Land of Peace and Love

“Welcome To Land of Peace and Love” reads the banner hanging from the pedestrian bridge crossing the main highway as one enters the town of Kanchanaburi. The last bastion of the flower power era or a glib tourist slogan? At first glance Kanchanaburi does not appear distinct from any sizeable town in Thailand. Two-story concrete-block town houses line the roads, neon shop signs among a sea of overhead electric wires and cables, and posts, holes and broken slabs which characterise non-negotiable footpaths are all fairly standard features. But leaving the main road Kanchanaburi reveals a special charm.

Turning left at the central lights takes one to the "City Pillar" where the guardian deity of the city is enshrined. This is the focal point of an annual ten-day festival when residents converge from all corners to pay homage with flowers, incense and gold leaf, to the deity and its protective qualities. At any other time cars and motorbike riders offer token homage, beeping horns as they drive by. Directly behind the city pillar is the old "city gate", a stone archway marking the formal entrance to the town. It now serves as the backdrop to an imposing statue of a seated King Rama III the founder of the original town in 1833.

Moving past the city gate takes one to the true life and soul of Kanchanaburi, the River Kwai Yai. This wide river flows by through a range of green hills. It begins in the highlands 200 kilometres to the north and passes gently by the town on its way to the Gulf of Siam. Children splash in its shallows while fishermen in small wooden boats wait patiently in deeper water. Less serene are the disco rafts thumping out pop music as "long-tail" motor boats roar up and down the river at breakneck speeds. In times past paddling downstream was the only way for local people to maintain contact with the rest of the kingdom. Boating a few kilometres upstream takes one to The Bridge.

The Railway Bridge stands as an icon in steel and concrete to a very brutal past. Much has been made of the famous "Bridge on the River Kwai" following the book by Pierre Boulle and the subsequent movie of the same name. It is commonly known that it was built by allied prisoners-of-war during WWII and that some 16,000 allied POWs lost their lives in the building of the Thai-Burma railway. Many of their remains now rest in either of the two nearby cemeteries maintained with dignity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Each year on April 25 a dwindling number of war veterans from Australia and New Zealand return to honour the memory of their friends and comrades who died in horrific circumstances during that bitter period. Less well known or remembered are the Asian conscripted workers who also died in the making of the railway. No one knows the number but it is estimated that around 100,000 Asians died of disease and malnutrition during this period.

Oddly enough “Kanchanaburi” means City of Gold”. Following the end of the war the Japanese Army got out in a hurry. In such a hurry, legend, or speculation has it that they left vast hoards of gold behind, buried in secret caves somewhere in the hills. There are those who say the whole Japanese treasure tale is myth and nonsense. Then again it has not stopped people looking for it. Every now and then another speculator turns up with a "lead" and a team of workers to excavate the area only to return home empty handed. Loong Muang a long-term resident sums up his view of the situation.

“I remember when the Japanese were here,” he says. “I got to know some of them quite well. Gold! Buried treasure, that's all rubbish. If there really was any buried treasure it would have been found by now. They took everything with them when they left.”

The popular public face of Kanchanaburi nowadays is of a budding tourist town. A series of bars, restaurants and internet-cafes have recently sprung up along one stretch of road leading up to the bridge. AIDS and gangster violence have also increased proportionately.

But the railway bridge and war cemeteries are still counted among the prime attractions. Souvenir shops do a brisk trade in "Bridge" T-shirts, caps and post-cards. Each year in November there is even a ten day "Bridge Festival" featuring a nightly "light and sound show" reenacting the allied bombing of the bridge in 1945.

For those who find this a bit too much there are other attractions. Back at "The Bridge" a sign catches the eye “Visit the Buoyant Votaryess”. Enquiries reveal that it refers to Kanchanaburi's famous "floating nun". A short journey through the countryside brings one to Wat Tham Mongontong, the temple of the floating nun. Arriving for the afternoon performance, tickets are ten baht each and observers are ushered into an arena where a five-metre pool is surrounded by steps similar in style to a Roman amphitheatre. Twenty or thirty spectators take their seats. Enter “The Floating Nun”. A calm woman of about fifty-five wearing the white garb of a Thai Buddhist nun descends the steps into the water. After a short prayer she lies back into the water. Instead of just her face being visible as would normally be the case, her whole body floats on the surface. This is something unique. For the next 15 minutes she floats back and forward in numerous poses, cross-legged, lying on alternate sides, or sitting straight up. Following the performance she floats gently over to the steps and climbs out. A number of observers line up to receive her blessing and a sacred thread to tie around their wrists to remind them of the visit.