Bridge over the River Kwai

Having seen the movie many years ago, I was intrigued by the opportunity to see the historic bridge over the River Kwai. The tour turned out to be a really great time, and we were with a pleasant group of people.

We stopped first at one of the three cemeteries in Kanchanaburi that was designed to honor the prisoners of war who died constructing the Thailand-Burma Railway, more commonly known as the Death Railway. The design of the cemetery is beautiful, and it is immaculately maintained. This one houses the remains of soldiers from England and Holland. We took the time to read some of the headstones, and the youngest age we saw was 20 years, the oldest 48 years. Most of the soldiers were in their twenties and thirties. It was really sobering to consider what it must have been like to die under such horrendous conditions when only 20 years old. It made me glad to see these heroic men honored as they are here.

We next toured the Jeath Museum, a re-creation of the kind of bamboo hut the prisoners of war lived in, filled with photographs, paintings and newspaper articles relating to the Death Railway. The museum is named for the six countries whose soldiers died constructing the railway: Japan, England, America and Australia, Thailand, and Holland. There is a statue of a Japanese man, Takashi Nagase, who was an interpreter for the military, set between the hut and the river. He is memorialized there because he later had a change of heart and became dedicated to promoting peace and reconciliation between the countries involved with construction of the railway.

Only after this very fitting preface did we go to the actual Bridge over the River Kwai. The original bridge was built of wood and was temporary, serving until the current bridge was built. After the iron bridge was built, the wooden one was torn down, as it was blocking river traffic. The iron bridge lost three spans to bombing in 1945, but those spans were rebuilt, and today three trains per day cross the river via that bridge. We boarded the train further down the track and rode it to the restaurant where we had lunch. The train has hard wooden seats, and air conditioning is provided by open windows and oscillating fans on the ceilings of the cars. The rhythm of the wheels on the track is very different from what we are used to.

We stopped at an elephant park that offered elephant rides through the river. Our main purpose was to see the baby elephants, who were quite personable. As we drove through the countryside we saw mountains, cows whose ribs were very visible, and crops of corn, tapioca and sugar cane. Kanchanaburi Province is a very beautiful part of Thailand. Some of the scenic photos were taken from a moving vehicle, and unfortunately came out a bit blurred. The one that was too blurred to share was of monkeys by the side of the road. We missed getting a picture of the last monkey to cross the road in front of us - a female with a young baby clinging to her chest. The monkeys were a fun surprise. The red or sometimes orange flowered trees are everywhere in that part of the country, and remind us of the wild dogwoods blooming at home in the spring. They seem to fill the same niche in tropical Thailand.

Our final stop on the tour was the Tiger Temple, a Buddhist temple, monastery and wildlife refuge. The monks at this temple are dedicated to rehabilitating wildlife, and have taken in many kinds of injured wild animals, the most famous of which are the tigers.

We would recommend this trip to anyone. It showed us a different aspect of Thailand, different scenery, and it is a special way to revisit an important part of history. I appreciated the opportunity to learn the reality behind the movie, something which could never be accurately portrayed in a movie, due to the nature of that reality.

This is our last report from Thailand, as we leave tomorrow afternoon. Thailand is a great country to visit and we are glad we had enough time here to gain a true appreciation for the country and its people.

Bangkok Delights -2

These are the photos to go with yesterday's posting. I consider the satellite dishes to be a variety of roof garden also, since they are as prevalent on roofs as plants.

Bangkok Delights

This posting is mostly for pictures of things we see every day. The parrots are only two out of the five, plus a cockatiel that live in cages next to a building we pass every day. We also pass the trash heap every day. The construction scene with the backhoe is next door to our hotel. While it appears to be a construction project, it is actually a mosquito farm.

You can see the way rush hour traffic backs up on our street, and the picture with the green/yellow taxi is the entrance to Bumrungrad International Hospital. The taxi is on our street, the line of cars is on the entry street. You can see the yellow polo shirts that everyone wears, especially on Monday. They are yellow to honor the King, who was born on a Monday, and who is very much loved by the Thai people. In Thailand there is a color for every day, to bring good luck: Monday = yellow; Tuesday = pink, Wednesday = green; Thursday = orange; Friday = blue; Saturday = purple; Sunday = red. Based on the people's attire, in Bangkok it appears that almost every day could be Monday.

