Visiting the Village School and the Hellfire Pass

Monday, February 21, 2011
Kanchanaburi, Thailand
The morning and afternoon could not have been more different. In the morning we played with children at a village school and in the afternoon we were reminded of the brutality faced by POWs building the Death Railroad.

We started the day with a game . Our first stop in the village was the market and each person was given a slip of paper with two different phrases written on it. They were phonetic writing of what we were to purchase and Thai money was attached. All we were told that it was something for our lunch. As I wandered around the market repeating my phrase s "care rod"  and “song hua” several times to the absolute bewilderment of the merchants I finally found a man who seemed to know what I wanted. He spoke quickly to a young woman and soon I had a bag containing two big orange carrots. I felt a little foolish because the words sound similar. But, I have learned from experience that words that sound alike can have far different meanings. Anyway, shortly we all had our grocery items although we still didn't know what we would be eating.

Our next stop was the Banpuongka School. When I got off the bus I was greeted by Adsanee who is 10 years old and in the 4th Grade. His English was very good and since Panu had written my name in Thai on my name tag, Adsanee also knew my name . Initially, I misunderstood him, and thought that his name was Anthony. He solved the problem by getting a piece of paper and printing his name and the name of the school. He was my escort throughout our time at the school, and it soon was obvious that he was a leader. We were welcomed by a music and dance performance where Adsanee played the drums. Then we went to one of the classrooms where 3rd and 4th Grade students were having an arithmetic lesson. After that, we broke into smaller groups, and I was surrounded by about 6 children who showed me an English language activity book. It took a few minutes before I realized that I was to help them with their English. They were very good at repeating my words and phrases, and only had trouble with a few sounds. Adsanee was able to read the book, but some of the others were repeating by rote, but we had a lot of fun especially when we were talking about food. They all agreed that they liked rice and chocolate. Then the real fun began when they brought out the Thai workbook and tried to teach me their alphabet, which has 44 letters and 32 vowel sounds . After much coaching about every 5th or 6th letter would win me a “good”, but most of the time I merely earned a lot of laughs for my efforts . I was so happy when it was time to move to the next room where the 6th Grade students were making posters about ways to control mosquitoes. Later they would participate in a parade and village meeting. Last year there were several cases of Dengue Fever in the village and the children are helping to teach their parents about the need to eliminate standing water and use mosquito nets. Our final stop was at the Kindergarten classroom. The children entertained us with some songs ending with the ABC song in English. Then they had a short English lesson, and finally they spent time coloring pictures of a frog and turtle.

Our school visit ended and we walked to the home of Adsanee’s grandmother, where we were to have lunch. We met the grandmother, Adsanee’s mother, and his aunt, and were invited to tour their home. Although it was built of bamboo and palm thatch, it had electricity, a refrigerator, and a small TV . In addition to a large living room, there was a kitchen and two bedrooms. It was quite spacious for the three people who lived there.

Before we could eat lunch, we had to prepare part of our own meal. The ingredients we bought at the market were used to make Green papaya salad. Each of us made our own, and I’m not bragging too much to say that mine was delicious or “aroi” in Thai. We also had sticky rice, roast pork, and some vegetables, that were served in individual packages made from banana leaves.

After lunch, we travelled to Hellfire Pass, an infamous part of the death railroad, where the Australians have built a wonderful museum and created a hiking trail along a portion of the former rail bed. It is sobering to remember that in addition to the allied prisoners of war many more Asians were forced to work on the railroad, and more than 20,000 of them died during its construction. It was very hot, but the hike only lasted about an hour and was mostly on level ground. When I remembered the hardships endured by those who built the railroad was was embarrassed to complain about the heat.

At the end of the hike we were met by two pickup trucks that drove us to the River Kwai where we boarded longtailed boats for a ride. It was about 15 degrees cooler on the water and the spray made it feel even better. Along the river were modest homes, fancy vacation homes, and floating resorts. We were also able to see several species of bird including egrets, herons, lapwings, and several Kingfishers. We were met by the bus at the end of boatride, and headed back to the hotel, where I was looking forward to a nice swim. However, just as we got off the bus, it began to rain, and the rain (with occasional thunder) continued through the evening.  

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