ll set you up and get you get a train ticket with a sleeper to Surin where the elephant festival is and you can go from there. You’ll arrive at 0430 and there will be someone there to take you to a hotel. She sorted out an all-inclusive, meals, boats, tiger camp, floating market, rafting, elephants, and hotels with AC if you turn it on etc. All you have to pay for is extras like beer and food for the elephants if you wish.
I couldn’t leave for a few days so I had some extra wandering to do and motorbike taxied back from somewhere and ran into a kid from Winnipeg, Canada. I could tell because it was tattooed on the back of his leg. He also had a Polish insignia on his shoulder. We had a few laughs, I taught him some key words in Thai and off I went to Kanchanaburi in a mini van at 0715 am. First stop was a floating market I had been to before and knew the ins and outs so I just took pictures of the chaos and swamping waves, had a cup of tea and waited for the second attraction.
The second attraction was the River Kwai and the Death Museum. All of my memories were of the films I had seen. The second film that came to mind was ‘Unbroken’, a more recent attempt to expose the hardships and comrade groups that hung together and helped each other in a time of need. The stories on the walls and the left over Japanese equipment were impressive but it still didn’t sink in like it should. I walked the bridge that has been rebuilt and has two grades of track on it, one of old and one that is still in use today. It still didn’t sink in what had happened here except that I knew it was a major point of death for Australians, British and American soldiers. There were too many people wandering about to be depressed.
Last of the first day was a quick run through the Tiger camp where there are a stack of people waiting to get into Tiger Canyon to take a picture next to a big tiger, either on your own or in a group. I decided I had done enough of that in the past and could for go the line. The tigers were said to be tired in the heat but I’m pretty sure they are drugged and lethargic for a reason. I moved on to the juvenile cats and had a laugh because they were not sleepy splashing around in the water and curious as they should be. The grounds have been eaten bear by pigs and assorted deer. Even the water buffalo can be grabbed by the horns and don’t seem to care much. I pulled out early and was sent off to another group that was staying the two nights verses heading back to Bangkok that night.
We went to a waterfall and hung out for a spell before being picked up and off we went. This is where I met a pair of Germans from Berlin who turned out to be wonderful company. Our dialog started off slow but with time and the aid of the son and father’s translations we had a great deal of laughs and smiles. There was also a French pair that slowly warmed up to us and we five had a wonderful evening. It turned out that after dinner we all headed up river by long boat to where we were staying. The long boat wasn’t up for the task so we basically floated back down stream to the dock and we welcomed them heartily. Laughs broke out from all ends. After switching boats we made it to our destination, a floating hotel with wonderful rooms and a Burmese family running it. I saw the daughter with a traditional paste on her checks and instantly thought of Burma and said, ‘Minglaba’ to her. She looked at me with a very odd face but smiling non-the-less. She went off and I waited for her father who turned the corner with a massive smile and I said again ‘Minglaba’ and he smiled as deep as possible knowing I knew the difference. I told him in English many of the places I had been and added details about the recent election of the NLD and the connection to Aung San Suu Kyi. We smiled, teeth and all and he knew I knew, say no more.
After a shower I joined the father and son German pair from Berlin and as the beer flowed our tongues wagged and the French couple joined us for a lovely evening. This was the evening of the Paris bombings and attacks. We didn’t know it yet because we didn’t have Internet, it was just us and it was just fine. We emptied the fridge of beer and sent the family to bed well before we decided to follow the Geckos into hiding. What a peaceful night. The only thing I didn’t care for was that all hotels on the river release anything you do in a bathroom directly into the water below you and off it goes down stream. This is unacceptable considering there are hundreds of people on the river daily not including the locals and this is also where they get a lot of water, not for drinking but for everything else. This goes on year after year and there should be a solution to this issue or no one should go.
I slept peacefully and woke up too early because breakfast was ready the moment I stepped foot in the area. The wife was a crack up funny and she said breakfast would be in a few minutes while I poured a cup of tea and I responded, ‘Case-a-ma-she-ba-bu’, no problem, and she laughed all the way back into the kitchen with a massive grin and a cheroot hanging out of her mouth. I liked her.
A slow start for the elephant camp lead to more disappointments because the elephants, no matter how well cared for, don’t give you much of a ride. We walked a short ways and ended up making hats out of leaves while the animals ate and gardened. I’ve experienced much better up north. When we finally returned to the elephant camp there was an elephant show where they played soccer, shot basketballs and did a hip-hop dance to the guests, don’t mind the male elephants, they get excited and it drops to the deck. Also not my cup of tea but the elephants have no job in the jungle because we don’t want them to work for bad people tearing down the forest so they are caught between the dwindling forest and no where to go because we haven’t given them one. We could but it would take a lot of us to jointly add funds and buy a reserve, fund the guardians of that reserve and a lot of other payments as well. It is possible.
We went back to the floating hotel and had some down time for an hour or two. The river is beautiful, the river Kwai with limestone eruptions teething green against the blue skyline. We boarded a bamboo raft and floated tranquilly down river back to the restaurant for lunch and an afternoon at Hells Fire Pass where 200,000 people cut a mountain in half 20-30 meters deep by hand and pick and wide enough for a support train. 100,000 prisoners of war and conscripts died in the process. It was ghostly just to know what happened here. Now I got it; the feeling was deep and what really turned my guts were the black and white paintings and photocopies on the walls that a man named Jack Chalker depicted. The utter Dante’s Inferno type hell these people of many nations went through equals any holocaust and yet no one says such things. The pictures tell more than just a moment in time, disease, malnutrition, heat exhaustion and so on.
I walked the walk to the actual cutting only a few kilometers away. I wasn’t allowed to walk the whole walk but if I had time I would have with a down heart and a dark mind. Trees had grown in the time past and yet the ghosts, whether imaginary or real, run rampant though you with images of emaciated men struting in nothing but a loin cloth, also known in the day as a ‘Happy-Jappy’ or viseverse. Again the movie ‘Unbroken’ came to mind. Take a look at the movie; it’ll break your heart, not that that is the point but that we do incredibly terrible things to each other then and now, today, and regretfully tomorrow. Fasten your seat belt and listen to what is about you.
We were joined by a group of folks from all over the world for dinner including a lovely pair of Kiwi’s who had been recently been to the outback in Australia with stories and hick-ups of their own. Then there were the four folks from ‘Lost Wages, aka Las Vegas’; good group with linguistic options, we all grew into Portuguese, Polish, the list went on. We all never mentioned religion but we did keep each other up to date now that we knew France had taken a hit and I’m not quiet when it comes to awareness, just let it flow, let everyone know as soon as you do so we can work together.