One of the delights of the city of Bangkok is the people's love of plants. As we have said before, plants in pots are everywhere. Outside our hotel, for example, there is a row of potted orchids on the fence, two rows of potted plants lining the walkway to the back, and more potted plants surrounding their outdoor beer garden.

These photos pay tribute to the roof gardens that can be found everywhere, even on the tallest of the residential skyscrapers. The individual plant photos and the ones of the very well laid out and manicured garden are of the roof garden on the sixth floor of Bumrungrad International Hospital. These photos are only a very small sampling of what can be seen around the city.

The website is not cooperating with uploading photos, so I will try again once I get the website back in English, or just do a separate posting that is only photos. A couple of weeks ago the website suddenly and unexpectedly came up in Thai and it has stayed there, so all the critical functions of the site are unreadable. That technology challenge is probably the result of being here for so long. But it, too, shall pass.

Cultural Experiences

When in a foreign country it can be interesting trying out things from your own country. For instance, we've been into a couple of Seven-Eleven stores. They are very much like the ones at home except smaller, and they carry some items you would never find in the United States, such as tamarind candy. As at home, the stores are everywhere.

Yesterday we decided to try out the local Pizza Hut. It is very different from in the US. The pizzas have a distinctly Asian flair. We had a stuffed crust seafood supreme pizza. The toppings included mussels, squid, shrimp and imitation crab, with a bit off hot pepper mixed in. The pizza was excellent. The salad bar has distinctively Thai ingredients also. The service, however, was lousy. The servers were more interested in putting the restaurant back together after several groups than in serving us, once we had received our food. Even when we caught the eye of the wait staff several times, they would smile & otherwise ignore us. We had observed that they brought the bill to the tables of anyone Asian descent. I think they also did that for the Caucasian man sitting behind us. But we had to go to the cashier to pay our bill. We had to conclude that we had experienced discrimination, but are not sure whether it was age, sex, race or all of the above. Needless to say, we won't be going back and we don't recommend it.

The McDonald's in Bumrungrad International Hospital is in stark contrast. The service there is designed to please at all times. The workers are pleasant and helpful. There are other McDonald's restaurants around that we have not tried, so we cannot comment on their service. Hopefully it is as good as the one we know. As you can see from the photo, McDonald's also has a specifically Thai flair in their rendition of Ronald McDonald. The food seems to be pretty much as we know it at home.

I remember also trying out Wimpy's Hamburgers in different European countries many years ago. The hamburgers in France were distinctive because they were served almost raw. Once was enough for that also.

Despite our mixed experiences, we still recommend seeing what other cultures do with our businesses.

Bangkok Street Scenes

This posting is mostly for the pictures of things we see every day. The parrots are only two out of the five, plus a cockatiel, that live in cages next to a building we pass every day. We also pass the trash heap every day. The construction scene with the backhoe is next door to our hotel. While it may appear to be a construction project, it is actually a mosquito farm. You can see the way rush hour traffic backs up on our street, Sukhumvit Road, and the picture with the yellow/green taxi shows the entrance to Bumrungrad International Hospital. The taxi is on our street; the line of cars is on the entry street. You can see the yellow polo shirts that everyone wears, especially on Monday. They are yellow to honor the King who was born on a Monday, and who is very much loved by the Thai people. In Thailand there is a color for every day, worn to bring good luck: Monday = yellow; Tuesday = pink; Wednesday = green; Thursday = orange; Friday = blue; Saturday = purple, Sunday = red. Based on people's attire, in Bangkok it appears that every day could be Monday. Riding in a tuktuk is a real adventure, not to be missed. Street vendors are everywhere. Some are stationary, others are mobile, moving from place to place. The push carts appear quite modern next to the basket-toting vendors. It is also always interesting to look down all the little side streets to see the colorful variety of small businesses. The public works project where they built the tent was interesting, both from the standpoint of watching the process of installing pumps and from noticing that the workers all wore flip-flops instead of work boots. The tent has subsequently provided an overnight home to the occasional visitor, including a parking space of the obligatory moped.

There are some important survival techniques to remember on the streets of Bangkok. For instance, it is okay to walk past beggars without contributing to them. It is okay to say, "no, thank you" to cabbies, street vendors, or anyone else who wants to sell you something you don't want. And if you happen to be a female and want to cross a busy street at an intersection where there is a security guard, know that the guard will stop traffic for the man to cross, but usually will not do so for a woman. Crossing when the locals cross is also good policy. It is a good idea to watch how people order their food, so you can do it also if somehting looks good. Also pay attention to how they clean their utensils, where to get water, etc. in places like the Dairy Express at Bumrungrad International Hospital. Get to know the local currency and check prices against what the item would cost in dollars and at home. Always ask the price for your cab ride before getting in: "how much to the Blank Hotel?" And finally, while you may have to walk around the stray dogs, they generally will ignore you.

Lumphini Park, Bangkok, Thailand Thusday April 12, 2007

On several occasions, while riding through Bangkok, we have passed a large park which is not far from the US Embassy. We had been told that it is very special, and we have seen people exercising there and participating in tai chi classes. So yesterday, we decided it was time to explore the park for ourselves.

The name of the park is Lumphini, pronounced "lump-he-knee" (the u is pronounced as "oo" in look). We have discovered that the "p-h" combination seen frequently, is not pronounced as it is in English. Rather, the "p" is the end of the one syllable and the "h" is the start of the next.

We had arranged with a tuktuk driver to pick us up at 9AM, but he never showed, so we caught a cab to go to the park. It is an incredibly beautiful park, very well maintained, and very peaceful. It is easy to get lost in the peacefulness despite the fact that it is obviously in the middle of a large and very busy city. There are very few formal plantings. Most of the park is done in a casual style. While we were there we saw at least 50 workers, most with brooms and baskets, raking the lawns and sweeping the streets, while others were pruning trees and watering. The coarse brooms they use work equally well as rakes or any kind of broom. Although the style and purpose are quite different, it is comparable in beauty to the botanical garden in Hamilton, Bermuda, which until now had been the most beautiful park or garden we have seen.

There is a lot of water in the park, in the form of canals and lakes. There are large multi-plumed fountains in the large lakes, and smaller ones in the canals. There were some amazing trees there, most notably some immense fan palms. We were also intrigued by a purple-flowered tree that looks very much like a crape myrtle, except with larger flowers and much larger leaves. We also had the opportunity to observe a number of different birds, most of which we have subsequently been able to identify. One we saw was the common myna, which had some of the ugliest babies we have seen. The ugliness is probably due to their almost bald necks.

Of the wildlife, by far the most interesting was the huge lizards we saw. A visitor to the park was feeding the first one we saw. It looks very much like a standard lizard but much larger; the smallest one we saw was probably about two feet long. All the others were bigger than that, with the largest being at least 5 feet long (the one in the photograph). The one pictured behaved in a way that reminded me of a cat, rubbing its cheek on the trunk of the tree. It was watching us as closely as we were watching it. A woman we talked to said the lizards are related to crocodiles, but they have no teeth and are harmless. When we saw the lizards swimming, we were reminded of our floating market tour guide who told us about all the tickets available for a "swimming with the crocodiles" excursion. The lizards seem to be equally at home in water or on land; they swim with their heads above the surface of the water, so you can see them coming.

The roads in the park have markings to tell you how far you have walked or jogged, and there are also bars for stretching located throughout the park. There is also a good-sized play area for children, as well as a senior citizens' recreation center. There were many unique granite benches, and a few marble ones. We also saw several nice sculptures, and an amphitheater.

In all, we walked around the park for about 1.5 hours, enjoying every minute of it. At the end we were able to flag down a tuktuk to take us to our next destination, so we have fulfilled our goal of riding in a tuktuk. On a hot day, they are a great way to go, because the breeze is far better than air conditioning. We would gladly return to the park for both the exercise possibilities and its great beauty.